The Fifth Praphaka of the Vdhla rautastra: Introduction to the Edition, Translation, and Commentary. Critical Edition

The Fifth Praphaka of the Vdhla rautastra includes a critical edition, followed by a translation and a commentary, of the fifth chapter (praphaka) of the Vdhla rautastra. This chapter is dedicated to the description of the so-called independent animal sacrifice (nirhapaubandha) in Vedic ritual. This series of short monographs relates to particular aspects of the animal sacrifice described in the Veda and to problems of exegesis of Vedic texts.

The first part of this edition presents the translation and commentary, while the critical edition makes up the second part. The commentary highlights the peculiarities of the Vdhla version of the nirhapaubandha. In the conclusion of the first part, the ancientness of the Vdhla school is discussed, as well as its place within the corpus of Taittirya texts.