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Vedanga
Indian Hindu Vedic studies disciplines

The Vedanga are six auxiliary disciplines of Vedic studies that developed in Vedic and post-Vedic times.

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List of the Vedanga

  1. Shiksha (Sanskrit: शिक्षा śikṣā, "instruction, teaching"): phonetics, phonology, pronunciation.3 This auxiliary discipline has focused on the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, accent, quantity, stress, melody and rules of euphonic combination of words during a Vedic recitation.45
  2. Chandas (Sanskrit: छन्दस् chandas, "metre"): prosody.6 This auxiliary discipline has focused on the poetic meters, including those based on fixed number of syllables per verse, and those based on fixed number of morae per verse.78
  3. Vyakarana (Sanskrit: व्याकरण vyākaraṇa, "grammar"): grammar and linguistic analysis.91011 This auxiliary discipline has focused on the rules of grammar and linguistic analysis to establish the exact form of words and sentences to properly express ideas.1213
  4. Nirukta (Sanskrit: निरुक्त nirukta, "etymology"): etymology, explanation of words, particularly those that are archaic and have ancient uses with unclear meaning.14 This auxiliary discipline has focused on linguistic analysis to help establish the proper meaning of the words, given the context they are used in.15
  5. Kalpa (Sanskrit: कल्प kalpa, "proper. fit"): ritual instructions.16 This field focused on standardizing procedures for Vedic rituals, rites of passage rituals associated with major life events such as birth, wedding and death in family, as well as discussing the personal conduct and proper duties of an individual in different stages of his life.17
  6. Jyotisha (Sanskrit: ज्योतिष jyotiṣa, "astrology"): Right time for rituals with the help of position of nakshatras and asterisms18 and astronomy.1920 This auxiliary Vedic discipline focused on time keeping.2122

History and background

See also: Sanskrit and Vedic learning and Gurukula

The character of Vedangas has roots in ancient times, and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad mentions it as an integral part of the Brahmanas layer of the Vedic texts.23 These auxiliary disciplines of study arise with the codification of the Vedas in Iron Age India. It is unclear when the list of six Vedangas were first conceptualized.24 The Vedangas likely developed towards the end of the Vedic period, around or after the middle of the 1st millennium BCE. An early text of the genre is the Nighantu by Yaska, dated to roughly the 5th century BCE. These auxiliary fields of Vedic studies emerged because the language of the Vedic texts composed centuries earlier grew too archaic to the people of that time.25

Vedangas developed as ancillary studies for the Vedas, but its insights into meters, structure of sound and language, grammar, linguistic analysis and other subjects influenced post-Vedic studies, arts, culture and various schools of Hindu philosophy.262728 The Kalpa Vedanga studies, for example, gave rise to the Dharma-sutras, which later expanded into Dharma-shastras.2930

See also

  • Sruti (श्रुति Śruti, "that which is heard")
  • Smriti (स्मृति Smṛti, "that which is remembered")
  • Gurukula

Bibliography

  • Media related to Vedangas at Wikimedia Commons
  • "Vedanga" in the Hindu Encyclopedia

References

  1. Morgan, Kenneth W. (1953). The Religion of the Hindus. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 269. ISBN 9788120803879. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) 9788120803879 ↩

  2. James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, pages 744-745 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  3. James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, pages 744-745 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  4. Sures Chandra Banerji (1989). A Companion to Sanskrit Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 323–324. ISBN 978-81-208-0063-2. 978-81-208-0063-2 ↩

  5. Annette Wilke & Oliver Moebus 2011, pp. 477–495. - Annette Wilke; Oliver Moebus (2011). Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-018159-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=KZCMe67IGPkC ↩

  6. James Lochtefeld (2002), "Chandas" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, page 140 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  7. Annette Wilke & Oliver Moebus 2011, pp. 391-394 with footnotes. - Annette Wilke; Oliver Moebus (2011). Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-018159-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=KZCMe67IGPkC ↩

  8. Peter Scharf (2013). Keith Allan (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. pp. 228–234. ISBN 978-0-19-164344-6. 978-0-19-164344-6 ↩

  9. W. J. Johnson (2009), A Dictionary of Hinduism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0198610250, Article on Vyakarana /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  10. Harold G. Coward 1990, p. 105. - Harold G. Coward (1990). The Philosophy of the Grammarians, in Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume 5 (Editor: Karl Potter). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-81-208-0426-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=2CEj6wRqeRAC ↩

  11. James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vyakarana" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, page 769 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  12. Harold G. Coward 1990, pp. 105–110. - Harold G. Coward (1990). The Philosophy of the Grammarians, in Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume 5 (Editor: Karl Potter). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-81-208-0426-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=2CEj6wRqeRAC ↩

  13. Annette Wilke & Oliver Moebus 2011, pp. 416–419. - Annette Wilke; Oliver Moebus (2011). Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-018159-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=KZCMe67IGPkC ↩

  14. James Lochtefeld (2002), "Nirukta" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, page 476 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  15. Harold G. Coward 1990, pp. 105–110. - Harold G. Coward (1990). The Philosophy of the Grammarians, in Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume 5 (Editor: Karl Potter). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-81-208-0426-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=2CEj6wRqeRAC ↩

  16. James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, pages 744-745 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  17. Wendy Doniger (1999). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Merriam-Webster. pp. 629. ISBN 978-0-87779-044-0. 978-0-87779-044-0 ↩

  18. James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, pages 744-745 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  19. Yukio Ohashi (Editor: H Selin) (1997). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. Springer. pp. 83–86. ISBN 978-0792340669. {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help) 978-0792340669 ↩

  20. Kireet Joshi (1991). The Veda and Indian Culture: An Introductory Essay. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0889-8. 978-81-208-0889-8 ↩

  21. James Lochtefeld (2002), "Jyotisha" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, pages 326-327 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  22. Yukio Ohashi (1999). Johannes Andersen (ed.). Highlights of Astronomy, Volume 11B. Springer Science. pp. 719–721. ISBN 978-0-7923-5556-4. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2016. 978-0-7923-5556-4 ↩

  23. Friedrich Max Müller (1860). A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature So Far as it Illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans. Williams and Norgate. p. 110. https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00mlle ↩

  24. Friedrich Max Müller (1860). A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature So Far as it Illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans. Williams and Norgate. pp. 108–113. https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00mlle ↩

  25. Patrick Olivelle 1999, pp. xxiii. - Patrick Olivelle (1999). Dharmasutras: The Law Codes of Ancient India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283882-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=gnVxqvPg9a0C ↩

  26. Eggeling, Hans Julius (1911). "Hinduism" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 501–513, see page 505. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Hinduism ↩

  27. Annette Wilke & Oliver Moebus 2011, pp. 472–532. - Annette Wilke; Oliver Moebus (2011). Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-018159-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=KZCMe67IGPkC ↩

  28. Harold G. Coward 1990, p. 18. - Harold G. Coward (1990). The Philosophy of the Grammarians, in Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume 5 (Editor: Karl Potter). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-81-208-0426-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=2CEj6wRqeRAC ↩

  29. Patrick Olivelle 1999, pp. xxiii. - Patrick Olivelle (1999). Dharmasutras: The Law Codes of Ancient India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283882-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=gnVxqvPg9a0C ↩

  30. Rajendra Prasad (2009). A Historical-developmental Study of Classical Indian Philosophy of Morals. Concept. p. 147. ISBN 978-81-8069-595-7. 978-81-8069-595-7 ↩