[RISA-L] Why no 'shrautas,' given 'smaartas'?

[Patrick Olivelle]

Smartas are really not Brahmins who STUDY the smritis, but those who
follow the smrit rituals -- for the most part domestic -- as opposed
to those who act as priests in temples.

There need not be a term to refer to those Brahmins who study the
Veda, because theoretically all are supposed to study and read the
Vedas. There are other words that refer to Brahmins who are "well
versed in" or "experts" in the Veda. For example, "bahuzruta",
"zrotriya", and (in its later meaning) "brahmavadin".


PO





At 5:50 PM -0500 28.3.05, Joperry2 at aol.com wrote:
>I'll try a shorter version of my query (see subject line):
>
>I'm told there are smaartas, Brahmins who study the smrtis but
>
><<There is no real category of shrautas, [= those Brahmins who study shrutis]
>though there evidently should be (there are
>vaidiks, chautrvedis, dvivedis, trivedis,
>depending on how many vedas you carry the living
>tradition of).>>
>
>Why not? or does this supposedly innovative term appear somewhere
>else after all?
>
>John Oliver Perry
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