The Grihya-sutras, rules of Vedic domestic ceremonies

XIV
A
Gi27"HYA-SUTRAS
context of the first line is different, but the metre is the
same
- - - -11- ^ ^ -
medha;/^ te Mitravaruwau.
Or the saying with which the pupil (brahmaMrin) has to
lay a log of wood on the fire of the teacher ^
— — v>
Agnaye samidham aharsham
taya tvam Agne vardhasva.
There would be no object in multiplying the number of
examples ; those here given are sufficient to prove our pro-
position, that the development of the Gr/hya rites in the
form in which they are described to us in the Sutras, that
especially their being accompanied with verses, which were
to be recited by their performance, is later than the time of
the oldest Vedic poetry, and coincides rather with the
transition period in the development of the Anush/ubh
metre, a period which lies between the old Vedic and the
later Buddhistic and epic form.
Besides the formulae intended to be recited during the
performance of the various sacred acts, the Gr/hya-sutras
contain a second kind of verses, which differ essentially
from the first kind in regard to metre ; viz. verses of
ritualistic character, which are inserted here and there
between the prose Sutras, and of which the subject-matter
is similar to that of the surrounding prose. We shall have
to consider these ya^;7agathas, as they are occasionally
called, later; at present let us go on looking for traces of
the Grzhya. ritual and for the origin of Grihya. literature
in the literature which precedes the Sutras.
The Brahma;/a texts, which, as a whole, have for their sub-
ject-matter the Vaitanika ceremonies celebrated with the
three holy fires, furnish evidence that the Grzhya. fire, together
with the holy acts accomplished in connection with it, were
also already known. The Aitareya-Brahma;/a ^ gives this
1 Aj-valayana-Gr/hya I, 21, i. In Faraskara and in the Mantra-Brahmawa
only the first hemistich has the Anush/ubh form.
^ Aitareya-Brahmawa VIII, 10, : 9 etya grelian pajZ'ad gr^Tiyasyagner upa-