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Vol. XXIV, 2001
REVIEW
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women present at a wedding or at an anvastakya śrāddha to regale them. Surā is found to be used in the Srauta ritual also, for instance in the Vājapeya sacrifice seventeen cups of sură are to be partaken by some priests. However, it is only in the Sautrāmaņi sacrifice that sură is offered and even consumed by the sacrificer and also by the priests. In the Maitrāyani and the Kāthaka Samhitās surā is said to be food, rather sacrificial food, inthat surā is vigorous form of Prajāpati, who is himself vigour.
A tendency to establish its similarity with soma too is found in connection with sură, and the ingredients of the latter are metaphrically said to be the stalks of soma. The various actions in the preparatory procedure of surā are compared to the various actions in that of preparing the soma-juice.
Naturally these peculiarities of the Sautrāmani-sacrifice have caught the attention of thescholars like Keith, Hillebrandt, Weber, Dumezil, and others. Gonda has written a vry valuable monograph on the mantras used in the Sautrāmani sacrifice. Dumezil has pointed out to a close similarity between the rituals of this sacrifice with those of the Roman rite Suovertaurilia.
In view of this similarity, there have arisen some problems regarding originof this sacrifice, and the answers are not found in the researches carried out so far. Thus, how has the surā severely condemned in the Vedic literature casme to be acepted in the Srauta ritual? Why is the Sautrāmaņi to be performee after the Rājasūya ? Dr. Madhavi Kolhatkar has sought to find out the answers to such and other questions, bu discussing theritual which is found in the Samhitās and the Brāmanas and also rearranged the ritual described in the Sūtras, taking into consideration one rite after another, and has tried to note the various procedures found in the different texts and traditions, with the help of the Srautakośa, and to trace out the development and changes in its ritual also.
By spelling out the social, medicinal and ritualistic significance of sautrāmani, tha author also shows howthe Brāhmanas often compare it with a soma sacrifice, and how sautrāmaņi itself has evolved over the time. In the context of this Vedic ritual, she also highlights the hierarchical contentions between the brāhmaṇas and the ksatriyas in the ancient Indian society.
It is, thus, apoiece of valuable research forIndologists, especially the scholars of Sanskrit, Vedic studies and ancienrt Indian history and culture. N.M.K.
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