Sutras (सूत्राणि)

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Sutras are a distinct type of literary composition, a compilation of short aphoristic statements.[1][2] Each sutra is any short rule, like a theorem distilled into few words or syllables, around which teachings of ritual, philosophy, grammar, or any field of knowledge can be woven.[3][1]

Indian Philosophy has six Aastika schools called the Shad-darsana--the six ways of seeing things, the six different schools of thought. The six schools of philosophy are six demonstrations of Truth. Each school has developed, systematised and correlated the various parts of the Veda in its own way. Each system has its Sutrakara, i.e. the one great Rishi, who systematised the doctrines of the school and put them in short aphorisms or Sutras.[4]

The Sutras are terse and laconic. The Rishis have condensed their thoughts in the aphorisms. It is very difficult to understand them without the help of commentaries by great sages or Rishis. Hence, there arose many commentators or Bhashyakaras.[4]

Every school of Hindu philosophy, Vedic guides for rites of passage, various fields of arts, law, and social ethics developed respective sutras, which helped teach and transmit ideas from one generation to the next.[2][5]

Etymology

The word sūtra (Sanskrit: सूत्र, Pali: sūtta, Ardha Magadhi: sūya) means "string, thread".[3][1] The root of the word is siv, that which sews and holds things together.[3][6] The word is related to sūci (Sanskrit: सूचि) meaning "needle, list",[7] and sūnā (Sanskrit: सूना) meaning "woven".[3]

Detailed Discussion

अल्पाक्षरं असंदिग्धं सारवत्‌ विश्वतोमुखम्‌।
अस्तोभं अनवद्यं च सूत्रं सूत्र विदो विदुः॥

A Sutra or an aphorism is a short formula with the least possible number of letters, without any ambiguity or doubtful assertion, containing the very essence, embracing all meanings, without any stop or obstruction and absolutely faultless in nature.[4]

The Sutrakara or the composer of the aphorisms is said to be very pleased if he is able to reduce one letter in his abstruse Sutra. The best example of the greatest, the tersest and the most perfect of Sutra literature is the series of aphorisms called the Ashtadhyayi composed by Panini. Panini is the father of all Sutrakaras from whom all others seem to have borrowed the method of composition. The Sutras are meant to explain a big volume of knowledge in short assertions suitable to be kept in memory at all times.[4]

The six Vedangas and the six systems of Hindu philosophy form the twelve sets of Sutra literature of the world. In addition to these, there are later compositions like the Narada-Bhakti Sutras, the Sandilya-Bhakti Sutras, etc.[4]

Each set of Sutras has got its Bhashya, Vritti, Vaartika, Vyakhyana (व्याख्यानम्) or Tika and Tippani.

Bhashya

A Bhashya (Sanskrit: भाष्य) is an elaborate exposition, a commentary on the Sutras, with word by word meaning of the aphoristic precepts, their running translation, together with the individual views of the commentator or the Bhashyakara.[4]

The best and the exemplary Bhashya in Sanskrit literature is the one written by Patanjali on the Vyakarana Sutras of Panini. This Bhashya is so important that it is called the MAHABHASHYA and its celebrated author is specially called the BHASHYAKARA. Patanjali is the father of Bhashyakaras.[4]

Vritti

Sadvrittih sannibandhana

Vritti is a short gloss explaining the aphorisms in a more elaborate way, but not as extensively as in a Bhashya. An example is Bodhayana's Vritti on the Brahma Sutras.[4]

Varttika

Uktanuktaduruktanam

Chinta yatra pravartate

Tam grantham varttikam prahuh

Varttikajnavichakshanah

A Varttika is a work where a critical study is made of that which is said and left unsaid or imperfectly said in a Bhashya, and the ways of making it perfect by supplying the omissions therein, are given. Examples are the Varttikas of Katyayana on Panini's Sutras, of Suresvara on Sankara's Upanishad Bhashyas, and of Kumarila Bhatta on the Sabara-Bhashya on the Karma-Mimamsa.[4]

Vyakhyana or Tika

A Vyakhyana is a running explanation in an easier language of what is said in the original, with little elucidations here and there. A Vyakhyana, particularly of a Kavya, deals with eight different modes of dissection of the Sloka, like Pada-Chheda, Vigraha, Sandhi, Alankara, Anuvada, etc. This forms an important aspect in the study of Sanskrit Sahitya Sastra.[4]

An Anu-Vyakhyana—like the one written by Sri Madhva—is a repetition of what is already written, but in greater detail. An Anuvada is merely a running translation or statement of an abstruse text of the original. Tika is only another name for Vyakhyana. The best Vyakhyanas are of Vachaspati Misra on the Darsanas, especially on Sankara's Brahmasutra-Bhashya.[4]

Tippani

Tippani is just like a Vritti, but is less orthodox than the Vritti. It is an explanation of difficult words or phrases occurring in the original. Examples are Kaiyata's gloss on the Mahabhashya of Patanjali, Nagojibhatta's gloss on Kaiyata's gloss, or Appayya's gloss on Arnalananda's gloss on the Bhamati of Vachaspati Misra.[4]

Post-vedic sutras

Some examples of sutra texts in various schools of Hindu philosophy include:

