Vedic Ritual- The Non-Solemn Rites

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This book does not cover all aspects of Vedic ritualism. For information on its general religious context and background the reader may be referred to my Religionen Indiens, 1. The original sources and their chronology, literary aspects, etc are discussed in my Ritual Sutras, which, being a volume of a History of Literature, should not have been expected thoroughly to deal with the intricacies and technicalities of the rituals, with their sociological background or with problems of the history of Indian civilization Questions regarding the relations between the Vedic ritual on the one hand and the prae- and non-Vedic rituals on the other have in all three books been designedly left out of consideration or only been touched upon in passing. The time is not yet ripe for an objective and comprehensive survey of the relevant problems Moreover, reliable information on the historical facts and their significance for the Indians is in my opinion of greater interest and importance than our speculations on prehistoric origins. To sketch just yet all influences that the domestic rites might have undergone and exerted, all the relations which might have existed with customs, law and religions of Aryans and non-Aryans would have been to produce an encyclopaedia containing too many hypotheses. As mere assertion unconfirmed by textual evidence is extremely unsatisfactory I have made it a rule to support every statement by at least one text-place. While endeavouring to avoid any dominating and comprehensive theories I have, without aiming at completeness, not limited myself to systematically arranging the many data contained in the sutra texts and the related literature but also attempted to explain a considerable number of rites and ceremonies from the functional and historical points of view as well as from the angle of the comparative study of religions. If however some rite or ritual has already been satisfactorily explained by my predecessors a brief reference to their publications could in most cases suffice. The many references made to some modern works on other religions are mainly intended to add to the parallels and bibliographical notes found in two or three well-known handbooks on religious phenomena and so to illustrate the significance of the rites under discussion by some more specific examples.