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INTRODUCTION.
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knowledge of the ritual which is acquired through the study of the proper Srauta-sûtra1. It is not necessary to quote the numerous places where the Grihya-sûtras either expressly refer to the Srauta-sûtras, or point to them by repeating the same phrases or often even whole Sûtras. It will be sufficient to quote one out of many places, the opening words of the Asvalâyana-Grihya, which in a way characterise this work as a second part of the Srauta-sûtra: 'The rites based on the spreading (of the three sacred fires) have been declared; we shall declare the Grihya rites?!'
Thus it is not difficult to perceive the dependence of the Grihya-sutras on the Srauta-sûtras; but there remains the much more difficult question whether in each particular case both texts are to be regarded as by the same author, or whether the Grihya-sûtra is an appendix to the Srautasûtra composed by another author. Tradition accepts the one alternative for some Sûtras; for other Sûtras it accepts the other; thus in the domain of the Rig-veda literature Asvalâyana and Sankhayana are credited with the authorship of a Srauta-sûtra as well as of a Grihya-sûtra; the same is true of Apastamba, Hiranyakesin, and other authors. On the other hand, the authorship of the Grihya-sûtras which follow the Srauta-sûtras of Kâtyayana, Lâtyâyana, Drâhyayana, is not ascribed to Kâtyâyana, Lâtyâyana, Drâhyayana, but to Pâraskara, Gobhila, and Khâdirâkarya.
It seems to me that we should consider the testimony of tradition as entirely trustworthy in the second class of cases. Tradition is very much inclined to ascribe to celebrated masters and heads of schools the origin of works which are acknowledged authorities in their schools, even though they are not the authors. But it is not likely that tradition should have made a mistake in the opposite
In the domain of the Atharva-veda literature alone we find this relation reversed; here the Srauta-sûtra (the Vaitâna-sûtra) presupposes the Grihya-sûtra (the Kausika-sutra). Cf. Prof. Garbe's preface to his edition of the Vaitânasútra, p. vii. This relation is not extraordinary, considering the secondary character of the Vaitâna-sûtra.
* Uktâni vaitânikani, grihyâni vakshyâmah.
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