Śrauta

Śrautais a Sanskrit word that means "belonging tośruti", that is, anything based on theVedasofHinduism.It is an adjective and prefix for texts, ceremonies or person associated with śruti.The term, for example, refers toBrahminswho specialise in theśruticorpus of texts,and Śrauta Brahmin traditions in modern times can be seen inKeralaandCoastal Andhra.
The Sanskrit wordśrautais rooted inśruti("that which is heard", referring to scriptures of Hinduism). Johnson says thatśrauta, is an adjective that is applied to a text, a ritual practice, or a person, that is associated withśruti.Klostermaier concurs, stating that the prefix means "belonging tośruti", and includes ceremonies and texts related tośruti.The word is sometimes spelledshrautain scholarly literature.
Spread via Indian religions,homatraditions are found all across Asia, fromSamarkandtoJapan, over a 3000-year history.Ahoma, in all its Asian variations, is a ceremonial ritual that offers food to fire and is ultimately descended from theVedicreligion.The tradition reflects a ritual eclecticism for fire and cooked food (Paka-yajna) that developed in Indian religions, and theBrahmanalayers of theVedasare the earliest surviving records of this.
Yajnaor vedic fire sacrifice ritual, in Indian context, became a distinct feature of the early śruti (Vedic) rituals.Aśrautaritual is a form of quid pro quo where through the fire ritual, a sacrificer offered something to the gods, and the sacrificer expected something in return.The Vedic ritual consisted of sacrificial offerings of something edible or drinkable,such as milk, clarified butter, yoghurt, rice, barley, an animal, or anything of value, offered to the gods with the assistance of fire priests.This Vedic tradition split into Śrauta (śruti-based) and Smarta (Smriti-based).
The Śrauta rituals, states Michael Witzel, are an active area of study and are incompletely understood.
Śrauta "fire ritual" practices were copied by differentBuddhistandJaintraditions, states Phyllis Granoff, with their texts appropriating the "ritual eclecticism" of Hindu traditions, albeit with variations that evolved through the medieval times.The homa-style Vedic sacrifice ritual, states Musashi Tachikawa, was absorbed into Mahayana Buddhism and homa rituals continue to be performed in some Buddhist traditions in Tibet, China and Japan.
Śrautasūtras are ritual-related sutras based on theśruti. The first versions of theKalpa (Vedanga)sutras were probably composed by the sixth century BCE, starting about the same time as the Brahmana layer of the Vedas were composed and most ritual sutras were complete by around 300 BCE.They were attributed to famous Vedic sages in the Hindu tradition.These texts are written aphoristicsutrasstyle, and therefore are taxonomies or terse guidebooks rather than detailed manuals or handbooks for any ceremony.
The Śrautasūtras differ from the smārtasūtra based onsmṛti(that which is remembered, traditions).TheSmartasutras, in ancient vedic and post-vedic literature, typically refer to thegṛhyasūtras(householder's rites of passage) and sāmayācārikasūtras (right way to live one's life with duties to self and to relationships with others,dharmaśāstras).
The Śrautasūtras form a part of the corpus ofSanskritsutra literature. Their topics include instructions relating to the use of the śruti corpus in great rituals and the correct performance of these major vedic ceremonies, are same as those found in theBrahmanalayers of the Vedas, but presented in more systematic and detailed manner.
Baudhayana srautasutrais probably the oldest text in the śrautasūtra genre, and includes in its appendix aparibhāṣāsūtra(definitions, glossary section).Other texts such as the earlyApastamba śrautasūtraand later composed Katyayana start withParibhasa-sutrasection.Theśulbasūtrasorśulvasūtras are appendices in the śrautasūtras and deal with the mathematical methodology to construct geometries for thevedi(Vedic altar).The Sanskrit wordśulbameans "cord", and these texts are "rules of the cord".They provide, states Kim Plofker, what in modern mathematical terminology would be called "area preserving transformations of plane figures", tersely describing geometric formulae and constants.Five śulbasutras have survived through history, of which the oldest surviving is likely theBaudhayāna śulbasūtra(800–500 BCE), while the one byKātyāyanamay be chronologically the youngest (≈300 BCE).
