The History of Indian Literature c8.20

c8.20

The third stage in Vedic literature is represented by the Sútras.∗ These are, upon the whole, essentially founded on the Bráhmaṇas, and must be considered as their necessary supplement, as a further advance in the path struck out by the latter in the direction of more rigid system and formalism.⁹ While the Bráhmaṇas, with the view of explaining the sacrifice and supporting it by authority, &c., uniformly confine themselves to individual instances of ritual, interpretation, tradition, and speculation, subjecting these to copious dogmatic treatment, the object of the Sútras is to comprehend everything that had any reference whatever to these subjects. The mass of matter became too great; there was risk of the tenor of the whole being lost in the details; and it gradually became impossible to discuss all the different particulars consecutively. Diffuse discussion of the details had to be replaced by concise collective summaries of them. The utmost brevity was, however, requisite in condensing this great mass, in order to avoid overburdening the memory; and this brevity ultimately led to a remarkably compressed and enigmatical style, which was more and more cultivated as the literature of the Sútras became more independent, and in proportion as the resulting advantages became apparent. Thus the more ancient a Sútra, the more intelligible it is; the more enigmatical it is, the more modern will it prove.∗