In comparison with the “three canonical Vedas” which have many ritual works, Atharvaveda Śaunaka has only two sūtras, the Kauśikasūtra and the Vaitānasūtra, and a small number of texts of a commentary type. The Saṁskāraprayogaratna, here edited and translated for the first time, represents an effort of referring to a superior ritual tradition, in the ever quest of the Atharvavedins of creating their own tradition and of making it accepted. In the introduction, passages of the respective rites from the Kauśikasūtra, Dārila and Keśava and the two unpublished paddhatis (Ātharvaṇīya Paddhati and Daśakarmāṇi) are translated, most of them for the first time.

Julieta Rotaru, Senior Researcher in Romani Studies at Centre of Baltic and Eastern European Studies (CBEES), Södertörn University, Sweden