Sūtra

सूत्र

नपुंसकलिङ्ग (neutro) · सिव् धातु (siv — costurar) + त्र प्रत्यय

sūtra

Texts and Scriptures

AI translation

Concise aphorism that condenses a teaching

Sūtra is a Sanskrit literary format: a short, dense phrase of few words that 'sews' (siv) a set of ideas into a compact thread. The Brahma Sūtras of Vyāsa, Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, and other foundational texts use this format. A sūtra does not explain — it condenses. For this reason it requires bhāṣya (commentary) to be understood. Tradition says the ideal sūtra 'has few syllables, is free of ambiguity, full of meaning, universally applicable, without redundancy, and flawless'.

Occurrence in the corpus

इतरपरामर्शात् स इति चेन्नासम्भवात् ॥१८॥ 【भाष्यम्】 यद्यपि अपहतपाप्मत्वाद्यसम्भवो जीवे स्पष्ट एव ; तथापि तत्सम्भवशङ्कां काञ्चिन्निराकर्तुमुपोद्घातरूपमिदं सूत्रम् ॥१.३.१८॥ तामेव शङ्कामुद्घाट्य निराकरोति –

itaraparāmarśāt sa iti cennāsambhavāt ||18|| 【bhāṣyam】 yadyapi apahatapāpmatvādyasambhavo jīve spaṣṭa eva ; tathāpi tatsambhavaśaṅkāṃ kāñcinnirākartumupodghātarūpamidaṃ sūtram ||1.3.18|| tāmeva śaṅkāmudghāṭya nirākaroti –

— Nyaya Rakshamani →

Using this in academic work? Get formal citation

APA

Vishva Vidya (2026). Sūtra (सूत्र). Vishva Vidya — Vedanta. https://vedanta.com.br/en/glossary/sutra

MLA

Vishva Vidya. "Sūtra (सूत्र)." Vishva Vidya — Vedanta, January 1, 2026, https://vedanta.com.br/en/glossary/sutra.

Chicago

Vishva Vidya. "Sūtra (सूत्र)." Vishva Vidya — Vedanta, January 1, 2026. https://vedanta.com.br/en/glossary/sutra.

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