SRAUTA-SUTRA

any of a number of Hindu ritual manuals used by priests engaged in the performance of the grander Vedic sacrifices, those requiring three fires and the services of many specialized priests. The manuals are called srauta (from Sanskrit sruti, revelation) because they are based directly on the older Vedic literature considered as a class to be Sruti, or revealed. The Srauta-sutras, together with the Grhya-sutras (dealing with domestic ceremonies) and the Dharma-sutras (dealing with rules of conduct), make up the Kalpa-sutras, collections of brief aphoristic texts that emerged within the different schools of the Veda. Each Srauta-sutra guides the priests of its own particular Vedic school in the performance of specialized functions. The texts deal with such subjects as the laying of the three fires, the full and new moon ceremonies, and the various animal and soma sacrifices.