Both Mantra and Brahmana are regarded as part of revelation ; the rest of Vedic literature as tradition (starti) derived from holy men of old. This literature has a characteristic style of its own, being written in the form of brief rules, or sutras, whence it is familiarly known as Sutra literature or the Sutras. They are, in the main, of three classes. each of which is associated with a particular Vedic school, reach ing back, as a rule, to the school di-stinetions of the Samhitas and Brahmanas. The first class of Sutras are the §ranta or Ka1pa Siitras, which may be translated 'Sutras of the Vedic Ritual.' They are rule-books compiled, with the help of oral priestly tradition. from the Brahmanas. They are brief manuals of the Vedic sacrifices. as distinguished from the more diffusive _Brah matins, whose ritual acts are interrupted by elab orate explanation and illustrative legends. To the Rig-Veda belong two Sranta Sutras corre sponding to its Brahmanas, the Mvalayana to the Aitareya Brahmana, and the Sankhayana to the Brahmana of the same mune. To the White Yajur-Veda belongs the Srauta Sutra of Katyay aim, closely adhering to the Satapatha Brah mana. No less than six Sranta Sutras belong to the Black Yajur-Veda, but only two of them have as yet been published, that of Apastamba, belonging to the school of the Taittiriya, and the Manava, belonging to the school of the Maitray aniya. The Sama-Veda has two Srautas, that of Latyayana and Draliyayana, belonging respec tively to its two schools of Kauthunia and Ranayaniya; and the Atharva-Veda has the late .and inferior Vaitana.
Of far greater, indeed of universal interest, is the second class of Sutras, the arhya Scuras, or 'llouse Books.' These are treatises on home life which deal systematically with a well-defined body of facts connected with the every-day ex istence of the individual and the family. Though composed at a comparatively late Vedic period, they contain practices and prayers of great an tiquity, and supplement most effectively the con tents of the Atharva-Veda. They also are dis tributed among the four Vedas and their schools. The Rig-Vqa has the Grihya Sutras of Asvala yawl, and Sankhayana ; the White Yajur-Veda that of Paraskara; the Black Yajur-Veda a large number, as those of the schools of Apastamba, Iliranyakgin, and Manava; the Sama-Veda has the Gabhila and the Khadira; to the Atharva Veda belongs the important Kau4ika Sutra, which, in addition to the domestic ritual, deals with the magical and medicinal practices spe cially characteristic of that Veda.
The third kind of Sutras are the Dharma Sutras, or 'Law Sutras,' which also deal to some extent with the customs of every-day life, but are engaged for the most. part with religious and secular law. These Sutras also are either attached to the body of canonical writings of a certain Vedic school, or are shown by inner criteria to have originated within such a school. The oldest legal Sutras are the Apastamba and Baudhayana, belonging to the Black Yajur schools of the same name, the Gautama belong ing to the Sama-Veda, the Vishnu belonging to the Katha school of the Black Yajur-Veda, and the Vasishtha of less pertain associations. The earliest metrical law-books, written in classical Sanskrit, are also based on lost Sutra collections of definite Vedic schools. The most famous of these, the Aldnara Dharma Sastre, or 'Law-Book of Maim' (see AlANti), is founded upon the Dharma Sutra of the Manava, or Maitrayaniya school of the Black Yajur-Veda, while the briefer 'Law-book of Yajnavalkya' derives its origin from a school of the White Yajur-Veda.
Consult the treatises mentioned at the close of the article SANSKRIT LITERATURE. especially the full bibliography in Macdonell, History of Sanskrit Literature (New York, 1900). English readers may obtain ready insight into the con tents of Vedic literature in all its important aspects by means of Miller, Sacred Books of the East (Oxford, 1879 it seq.). Parts of the Rig Veda are translated by Milner himself (vol. xxxii.) and Oldenberg (vols. xlvi. and xlviii.) ; the Atharva-Veda by Bloomfield (vol. xlii.) ; the Satapatha Brahmana by Eggeling (vols. xii.. xxvi., xli., shin.. and xlv.) ; seven of the Grihya Sutras by Oldenberg (vols. xxix. and xxx.) ; the old Dharma Sutras by Miler and Jolly (vols. vii., and xiv.) ; and the Law-Book of Mann by Bidder (vol. xxv.).