As a matter of fact alternative instructions ascribed to anonymous or expressly mentioned figures are found among the rules given by the actual sūtrakāra in the instructions to perform the ritual. For example in Āśvalāyanaśrautasūtra 1.3.13 we find: “agnīṣomīyam paurṇamāsyām vaiṣṇavam.amāvāsyāyām eke na eke kaṃcana”, that is to say “Some in the Full Moon sacrifice [offer an iṣṭi oblation {ĀŚŚ 1.3.12}] to Agniṣoma and in the New Moon night to Viṣṇu, some other no oblation”.
In the Śrautasūtras there are several passages where we can find references to alternative opinions, different modus operandi, additional or even abridged elements and all these are to be ascribed to mysterious “someones ”or to more or less known authorities. These quotations, opinions, authorities, or in short these variants of the ritual are the object of this research.
The collection and the subsequent analysis of these sūtras could become crucial to give a deeper look at the nature and dynamics of Ancient Hindū rituals and to better understand the modalities of the actual ritual building, the relationships between the different traditions, the connection between variable and immovable ritual elements, as well as all the processes determining its form, the science moulding its contents, and the grammar ruling its rules.
