Shrautasutras (श्रौतसूत्राणि)

Shrautasutras (Samskrit: श्रौतसूत्राणि), as the name suggest, refers to the texts which have been derived from the Shruti or the Vedas. The Shrauta sutras contain a very detailed, meticulously accurate and vivid description of the several yajnas that were performed in ancient times. These works were manuals compiled for the practical purpose of giving directions to those who engaged in such yajnas. They are based on ancient Brahmana texts, which they quote at every step, many individual sutras being couched in the very language of the Brahmana texts.

परिचयः ॥ Introduction

The Shrauta rituals cover a whole gamut of rituals from the simplest to the most complicated. Most of them are no more practiced, but their study is useful for historical reasons. According to Prof. Radhakrishna Bhat,

"Most of the ‘Haviryajnas’, ‘Agnihotra’, ‘Darsapurnamasa’ and ‘Caturmasya’ yajnas, the basic ‘Somayajnas’, ‘Agnistomas’ and its varieties, and some culturally and historically important yajnas like ‘Vajapeya’, “Asvamedha’, ‘Sarvamedha’ etc are found in ‘Yajurveda’ (Adhvaryuveda). Later in ‘Puranas’ the references to Vedic rituals and practices are found. In classical Sanskrit literature some references to Vedic rituals and practices are mentioned. This shows that the Vedic ritual tradition is continued to modern period too without any interruption".

The procedures for Shrauta karmas are compiled in Shrauta Sutras as given in the Kalpa Vedanga. Some of the Shrauta Sutras associated with particular vedas are as follows

Vedas	Srautasutras
Rig Veda	Asvalayana, Sankhyayana
Krishna Yajurveda : Taittriya	Baudhayana, Bharadvaja, Apastamba, Hiranyakeshi, Vaikhanasa, Vadula, Kathaka
Krishna Yajurveda : Maitrayani	Manava and Varaha
Shukla Yajurveda	Katyanana
Samaveda	Arsheyakalpa, Kshudrasutra, Jaiminiya, Latyayana and Drahyayana
Atharvaveda	Vaitana

Besides these above mentioned Srautasutras, there are many others but their texts are not available at present.