Latyayana Srauta Sutra (3 Vols.)

Latyayana Srauta Sutra (3 Vols.)

The Srauta Sutras are an essential part of the larger body of literature known as the Sutras. They are known for distilling the substance of the Vedic scriptures known as the Samhitas and the Brahmanas into a condensed form, which helps to reinforce India’s long-standing custom of offering sacrifices. The Yajurveda and the Samaveda, as well as the Rgveda, which is known to have developed a variety of recensions with differences in utterance and practise, are also important to the sacrificial tradition in India, which is widely known to be based primarily on the Rgveda, which is the oldest book that was written by humans.

About the Author(s)

Prof. Dr. H.G. Ranade, currently the Coordinator and editor of the Sanskrit-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary on Historical principles at the Deccan College, Pune had the honour of completing his education with first class throughout and did his Ph.D. on ‘the study of Satapatha Brahmana as a commentary’ on the Vajasaneya samhita’ from the University of Bombay in 1970. Being in the profession of teaching and research he has developed a special liking for vedic ritual, the tradition of which is found dwindling now-a-days. After completing his first English translations of the Katyayana and Asvalayana-Srauta-Sutra (published in 1978, 1983-86) he is inclined to present here his critical edition of Latyayana-Srauta-Sutra with his first English translation under the auspices of the IGNCA. Enriching his aquaintance with the Vedic ritualistic terminology with these editions and translation he naturally proposes to work on the Illustrated, Dictionary of Vedic Rituals. He had also the opportunity to attend the performance of the important Soma sacrifice in India and later deliver lectures on the Vedic rituals abroad holding thereby discussions on problems therein with the scholars of the world. It is hoped that his wide experience and contributions of Vedic rituals will definitely benefit the readers.