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INTRODUCTORY NOTE
TO THE
GR/HYA-SUTRA OF ÂPASTAMBA.
THE short treatise of Apastamba on the Grihya ritual forms one Prasna of the great corpus of the ApastambiyaKalpa-sutra (see Sacred Books, vol. ii, p. xii) and stands, among the Grihya texts, in closest connection with the Hiranyakesi-Grihya-sútra. The chief difference between these two Sutras, both belonging to the Taittirîya School of the Black Yagur-veda, consists herein, that Apastamba, just as has been stated above1 with regard to Gobhila, gives only the rules for the performance of the Grihya rites without the Mantras, which are contained in a special collection, the Mantrapâtha, standing by the side of the Sutras Hiranyakesin, on the other hand, follows the more usual practice, as adopted by Sânkhâyana, Âsvalâyana, Pâraskara, of interweaving the description of the ceremonies with the text of the corresponding Mantras. As to the relation in which the Apastambiya-sûtras stand to the Mantrapâtha, there is, so far as I can see, no reason why we should not extend the theory which we have tried to establish with regard to Gobhila, to the evidently parallel case of Apastamba: the Sutras presuppose the existence of the Mantrapatha, just as the latter text seems to presuppose the Sutras.-The questions regarding the historical relation of Åpastamba to Hiranyakesin have been treated of by Professor Bühler in his Introduction to Apastamba's Dharma-sutra, S. B. E., vol. ii, pp. xxiii seq.
I have here to thank Dr. Winternitz, to whom we are indebted for an excellent edition of the ÂpastambîyaGrihya-sutra, for having placed at my disposal, before publi
1 See above, pp. 3 seq.
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