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The Agniṣṭoma, like other soma sacrifices, is characterised by several items, including the number of sung lauds (stotra) and recited lauds (śastra), always in the same quantity (Caland/Henry 1906: xiii; Renou 1962: 171). This specific combination is referenced with various lemmas: ṛ́c- and sā́man-, gā́thā- and nārāśaṃsī́- or stotrá- and śastra-. This communication will focus on the association of stotrá- ‘sung laud’ and śastra- ‘recited laud’, which is only attested in liturgical texts, specifically the saṃhitā of the Black Yajurveda, the brāhmaṇas and the sūtras. The term stotrá- appears only a few times in the hymns of the Ṛgveda and the Atharvaveda, while śastra- is mentioned even less frequently on its own. Many occurrences of stotrá- and śastra- just count the number of lauds featured in the soma rituals, like in TS 6.6.11.1, where sixteen compose the ṣoḍaśin ritual. Contrary to the other combinations of lauds, there is no clear separation between the two lauds. Both serve the same purpose of making the sacrifice complete and efficient, which is rendered through ritualistic considerations, while the other pairs of lauds are described with mythological, linguistic, and sacrificial arguments. In compositional or independent positions, the word stotrá- might be replaced by stutá-, keeping the connection to this specific sung laud performed in the ritual: for instance in TS 3.2.7.3, where both positions appear twice, and in some passages from the brāhmaṇas (AB 2.38-39, GB 1.5.23 or JB 1.236). This substitution is more commonly found in compounds than in independent positions, and it seems to be older due to its inherited nature (cf. the Avestan staōta-, already recorded in the Old Avestan corpus). This should be elaborated upon by comparing it with the few attestations of these words and their contexts, which will also allow highlighting their antiquity within the Indo-Aryan tradition.
