The Fifth Prapa?haka of the Vadhula Srautasutra

The Fifth Prapa?haka of the Vadhula Srautasutra includes a critical edition, followed by a translation and a commentary, of the fifth chapter (prapa?haka) of the Vadhula Srautasutra. This chapter is dedicated to the description of the so-called “independent” animal sacrifice (niru?hapasubandha) in Vedic ritual. This series of short monographs relates to particular aspects of the animal sacrifice described in the Veda and to problems of exegesis of Vedic texts.

The first part of this edition presents the translation and commentary, while the critical edition makes up the second part. The commentary highlights the peculiarities of the Vadhula version of the niru?hapasubandha. In the conclusion of the first part, the ancientness of the Vadhula school is discussed, as well as its place within the corpus of Taittiriya texts.