  • Brahma Sutras (or Vedanta Sutra) – a Sanskrit text, composed by Badarayana, likely sometime between 200 BCE to 200 CE.[8] The text contains 555 sutras in four chapters that summarize the philosophical and adhyatmik ideas in the Upanishads.[9] It is one of the foundational texts of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy.[9]
  • Yoga Sutras – contains 196 sutras on Yoga including the eight limbs and meditation. The Yoga Sutras were compiled around 400 CE by Patanjali, taking materials about yoga from older traditions.[10] The text has been highly influential on Indian culture and adhyatmik traditions, and it is among the most translated ancient Indian text in the medieval era, having been translated into about forty Indian languages.[11]
  • Samkhya Sutra – is a collection of major Sanskrit texts of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy, including the sutras on dualism of Kapila.[12] It consists of six books with 526 sutras.
  • Vaisheshika Sutra - is the foundational text of the Vaisheshika school of Hinduism, dated to between 4th-century BCE to 1st-century BCE, authored by Kanada.[13] With 370 sutras, it aphoristically teaches non-theistic naturalism, epistemology, and its metaphysics. The first two sutras of the text expand as, "Now an explanation of Dharma; The means to prosperity and salvation is Dharma."[13][14]
  • Nyaya Sutras – is an ancient text of Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy composed by Akṣapada Gautama, sometime between 6th-century BCE to 2nd-century CE.[15][16] It is notable for focusing on knowledge and logic, and making no mention of Vedic rituals.[15] The text includes 528 aphoristic sutras, about rules of reason, logic, epistemology, and metaphysics.[17][18] These sutras are divided into five books, with two chapters in each book.[15] The first book is structured as a general introduction and table of contents of sixteen categories of knowledge.[15] Book two is about pramana (epistemology), book three is about prameya or the objects of knowledge, and the text discusses the nature of knowledge in remaining books.[15]
  • Mimamsa Sutras - is the foundational text of the Mimamsa school of Hinduism, authored by Jaimini, and it emphasizes the early part of the Vedas, that is rituals and religious works as means to salvation.[19] The school emphasized precision in the selection of words, construction of sentences, developed rules for hermeneutics of language and any text, adopted and then refined principles of logic from the Nyaya school, and developed extensive rules for epistemology.[19] An atheistic school that supported external Vedic sacrifices and rituals, its Mimamsa Sutra contains twelve chapters with nearly 2700 sutras.[19]
  • Dharma-sutras - of Āpastamba, Gautama, Baudhāyana, and Vāsiṣṭha
  • Artha-sutras - the Niti Sutras of Chanakya and Somadeva are treatises on governance, law, economics, and politics. Versions of Chanakya Niti Sutras have been found in Sri Lanka and Myanmar.[20] The more comprehensive work of Chanakya, the Arthashastra is itself composed in many parts, in sutra style, with the first Sutra of the ancient book acknowledging that it is a compilation of Artha-knowledge from previous scholars.[21]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 M Winternitz (2010 Reprint), A History of Indian Literature, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-0264-3, pages 249
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gavin Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0, pages 54–55
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Monier Williams, Sanskrit English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Entry for sutra, page 1241
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Swami Sivananda, All About Hinduism, Page 47-51
  5. ↑ White, David Gordon (2014). The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: A Biography. Princeton University Press. pp. 194–195. ISBN 978-0-691-14377-4.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  6. ↑ MacGregor, Geddes (1989). Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy (1st ed.). New York: Paragon House. ISBN 1-55778-019-6.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  7. ↑ suci Sanskrit English Dictionary, Koeln University, Germany
  8. ↑ NV Isaeva (1992), Shankara and Indian Philosophy, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-1281-7, page 35 with footnote 30
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 James Lochtefeld, Brahman, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8239-3179-8, page 124
  10. ↑ Wujastyk, Dominik (2011), The Path to Liberation through Yogic Mindfulness in Early Ayurveda. In: David Gordon White (ed.), "Yoga in practice", Princeton University Press, p. 33<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  11. ↑ White, David Gordon (2014). The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: A Biography. Princeton University Press. p. xvi. ISBN 978-0-691-14377-4.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  12. ↑ Samkhya Pravachana Sutra NL Sinha, The Samkhya Philosophy, page i
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Klaus K. Klostermaier (2010), A Survey of Hinduism, Third Edition, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-7082-4, pages 334–335
  14. ↑ Jeaneane Fowler (2002), Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 978-1-898723-94-3, pages 98–107
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Jeaneane Fowler (2002), Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 978-1-898723-94-3, page 129
  16. ↑ B. K. Matilal "Perception. An Essay on Classical Indian Theories of Knowledge" (Oxford University Press, 1986), p. xiv.
  17. ↑ Ganganatha Jha (1999 Reprint), Nyaya Sutras of Gautama (4 vols.), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-1264-2
  18. ↑ SC Vidyabhushan and NL Sinha (1990), The Nyâya Sûtras of Gotama, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-0748-8
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Jeaneane Fowler (2002), Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 978-1-898723-94-3, pages 67–86
  20. ↑ SC Banerji (1989), A Companion to Sanskrit Literature, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-0063-2, pages 586–587
  21. ↑ Thomas Trautman (2012), Arthashastra: The Science of Wealth, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-670-08527-9, pages 16–17, 61, 64, 75
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