The Shulbasutras of Baudhayana, Apastamba, Katyayana and Manava: With Text, English Translation and Commentary c5.s1.6

c5.s1.6

Bühler, Keith and other scholars all agreed that the irregular forms persistently used by Baudhāyana and Āpastamba in composing the whole texts of the *Śrauta-*, the *Gṛhya-* and the *Dharma-sūtras* could have hardly been possible after Pāṇini's grammar reached its accepted position. Bühler, therefore, considered Āpastamba anterior to Pāṇini by about 150-200 years, which would place the former in the fifth-sixth century B.C. In his *Āpastamba Śrautasūtra*, Garbe, in general agreement with Bühler, assigned Āpastamba to the fifth century B.C. Keith considered such a high date for Āpastamba improbable from consideration of language and would not take him beyond say 300 or 350 B.C. By Keith's own agreement with Bühler that Āpastamba could be anterior to Pāṇini and his statement that there is absolutely no conclusive evidence of the date of these early *sūtrakāras*, it is somewhat baffling to understand how Āpastamba could be placed around *c.* 350 B.C.