Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 2.djvu/15

xii thirty sections, called Prasnas, literally questions. The first twenty-four of these teach the performance of the so-called Srauta or Vaitânika sacrifices, for which several sacred fires are required, beginning with the simplest rites, the new and full moon offerings, and ending with the complicated Sattras or sacrificial sessions, which last a whole year or even longer. The twenty-fifth Prasna contains the Paribhâshâs or general rules of interpretation, which are valid for the whole Kalpa-sûtra, the Pravara-khanda, the chapter enumerating the patriarchs of the various Brahmanical tribes, and finally the Hautraka, prayers to be recited by the Hotraka priests. The twenty-sixth section gives the Mantras or Vedic prayers and formulas for the Grihya. rites, the ceremonies for which the sacred domestic or Grihya. fire is required, and the twenty-seventh the rules for the performance of the latter. The aphorisms on the sacred law fill the next two Prasnas; and the Sulva-sûtra, teaching the geometrical principles, according to which the altars necessary for the Srauta sacrifices must be constructed, concludes the work with the thirtieth Prasna.

The position of the Dharma-sûtra in the middle of the collection at once raises the presumption that it originally formed an integral portion of the body of Sûtras and that it is not a later addition. Had it been added later, it would either stand at the end of the thirty Prasnas or altogether outside the collection, as is the case with some other treatises attributed to Âpastamba. The Hindus are, no doubt, unscrupulous in adding to the works of famous teachers. But such additions, if of considerable extent, are usually not embodied in the works themselves which they are intended to supplement. They are mostly given