Grihya Sutras

SR No.: 007685
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1886
Total Pages: 2642
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 850

312
ÂPASTAMBA'S YAGÑA-PARIBHÂSHÂ-SÚTRAS.
before the whole work was carried out. The same applies to other Paribhåshås, such as those of the metrical Satras. but I feel more doubtful as to the Paribhashas in the grammatical Satras of Panini. To judge from the Paribhashendusekhara, it would seem that the Paribhasha-sútras to Panini's grammar also had been settled before a single Sätra of Pånini was composed, and yet it seems almost incredible that this gigantic web of Satras should have been woven on so complicated a warp. This question ought to be settled once for all, as it would throw considerable light on the workmanship of Panini's Satras, and there is no one better qualified to settle it for us than the learned editor of the Paribhåshendusekhara. It is different with our Paribhåshås. There is no necessity to suppose that they were worked out first, before the Satras were composed. They look more like useful generalisations than like indispensable preliminary instructions. They give us a general idea of the sacrifice, and inculcate rules that ought to be observed throughout. But I doubt whether they are as essential for enabling the priest to carry out the instructions of the Satras in performing a sacrifice as the grammatical paribhåshås are in carrying out the grammatical rules of Panini.
The Åpastamba-sútras for which our Paribhâshås are intended are said to have comprised thirty Prasnas (see Burnell, Catalogue, p. 19, and p. xxix in Professor Oldenberg's Introduction). Burnell mentions that sometimes two Prasnas, treating of the Paitrimedhika rites, were counted as the thirty-first and thirty-second of the whole work. Of these thirty Prasnas fifteen have been edited with Rudradatta's commentary by Professor Garbe in the Bibliotheca Indica, 1882-1885. Rudradatta's commentary does not seem to have extended beyond the fifteenth Prasna ; some authorities, however, suppose that Haradatta, to whom commentaries on the later Prasnas are ascribed, was only another name for Rudradatta. According to Kaundappa's Prayogaratnamåla (see Burnell, Classified Index, I, p. 17 a), the Paribhåshå-sūtras formed part of the twenty-fourth Prasna (katurvimse tatah prasne nyâyapra
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