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INTRODUCTION.
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Grihya-sûtras treat their subject of course in exactly the same style in which the sacrifices of the Srauta ritual had been treated by the Srauta-sûtras, which they constantly assume to be known and which are the works of teachers of the same Vedic schools, and oftentimes even perhaps the works of the same authors. Only certain differences in the character of the two groups of texts are naturally conditioned on the one hand by the greater complexity of the Srauta sacrifices and the comparative simplicity of the Grihya sacrifices, on the other hand by the fact that the Srauta-sûtras are entirely based on Brahmana texts, in which the same subjects were treated, while the Grihyasûtras, as we have seen, possessed such a foundation only for a very small portion of their contents.
It goes without saying that the above-mentioned statement that the subjects treated of in the Grihya-sûtras are Pakayagñas1 or Grihyasthâlîpâkas should not be pressed with the utmost strictness, as though nothing were treated in the Grihya-sûtras which does not come under these heads. First of all the term Sthâlipâka is too narrow, since it does not include the offerings of sacrificial butter which constituted a great number of ceremonies. But besides many ceremonies and observances are taught in the Grihya-sutras, which cannot in any way be characterised as sacrifices at all, only possessing some inner resemblance to the group of sacrifices there treated of, or standing in more or less close connection with them 2.
The Sutra texts divide the Pâkayagñas in various ways; either four or seven principal forms are taken up. The
1 I believe with Stenzler (see his translation of Asvalâyana, pp. 2 seq.) that påkayagia means 'boiled offering.' It seems to me that the expression på ka in this connection cannot be otherwise taken than in the word sthâlîpâka ('pot-boiling"). Prof. Max Müller (History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 203), following Hindu authorities, explains Pâkayaga as 'a small sacrifice,' or, more probably, 'a good sacrifice.' The definition of Lâryâyana may be also here quoted (IV, 9, 2): pâkayagiâ ity âkakshata ekâgnau yagân.
2 Compare, for instance, the account of the ceremonies which are to be performed for the journey of the newly-married pair to their new home, SankhâyanaGrihya I, 15, or the observances to which the Snâtaka is bound, Gobhila III, 5, &c. According to the rule Sâñkhâyana I, 12, 13 we are, however, to suppose a sacrifice in many ceremonies where there does not seem to be any.
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