Vaikhanasagrhyasutram and Vaikhanasadharmasutram: Vaikhanasasmartasutram (The Domestic Rules of The Vaikhanasa School Belonging to The Black Yajurveda)

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This critical edition of the Grhya and Dharma sutra of the School of the Vaikhanasas which together may be designated as there Smart sutra is based on the following materials.

1. Ma a copy in Telugu characters like its original of a manuscript belonging to the Government oriental MSS library described in a Triennail Catslogue of Menuscripts collected for the Government oriental MSS Library at Madras Vol II Part I Sanskrit C number 1605 Page 2262) The whole of this manuscript which contains also the Srautasutra was copied for me with the exception of the Dharma and Bravura sutras.

2. Bh a copy equally in Telugu of the Bhasya on the Grhya and Dharma sutra composed by Nrsimhagnicit son of Madhavacarya described in the same Catalogue under number 1609 ( page 2271) This manuscript contains the bhasya on the first nine prasnas the bhasya on the last Dharamaprasna is wanting.

3. Vi the manuscript belonging to the Library of the University of Vienna (Ms 311) a copy made for Professor Buhler from a Mysore Manuscript.

4. My a copy Devenagarl made for me from a Grantha manuscript in Mysore described in Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Government Oriental Library of Mysore (1900) page 29 No (1359).

5. Ed Viz the Kumbakonam edition of 1914 entitled Srivaikhanasagrhyasutram Dharmasutrapravarasutra by Narayana Bhattacarya As this edition is out of print and very difficult to obtain and moreover printed in Grantha Character a new edition seemed not to be superfluous the more so as the Kumbakouam edition though in the main a good piece of work gives no variant reading But as will be seen from our present edition the trading But as will be seen from our present edition the tradition of this Valkhanasa text is by no means without its discrepancies and moot points So I have considered this printed text as a manuscript though a fairly correct one.

These are the five sources on which our text is principally based For the Dharma sutra alone we have.

6. Tri the Trivandrum edition of 1913 prepared by T. Ganapati Sastri.

Of more or less use for the constitution of the text were the following works.

(a) The Vaikhanasagrhyaprayogavriti (cited by me as prayoga) by Sundararaja a copy made in the original Telgu from a manuscript belonging to the Government Library of Madras described under No 1610 of the Triennial Catalogue of Manuscripts Vol.II Part I Sanskrit C page 2272.

(b) The Vaikhanasasutradaprana (cited by me as Darpana) by Nrsimhavajapeyayajin son of Madhavacarya (obviously the author of the Bhasya) a handbook of rites in accordance with the Vakhanasagrhyasutra printed at Kumba Konam in 1915 in Telugu cheaters This Darpan treats only of the materials contained in the Grhyasutra up to end of the third Prasna The Author follows the Sutra passage by passage His Division of the text differs from the one which is found in our manuscripts he divides not into Khandas but into prakarana containing more than one Khanda .

It was hitherto unknown that our Vaikhanasagrhyasutra presupposes in the same way as do the Apastamba the Gobhila and the Kathakagrahyasitra a separate collection of Mantras Without this collection of Mantras the Sutra is only partly intelligible fortunately this book of Mantras has been preserved a part of it has been printed under the title Vaikhanasamantraprasnah sasvarah Prasnacatustayatmakah a Vedic lectionary in 4 prasnas for the ritual for the ritual of the Vaikhanasa School of the Taittiriyas edited in Grantha characters at Kumbakonam in 1910 by Krasnabhattacarya and other Pandits It comprises the accented the accented text of the first four prasnas and gives the mantras for the first five books of the Grhyasutra I am in procession of a much more extensive copy of the text Viz the Vaikhanasiya Mantrasamhita being of No 1359 belonging to the Government Oriental Library at Mysore see Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Government Oriental Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscript in the government Oriental Library Mysore 1600 Page 9 After the four prassnas contained in the edition of Kumbakonam some more follow prasna V in 23 Adhyayas prasna VI in 14 prasna VII in 11 and of prasna VIII the first 26 Adhyayas There is no designation that here the text is complete.

On the whole the five sources on which our text is principally founded can be divided into two groups on the one hand the Madras manuscript of the text (Ma) and the bhasya (Bh) agree mostly on the other hand the three Vi My and Ed also agree closely with one another Wherever Ma and Bh on the one hand Vi My Ed on the other hand present the same readings I have for brevity sake designated these readings respectively as B and A.

Scholars who would like to know something more about this Vaikhanasasutra are referred to the translation of the text which is to appear shortly in the Introduction to the translation some connected with the Sutra will be Discussed.