Baudhayana

(6th–3rd c. B.C.E.) Sage, writer, and commentator. Baudhayana is the author of
one of the three surviving religious texts
known as the Kalpa Sutras. Apastamba
and Hiranyakeshin wrote the other two
Kalpa Sutras. Each of the surviving
works contains the three elements dictated for a Kalpa Sutra: prescriptions for
Vedic rituals (Shrauta Sutras), prescriptions for domestic rites (Grhya Sutras),
and prescriptions for appropriate
human behavior (Dharma Sutras). All
three of the authors belonged to the
same school, the Taittiriya school of the
Black Yajur Veda. According to tradition,
Baudhayana was the oldest, Apastamba
was his disciple, and Hiranyakeshin was
Apastamba’s disciple. This relative
chronology is supported by the texts
themselves, since Baudhayana’s work is
much less organized than the others, his
language is more archaic, and he is often
less strict in his opinions. His texts gain
their primary importance as a source for
his successors.