SUTRA. SANSK. An aphorism, a precept, a brief rule ; literally it means a thread, a line, a band ; it is the Latin suere, the German band, a volume ; and the works so named contain in the most concise style, doctrines in grammar, metre, law, or philosophy, and form the groundwork of the whole ritual, grammatical, metrical, and philo sophical literature of the Hindus.
This body of literature of India forms a con necting link between the Vedic and the later Sanskrit. The Sutra contain a concise elliptical and technical expression of all the knowledge of theology, philosophy, and language which had been attained by the Brahmans up to the Buddhist period. It ranged from B.C. GOO to 200.
The Kalpa Sutra relate to ritual, and were not composed earlier than the 12th or 13th centuiy. IIaving special reference to the Vedas, they are called Srauta ; the others, derived from the Smriti (memory), are called Sniarta.
The Grihya Sutra relate to the ceremonies to be performed by the married householder for his family.
The Samaya charika Sutra, or Dharma Sutra, regulate the affairs of everyday life, and are dis tinguished by Max Muller from the Grihya, Sutra, which concern general duty and behaviour, the right conduct of life.
It is chiefly to the Sutra that we have to look for the originals of the later metrical books, such as Manu, Yajna-valkya, and the rest. Aphorisms or Sutras were adopted in the fourth period of the Hindu progress, about B.C. 1000, and in the Sutras the ceremonial prescriptions were reduced to a more compact form and to a more precise and scientific system.
In the Sanskrit language, so edmplete are they, and so concisely expressed, that the subjects they treat of must have been thoroughly examined and discussed previous to their time, and all their branches and divisions properly developed. These Sutras have been the great standards of instruction in later times, and have formed the bases both of commentaries in which their tenets are expounded, • and of other treatises in which Hindu scholars have arranged their doctrines, according to their own judgment, with new. illustrations, and per haps greater breadth of plan. Their brief aphor isms and concise style were intended to assist the memory, although they necessarily leave the meaning obscure.
The Kalpa Sutra digests the teaching of the Veda and of the ancient rishis (sages) regarding the performance of sacrifiees and the duties of twice born men, Brahmans, Ksbatriyas, and Vaisyas. The entire Kalpa Sutra of Apastamba is divided into thirty books or sections called Prasnas. The Dharma Sutras, or aphorisms on law, are contained in the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth books. The Sutras of Apastamba are based upon thc Yajur, or second Veda, and not later than the 3d century B.C. The Sutras show the develop
ment of Hindu law direct from the Vedic writings, and they form the basis of the laws of Menu, Yajna-valkya, and the many other great writers on law whose codes are held in very high venera tion, inferior only to the Veda itself. While the Veda is classed Sruti, or direct revela tion, the Sastras, or law books, are known as the Smriti, or Reminiscences ' of the ancient sages.
The Sutras or aphorisms of Gautama, based upon the Sama or third Veda, are apparently confined to Dbanna Sutras or legal aphorisms in twenty eight chapters. Apastamba and Gautama are both very great authorities even with modern writers on law, and their texts are frequently quoted and commented on. Rules which were transmitted from generation to generation by oral teaching naturally assumed the briefest possible form. The Sutra literature is very large, and although not included in the Vedic canon, and coz»ing some what later in date, it is closely connected with it both by similarity of language and subject-matter. But as it is no part of the Sruti or Revelation, it is sacred only in an inferior degree.
A noticeable point in the Sutras of Apastamba is the full recognition of the Sudra caste, of which no mention is found in the older portions of the Vedas. This caste is found in a byrnu universally considered to be one of the latest. The authority for the law and the position of the four castes is explained as follows, in the very first verses of Apastamba :-1. We will declare the acts productive of merit which form part of the customs of daily life, as they have been settled by the agreement (of those who know the law.) 2. The authority for these duties is the agreement of those who know the law, (and the authorities for , the latter are) the Vedas alone. 3. (There are) ' foul: castes, Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. (4.) Amongst these, each preceding (caste) is superior by birth to the one following. 5. (For all these,) excepting Sudras and those who have committed bad actions, (are ordained) the initiation, the study of the Veda, and the kindling of the saered fire, and their works are productive of rewards (in this world and the next.) 6. To serve the other (three) castes (is ordained) for tho Swim. 7. The higher thc castes (which he serves) the greater the merit.
The aphorisms of the Nyaya philosophy, of the NI Minima and Yo1.2t, were reprinted in Sanskrit and English by Professor Janu% Ballantyne of the Benares College. —31Itlien's Hindu Philosophy; Bunter's hap. Getz.; Dutcson; Oriental Linguistic Studies, p. 71 ; Weber.