TheVedanga (Sanskrit:वेदाङ्गvedāṅga, "limb of the Veda-s";[1]plural form: वेदाङ्गानिvedāṅgāni) are six auxiliary disciplines of Vedic studies that developed inVedic and post-Vedic times.[2]
Shiksha (Sanskrit: शिक्षाśikṣā, "instruction, teaching"):phonetics,phonology, pronunciation.[2] 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.[3][4]
Chanda (Sanskrit: छन्दchanda, "metre"):prosody.[5] 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 ofmorae per verse.[6][7]
Vyakarana (Sanskrit: व्याकरणvyākaraṇa, "grammar"):grammar and linguistic analysis.[8][9][10] 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.[11][12]
Nirukta (Sanskrit: निरुक्तnirukta, "etymology"):etymology, explanation of words, particularly those that are archaic and have ancient uses with unclear meaning.[13] This auxiliary discipline has focused on linguistic analysis to help establish the proper meaning of the words, given the context they are used in.[11]
Kalpa (Sanskrit: कल्पkalpa, "proper, fit"):ritual instructions.[2] This field focused on standardising 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.[14]
Jyotisha (Sanskrit: ज्योतिषjyotiṣa, "astronomy"): Right time for rituals with the help of position of nakshatras and asterisms[2] and astronomy.[15][16] This auxiliary Vedic discipline focused on time keeping.[17][18]
The character of Vedangas has roots in ancient times, and theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad mentions it as an integral part of theBrahmanas layer of the Vedic texts.[19] These auxiliary disciplines of study arise with the codification of the Vedas inIron Age India. It is unclear when the list of six Vedangas were first conceptualised.[20] 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 theNighantu byYaska, dated to roughly the 5th century BCE.[citation needed] 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.[21]
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 ofHindu philosophy.[22][23][24] The Kalpa Vedanga studies, for example, gave rise to the Dharma-sutras, which later expanded into Dharma-shastras.[21][25]
^Morgan, Kenneth W. (1953).The Religion of the Hindus. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 269.ISBN9788120803879.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^abcdJames Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing,ISBN0-8239-2287-1, pages 744-745
^Yukio Ohashi (Editor: H Selin) (1997).Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. Springer. pp. 83–86.ISBN978-0792340669.{{cite book}}:|last1= has generic name (help)
^Kireet Joshi (1991).The Veda and Indian Culture: An Introductory Essay. Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN978-81-208-0889-8.
^James Lochtefeld (2002), "Jyotisha" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing,ISBN0-8239-2287-1, pages 326-327
Moritz Winternitz:Geschichte der Indischen Literatur, Leipzig, 1905 – 1922, Vol. I – III. English translation:History of Indian Literature, Motilal Barnarsidass, Delhi, 1985, Vol I – III.
