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Kauthumasakha – Information About Kauthuma shakha

Kauthumasakha is a branch of Sama Veda. Although tradition attributes one thousand Shakhas (branches) for Sama Veda, only three branches – Kauthumas, Ranayaniyas, and Jaiminiyas or Talavakaras – have come down to us. Ranayaniya is really a sub-school of Kauthumas. As per information available, Kauthuma Shakha is the main school of Sama Veda.

The Kauthuma tradition is still in existence in the neighborhood of Vadodara in Gujarat, and in Kumbakonam, Tanjore, Chidambaram and Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu.


The Ranayaniya tradition is available in South, especially in Andhra Pradesh.

The Jaiminiya tradition is available among the Nambudiri Brahmins of Malabar (Kerala).
The manner of chanting by the Kauthumas and the Jaiminiyas differs considerably.
Kauthuma Samhita is divided into Purvarcika and Uttararcika; arcika are further divided into prapathakas, ardha (prapathakas) and dasatis on the one hand, and into adhyayas and khandas on the other.

Kauthumas have Panchvimsa or tandya Mahabrahmana, Savimsa and Arseya as the main Brahmana texts.

Latyayana Srautasutra belongs to Kauthumas, whereas Drahyayana belongs to Ranayaniyas; there is much similarity between the two.

Mention may also be made of Arseyakalpa Sutra, Kshudra Sutra, Upagantha Sutra, Panchavidha Sutra, Nidana Sutra, Anupada Sutra, and Kalpanupada Sutra.
The greater part of these works is attached to Arseyakalpa.

Gobila Grhyasutra also belongs to Kauthumas.

In the North, Pushpa Sutra is ascribed to Gobhila, which consists of ten prapathakas and it belongs to Kauthumas; in the South Phulla Sutra is ascribed to Vararuchi and it omits the first two parathakas and belongs to Ranayaniyas.

RK Tantra is a Samavedic pratisakhya text. The number of Samavedic works are innumerable.

Bibliography
A Survey Of The Srauta Sutras. In Journal of the University of Bombay Vol XXXV (New Series) part 2 Arts Number 41 (1968) by C.G. Kashikar - University of Bombay, Mumbai.