Śrauta rituals and ceremonies refer to those found in theBrahmanalayers of the Vedas. These include rituals related to fire, full moon, new moon, soma, animal sacrifice, as well as seasonal offerings made during Vedic times.These rituals and ceremonies in the Brahmanas texts are mixed and difficult to follow. A clearer description of the ritual procedures appeared in theVedangaKalpa-sutras.
The Vedic rituals, states Burde, can be "divided into Śrauta and Gṛhya rituals".Śrauta rites relating to public ceremonies were relegated to the Śrautasutras, while most Vedic rituals relating to rites of passage and household ceremonies were incorporated in the Gṛhyasūtras (literally, homely; also calledLaukikaor popular, states Lubin).However, the Gṛhyasūtras also added many new non-Śrauta ceremonies over time.The śrautasūtras generally focus on large expensive public ceremonies, while gṛhyasūtras focus on householders andsaṃskāras(rites of passage) such aschildbirth,marriage,renunciationandcremation.
The śrautasūtra ceremonies are usually elaborate and require the services of multiple priests,while gṛhyasūtra rituals can be performed without or with the assistance of a priest in the Hindu traditions.
The Śrauta rituals varied in complexity. The first step of a Śrauta ritual was making of an altar, then the initiation of fire, next of Havir-yajnas recitations, then offering of milk or drinkable liquid drops into the fire, then prayers all with mantras.
More complex Śrauta rituals were based on moon's cycle (Darshapurnamasa) and the seasonal rituals.The lunar cycle Śrauta sacrifices had no animal sacrifices, offered aPurodasha(baked grain cake) andGhee(clarified butter) as an offering to gods, with recitation ofmantras.
According to Witzel, "the Pasubandha or "Animal Sacrifice" is also integrated into the Soma ritual, and involves the killing of an animal." The killing was considered inauspicious, and "bloodless" suffocation of the animal outside the offering grounds was practiced.The killing was viewed as a form of evil and pollution (papa,agha,enas), and reforms were introduced to avoid this evil in late/post-Rigvedic times.According to Timothy Lubin, the substitution of animal sacrifice in Śrauta ritual with shaped dough (pistapasu) or pots of ghee (ajyapasu) has been practiced for at least 600 years, although such a substitution is not condoned in Śrauta ritual texts.
The discussions about substituting animal sacrifice with vegetarian offering, states Usha Grover, appear in section 1.2.3 of theShatapatha Brahmanaof theYajurveda.This section, states Grover, presents the progressive change in the material offered to gods during a Śrauta ritual.The change, adds Grover, may be related toAhimsa(non-violence principle), or merely a means to preserve the number of cattle, or lack of availability of sacrificial animals. However, according to Grover, the ancient text suggests that "animal sacrifice was given up", and offering had become "vegetable, grains, milk and ghee".The view that ancient Vedic texts had begun asserting that vegetable offerings were as efficient as animal offerings, for certain sacrifices, is shared byMax Müllerand others.
According to Alexis Sanderson, Śrauta ceremonies declined from the fifth to the thirteenth century CE.This period saw a shift from Śrauta sacrifices to charitable grant of gifts such as giving cows, land, issuing endowments to build temples andsattrani(feeding houses), and water tanks as part of religious ceremonies.
Most Śrauta rituals are rarely performed in the modern era.Some Śrauta traditions have been observed and studied by scholars, as in the rural parts ofAndhra Pradesh, and elsewhere inIndiaandNepal.Śrauta traditions fromCoastal Andhrahave been reported by David Knipe,and an elaborate śrauta ceremony was video recorded inKeralaby Frits Staal in 1975.According to Axel Michaels, the homa sacrifice rituals found in modern Hindu and Buddhist contexts evolved as a simpler version of the Vedic Śrauta ritual.
