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Sutras

Sutras may refer to:

Historical Vedic religion

The religion of the Vedic period (also known as Vedism, ancient Hinduism, Brahmanism and Vedic Brahmanism) was the religion of the Indo-Aryans of northern India. It is a historical predecessor of modern Hinduism, though significantly different from it.

The Vedic liturgy is conserved in the mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites. The complex Vedic rituals of Śrauta continue in coastal Andhra.

Scholars consider Vedic religion to have been a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures.

Origins

The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE. The Vedic religion was the religion of the Indo-Aryans, and existed in northern India from c. 1750 to 500 BCE. The Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes. bringing with them their language and religion. They were closely related to the Indo-Aryans who founded Mitanni kingdom in northern Syria (ca.1500-1300 BCE). Both groups were rooted in the Andronovo-culture in the Bactria-Margiana era, in present northern Afghanistan, and related to the Indo-Iranians, from which they split-off around 1800-1600 BCE. Their roots go back further to the Sintashta culture, with funeral sacrifices which show close parallels to the sacrificial funeral rites of the Rig Veda.
The immigrations consisted probably of small groups of people.Jonathan Mark Kenoyer notes that "there is no archaeological or biological evidence for invasions or mass migrations into the Indus Valley between the end of the Harappan phase, about 1900 B.C. and the beginning of the Early Historic period around 600 B.C."

For an overview of the current relevant research, see:

Kalpa (Vedanga)

Kalpa is one of the six disciplines of the Vedānga, concerning ritual.

Tradition does not single out any special work in this branch of the Vedānga; but sacrificial practice gave rise to a large number of systematic sūtras for the several classes of priests. A number of these works have been passed down, and they occupy by far the most prominent place among the literary productions of the sūtra-period. The Kalpa-sūtras, or rules of ceremonial, are of two kinds: (1) the Śrautasūtras, which are based on the śruti, and teach the performance of the great sacrifices, requiring three or five sacrificial fires; and (2) the Smartasūtras, or rules based on the smrti or tradition. The latter class again includes two kinds of treatises: (1) the Gṛhyasūtras, or domestic rules, treating the rites of passage, such as marriage, birth, namegiving, etc., connected with simple offerings into the domestic fire; and (2) the Dharmasūtras, which treat customs and social duties, and have formed the chief sources of the later law-books. Further, the Śrauta-sūtras of the Yajurveda have usually include a set of so-called Shulba Sūtras, i.e. rules of the cord, which treat of the measurement by means of cords, and the construction, of different kinds of altars required for sacrifices. These treatises are of special interest as supplying important information regarding the earliest geometrical operations in India. Along with the Sūtras may be classed a large number of supplementary treatises, usually called Pariśiṣṭa, on various subjects connected with the sacred texts and Vedic religion generally.

Bhagavata Purana

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Devanagari: भागवतपुराण) is one of eighteen Maha (Sanskrit: 'great') Puranic texts of Hinduism. Composed in Sanskrit and available in almost all regional Indian languages, it promotes Bhakti (emotional loving devotion) to Supreme God Vishnu (Narayana) in the incarnation of Krishna.

The Bhagavata Purana, like other Puranas, discusses a wide range of topics, including cosmology, genealogy, geography, mythology, legends, music, dance, yoga practice and culture. The Purana opens its Samudra Manthan legend as a war between good gods and evil demons, where evil has won and rules the universe. Truth re-emerges because of the Lila (play) of god Vishnu – as Krishna, Hari, Vasudeva in the text – whose strategy is to first make peace with the demons, understand them, then creatively defeat the evil, bringing back hope, justice, freedom and good; this underlying cyclic theme appears in many legends. The text is a synthesis of Bhakti to Krishna with the Advaita (monism) philosophy of Shankara, conceptualizing a form of Dharma that competes with that in the Vedas, wherein Bhakti ultimately leads to Self-knowledge, Moksha (salvation) and bliss. However, the Bhagavata Purana asserts that the inner nature and outer form of Bhagavan Krishna is the Vedas, and this is what rescues the earth when it gets submerged in cosmic waters.