Sūtra

A sūtra ('thread') is a short, dense statement meant to be memorised and unpacked by commentary; a traditional definition calls it brief, unambiguous, essential and comprehensive. Pāṇini's grammar, the Yoga, Brahma and Mīmāṃsā Sūtras, the Kalpa sūtras and the Jaimini Sūtras of astrology are all composed this way. The sixteen 'sūtras' of Bhāratī Kṛṣṇa Tīrtha's Vedic Mathematics (1965) are a modern composition and are not found in the extant Vedic texts.