Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Ashvalayana Shrautasutra

Ashvalayana Shrautasutra

The Ashvalayana shrautasutra (also spelled as Asvalayana Srautasutra, Sanskrit : आश्वलायन श्रौतसूत्र , Bengali : আশ্বলায়ন শ্রৌতসূত্র ) belongs to the Rig Veda.

The Shrauta sutra texts deals with ritual Vedic Sacrifices or Yajnas and their rules. They form a part of Kalpas which in turn are part of Vedangas which are auxilliary texts through which the meaning and purport of Vedic texts can be understood.

The Ashvalyana Shrautasutra is regarded as one of the most important Shrauta Sutra of the Rig Veda. The sutras are terse and cryptic, and require a commentary to make any sense of them.

The two important commentaries of the Ashvalayana Shrautasutra are those of Narayana and Siddhanti.

Asvalayana Srautasutra mainly deals with the maha yagjas (great sacrifices ) of the Aitareya Brahmama of the Rig Veda.

The Asvalayana Srautasutra describes in detail the following important yagyas.
  • Darshapurnamasa Yaga (Sanskrit: दर्शपूर्णमास , Bengali: দর্শপূর্ণমাস )
  • Agnihotra (Sanskrit: अग्निहोत्र , Bengali: অগ্নিহোত্র )
  • Nirudha (Sanskrit: निरुढ , Bengali: নিরুঢ )
  • Pashuvandha (Sanskrit: पशुवन्ध , Bengali: পশুবন্ধ )
  • Agnishtoma (Sanskrit: अग्निष्टोम , Bengali: অগ্নিষ্টোম )
  • Gavamayana Satra (Sanskrit: गवामयन सत्र , Bengali: গবাময়ন সত্র )

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That's it. Thank you for reading about Ashvalayana Shrautasutra. You may also like the following.

Interesting Facts about Rig Veda
Interesting Facts about Atharva Veda
Purpose of Hindu Philosophy 
Books on Vedas 
Prapanchasara Tantram

Reference
A Study of the asvalayana srauta sutra with reference to the principal sacrifices, by Purkayastha, Dipanjona

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1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing this article about Ashvalayana Sutra, during my pravara recitation , I say , I belong to Rigveda and Follower of Ashvalayana Sutra, often wondered what is this " Ashvalayana Sutra" is it a secret to attain moksha, or is it a secret about our skill set as rigvedis, today, after reading your article,I have to understand, that, it is about Yagna and related activities. Thank you so much for sharing. Warm Regards, Srinath Rigvedi ( chintalapalli Srinath)

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