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APASTAMBA'S YAGÑA-PARIBHASHA-SOTRAS.
before the whole work was carried out. The same applies to other Paribhashâs, such as those of the metrical Sutras, but I feel more doubtful as to the Paribhâshâs in the grammatical Sutras of Pânini. To judge from the Paribhâshendusekhara, it would seem that the Paribhâshâ-sûtras to Pânini's grammar also had been settled before a single Sutra of Pânini was composed, and yet it seems almost incredible that this gigantic web of Sûtras should have been woven on so complicated a warp. This question ought to be settled once for all, as it would throw considerable light on the workmanship of Panini's Sûtras, and there is no one better qualified to settle it for us than the learned editor of the Paribhâshendusekhara. It is different with our Paribhâshâs. There is no necessity to suppose that they were worked out first, before the Sûtras were composed. They look more like useful generalisations than like indispensable preliminary instructions. They give us a general idea of the sacrifice, and inculcate rules that ought to be observed throughout. But I doubt whether they are as essential for enabling the priest to carry out the instructions of the Sûtras in performing a sacrifice as the grammatical paribhâshâs are in carrying out the grammatical rules of Pânini.
The Apastamba-sûtras for which our Paribhâshâs are intended are said to have comprised thirty Prasnas (see Burnell, Catalogue, p. 19, and p. xxix in Professor Oldenberg's Introduction). Burnell mentions that sometimes two Prasnas, treating of the Paitrimedhika rites, were counted as the thirty-first and thirty-second of the whole work. Of these thirty Prasnas fifteen have been edited with Rudradatta's commentary by Professor Garbe in the Bibliotheca Indica, 1882-1885. Rudradatta's commentary does not seem to have extended beyond the fifteenth Prasna; some authorities, however, suppose that Haradatta, to whom commentaries on the later Prasnas are ascribed, was only another name for Rudradatta. According to Kaundappa's Prayogaratnamâlâ (see Burnell, Classified Index, I, p. 17a), the Paribhâshâ-sûtras formed part of the twenty-fourth Prasna (katurvimse tatah prasne nyâyaprâ
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