Gṛhyasūtras (literally, homely; also called Laukika or popular, states Lubin). However, the Gṛhyasūtras also added many new non-Śrauta ceremonies over time. The śrautasūtras generally focus on large expensive public ceremonies, while gṛhyasūtras focus on householders and saṃskāras (rites of passage) such as childbirth, marriage, renunciation and cremation. The śrautasūtra ceremonies are usually elaborate and require the services of multiple priests, while gṛhyasūtra rituals can be performed without or with the assistance of a priest in the Hindu traditions. Animal versus vegetarian sacrificial offerings The Śrauta rituals varied in complexity. The first step of a Śrauta ritual was making of an altar, then the initiation of fire, next of Havir-yajnas recitations, then offering of milk or drinkable liquid drops into the fire, then prayers all with mantras. More complex Śrauta rituals were based on moon's cycle (Darshapurnamasa) and the seasonal rituals. The lunar cycle Śrauta sacrifices had no animal sacrifices, offered a Purodasha (baked grain cake) and Ghee (clarified butter) as an offering to gods, with recitation of mantras. According to Witzel, "the Pasubandha or “Animal Sacrifice” is also integrated into the Soma ritual, and involves the killing of an animal." The killing was considered inauspicious, and "bloodless" suffocation of the animal outside the offering grounds was practiced. The killing was viewed as a form of evil and pollution (papa, agha, enas), and reforms were introduced to avoid this evil in late/post-Rigvedic times. According to Timothy Lubin, the substitution of animal sacrifice in Śrauta ritual with shaped dough (pistapasu) or pots of ghee (ajyapasu) has been practiced for at least 600 years, although such a substitution is not condoned in Śrauta ritual texts. The discussions about substituting animal sacrifice with vegetarian offering, states Usha Grover, appear in section 1.2.3 of the Shatapatha Brahmana of the Yajurveda. This section, states Grover, presents the progressive change in the material offered to gods during a Śrauta ritual. The change, adds Grover, may be related to Ahimsa (non-violence principle), or merely a means to preserve the number of cattle, or lack of availability of sacrificial animals. However, according to Grover, the ancient text suggests that "animal sacrifice was given up", and offering had become "vegetable, grains, milk and ghee". The view that ancient Vedic texts had begun asserting that vegetable offerings were as efficient as animal offerings, for certain sacrifices, is shared by Max Müller and others. Decline According to Alexis Sanderson, Śrauta ceremonies declined