Knipe has published a book on Śrauta practices from rural Andhra. The Śrauta ritual system, states Knipe, "is an extended one, in the sense that a simple domestic routine has been replaced by one far more demanding on the religious energies of the sacrificer and his wife," and is initiated by augmenting a family's single fire Grihya system to a three fire Śrauta system.The community that continues to teach the Śrauta tradition to the next generation also teaches the Smarta tradition, the choice left to the youth.The Andhra tradition may be, states Knipe, rooted in the ancient Apstamba Śrauta and Grihya Sutras.In the Andhra traditions, after one has established the routine of the twice-daily routine ofagnihotraofferings and biweeklydara pūrṇamāsaofferings, one is eligible to perform the agniṣṭoma, the simplestsomarite.After the agniṣṭoma, one is eligible to perform more extensive soma rites andagnicayanarites.
The first soma Śrauta ritual to be conducted outside of South Asia was inLondon, theUnited Kingdomin 1996 by aPuṣṭimārgamahārāj who employed south Indian priests. The sacrifice was described by Smith to be a "ludicrous debacle" in terms of adherence to ritual rules.
Śrautabrahminsspecialise in conducting rituals according to the śruti corpus of texts, in contrast to smarta brahmins, known for conducting rituals according tosmrititexts.
Women recitingmantrasat śrauta ceremonies of Hinduism from ancient times have been suggested by a number of scholars such as Mary McGee, Stephanie Jamison, Katherine Young, and Laurie Patton.
TheAshvamedhaandRajasuyaare not practiced anymore.There is doubt thePurushamedha, ahuman sacrifice, was ever performed.
The Śrauta rituals were complex and expensive, states Robert Bellah, and "we should not forget that the rites were created for royalty and nobility".A Brahmin, adds Bellah, would need to be very rich to sponsor and incur the expense of an elaborate Śrauta rite.In ancient times, through the middle of 1st millennium CE, events such as royal consecration sponsored the Śrauta rites, and thereafter they declined as alternative rites such as temple and philanthropic actions became more popular with the royalty.
TheUpanishads, states Brian Smith, were a movement towards the demise of the Śrauta-style social rituals and the worldview these rites represented.The Upanishadic doctrines were not a culmination, but a destruction of Vedic ritualism.This had a lasting influence on the Indian religions that gained prominence in the 1st millennium BCE, not only in terms of the Vedanta and other schools of Hindu philosophy that emerged, but also in terms of Buddhist and Jaina influence among the royal class of the ancient Indian society.
With time, scholars of ancient India composed Upanishads, such as thePranagnihotra Upanishad, that evolved the focus from external rituals to self-knowledge and to inner rituals within man. The Pranagnihotra is, statesHenk Bodewitz, an internalized direct private ritual that substituted external public Agnihotra ritual (a srauta rite).
This evolution hinged on the Vedic idea ofdevas(gods) referring to the sense organs within one's body, and that the human body is the temple ofBrahman, the metaphysical unchanging reality. This principle is found in many Upanishads, including the Pranagnihotra Upanishad, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad section 2.2,Kaushitaki Upanishad sections 1.4 and 2.1–2.5,Prasna Upanishad chapter 2,and others.The idea is also found and developed by other minor Upanishads such as the ancientBrahma Upanishadwhich opens by describing human body as the "divine city of Brahman".
Bodewitz states that this reflects the stage in ancient Indian thought where "the self or the person as a totality became central, with the self or soul as the manifestation of the highest principle or god".This evolution marked a shift in spiritual rite from the external to the internal, from public performance through srauta-like rituals to performance in thought through introspection, from gods in nature to gods within.
The Śrauta Agnihotra sacrifice thus evolved into Prana-Agnihotra sacrifice concept. Heesterman describes the pranagnihotra sacrifice as one where the practitioner performs the sacrifice with food and his own body as the temple, without any outside help or reciprocity, and this ritual allows the Hindu to "stay in the society while maintaining his independence from it", its simplicity thus marks the "end station of Vedic ritualism".