Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 2.djvu/28

Rh Grihya-sûtra that a Brâhmana must, ordinarily, be initiated in his seventh year, while the rule of the Dharma-sûtra, which is identical with Âp. Dh. I, 1, 1, 18, prescribes that the ceremony shall take place in the eighth year after conception. The commentators, Mâtridatta on the Grihya-sûtra and Mahâdeva on the Dharma-sûtra, both state that the rule of the Grihya-sûtra refers to the seventh year after birth, and, therefore, in substance agrees with the Dharma-sûtra. They are no doubt right. But the difference in the wording shows that the two sections do not belong to the same author. The same inference may be drawn from the fact that the Hiranyakesi Grihya-sûtra, which is much longer than Âpastamba's, includes a considerable amount of matter which refers to the sacred law, and which is repeated in the Dharma-sûtra. According to a statement which I have heard from several learned Brâhmanas, the followers of Hiranyakesin, when pronouncing the samkalpa or solemn pledge to perform a ceremony, declare themselves to be members of the Hiranyakesi school that forms a subdivision of Âpastamba's (âpastambântargatahiranyakesisâkhâdhyâyi…aham). But I have not been able to find these words in the books treating of the ritual of the Hiranyakesins, such as the Mahesabhattî. If this assertion could be further corroborated, it would be an additional strong proof of the priority of Âpastamba, which, however, even without it may be accepted as a fact. The distance in time between the two teachers is probably not so great as that between Âpastamba and Baudhâyana, as Mahâdeva mentions no intermediate Sûtrakâra between them. Still it is probably not less than 100 or 150 years.

The results of the above investigation which show that the origin of the Âpastamba school falls in the middle of the Sûtra period of the Black Yagur-veda, and that its Sûtras belong to the later, though not to the latest products of Vedic literature, are fully confirmed by an