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INTRODUCTION
literature the word Sutta is found to have been traced to the original Samskrta word Sukta. But in the Vedic literature which is entirely written in Samskṛta the word Sukta as well as Sutra is used, in its original Samskṛta form, from remote times. In Vedas, the most ancient literature of the world, particular chapters of Mandalas of some particular size have been given the name of Sūktas which contain a number of verses called Ṛks.. A number of Rks, on one continuous subject collected together, form a Sukta; while the word Sutra is used for short pithy prose, sentences, as are to be found in the works on Grammar such as that of Panini and other Śrauta and Smärta works, and works on philosophy. The word Sutta as used in old Jaina and Bauddha works has, at present, been rendered into Samskṛta as Sūtra. However if we compare the word Sutta used in the sense of chapters with the Samskṛta word Sukta used in the sense of chapters of veda, a question would naturally arise as to why should it not be proper to regard the Prakrta word Sutta as used in Jaina and Bauddha literature to be a transformation of the ancient word Sukta as used in Vedic works It is highly probable that the word Sutta was originally derived from the ancient Samskṛta word Sūkta, but came afterwards to be connected with the word Sutra when the Sutra literature became very popular in ancient India. Whatever be the case, this much is certain that as the work Sanmati as a whole is called Sutra, each of its verses also is named as a Sutra. Though it is a work in verse and though it would not have been improper to apply the word Sukta to every verse in
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