re mystic and recondite Aranyakas
and the speculative Upanishads, have to be considered as forming the
connecting link between the Vedic and the classical Sanskrit. The exact
derivation and meaning of the name is somewhat uncertain. Whilst the
masculine term _brahmana_ (nom. _brahmanas_), the ordinary Sanskrit
designation of a man of the Brahmanical caste, is clearly a derivative
of _brahman_ (nom. _brahma_), a common Vedic term for a priest (see
BRAHMAN), thus meaning the son or descendant of a Brahman, the neuter
word _brahman_ (nom. _brahmanam_) on the other hand, with which we are
here concerned, admits of two derivations: either it is derived from the
same word _brahman_, and would then seem to mean a _dictum_ or
observation ascribed to, or intended for the use of, a Brahman, or
superintendent priest; or it has rather to be referred to the neuter
noun _brahman_ (nom. _brahma_), in the sense of "sacred utterance or
rite," in which case it might mean a comment on a sacred text, or
explanation of a devotional rite, calculated to bring out its spiritual
or mystic significance and its bearing on the Brahma, the world-spirit
embodied in the sacred writ and ritual. This latter definition seems on
the whole the more probable one, and it certainly would fit exactly the
character of the writings to which the term relates. It will thus be
seen that the term _brahmanam_ applies not only to complete treatises of
an exegetic nature, but also to single comments on particular texts or
rites of which such a work would be made up.

The gradual elaboration of the sacrificial ceremonial, as the
all-sufficient expression of religious devotion, and a constantly
growing tendency towards theosophic and mystic speculation on the
significance of every detail of the ritual, could not fail to create a
demand for explanatory treatises of this kind, which, to enhance their
practical utility, would naturally deal with the special texts and rites
assigned in the ceremonial to the several classes of officiating
priests. At a subsequent period the demand for instruction in the
sacrificial science called into existence a still more practical set of
manuals, the so-called _Kalpa-sutras_, or ceremonial rules, detailing,
in succinct aphorisms, the approved course of sacrificial procedure,
without reference to the supposed origin or import of the several rites.
These manuals are also called _Srauta-sutras_, treating as they do, like
the Brahmanas, of th