Changes

Jump to navigation Jump to search
Removed Chronology and repeated content.
Line 1: Line 1: −
'''''Shiksha''''' ({{lang-sa|शिक्षा}} [[IAST]]: {{IAST|śikṣā}}) is a Sanskrit word, which means "instruction, lesson, learning, study of skill".<ref name=mmwsat1070>Sir Monier Monier-Williams, [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/1100/mw__1103.html Siksha], A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages, Oxford University Press (Reprinted: Motilal Banarsidass), ISBN 978-8120831056, page 1070</ref>{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=492-493 with footnotes}}<ref name="Banerji1989p323"/> It also refers to one of the six [[Vedanga]]s, or limbs of Vedic studies, on [[phonetics]] and [[phonology]] in [[Sanskrit]].<ref name="Banerji1989p323">{{cite book|author=Sures Chandra Banerji|title=A Companion to Sanskrit Literature|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=JkOAEdIsdUsC|year=1989|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|isbn=978-81-208-0063-2|pages=323–324}}</ref><ref name=jameslochtefeldsca629/>
+
'''''Shiksha''''' ({{lang-sa|शिक्षा}} [[IAST]]: {{IAST|śikṣā}}) is a Sanskrit word, which means "instruction, lesson, learning, study of skill".<ref name=mmwsat1070>Sir Monier Monier-Williams, [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/1100/mw__1103.html Siksha], A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages, Oxford University Press (Reprinted: Motilal Banarsidass), ISBN 978-8120831056, page 1070</ref>{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=492-493 with footnotes}}<ref name="Banerji1989p323">{{cite book|author=Sures Chandra Banerji|title=A Companion to Sanskrit Literature|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=JkOAEdIsdUsC|year=1989|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|isbn=978-81-208-0063-2|pages=323–324}}</ref> It also refers to one of the six [[Vedanga]]s, or limbs of Vedic studies, others being grammar (Vyakarana), prosody (Chandas), ritual (Kalpa), etymology (Nirukta) and astrology (Jyotisha, calculating favorable time for rituals).<ref name="jameslochtefeldsca629">James Lochtefeld (2002), "Shiksha" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, page 629</ref>Shiksha is a knowledge of phonetics. It deals with pronunciation and accent.<ref>All About Hinduism, Swami Sivananda, Page 34</ref>
   −
''Shiksha'' has been the field of Vedic study of sound, and it has focussed on the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, accent, quantity, stress, melody and rules of euphonic combination of words during a Vedic recitation.<ref name="Banerji1989p323"/>{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=477-495}} Each ancient Vedic school developed this field of ''Vedanga'', and the oldest surviving phonetic textbooks are the ''Pratishakyas''.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=492-493 with footnotes}} The ''Paniniya-Siksa'' and ''Naradiya-Siksa'' are examples of extant ancient manuscripts of this field of Vedic studies.<ref name="Banerji1989p323"/>{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=477-495}}
+
In particular it focuses on the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, accent, quantity, stress, melody and rules of euphonic combination of words during a Vedic recitation.<ref name="Banerji1989p323"/>{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=477-495}} Each ancient Vedic school developed this field of ''Vedanga'', and the oldest surviving phonetic textbooks are the ''Pratishakyas''.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=492-493 with footnotes}} The ''Paniniya-Siksa'' and ''Naradiya-Siksa'' are examples of extant ancient manuscripts of this field of Vedic studies.<ref name="Banerji1989p323"/>{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=477-495}}
    
''Shiksha'' is the oldest and the first auxiliary discipline to the [[Vedas]], maintained since the Vedic era.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=492-493 with footnotes}} It aimed at construction of sound and language for synthesis of ideas, in contrast to grammarians who developed rules for language deconstruction and understanding of ideas.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=492-493 with footnotes}} This field helped preserve the Vedas and the Upanishads as the canons of [[Hinduism]] since the ancient times, and shared by various Hindu traditions.<ref name="Scharfe1977p78"/>{{Sfn|Guy L. Beck|1995|pp=35-36}}
 
''Shiksha'' is the oldest and the first auxiliary discipline to the [[Vedas]], maintained since the Vedic era.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=492-493 with footnotes}} It aimed at construction of sound and language for synthesis of ideas, in contrast to grammarians who developed rules for language deconstruction and understanding of ideas.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=492-493 with footnotes}} This field helped preserve the Vedas and the Upanishads as the canons of [[Hinduism]] since the ancient times, and shared by various Hindu traditions.<ref name="Scharfe1977p78"/>{{Sfn|Guy L. Beck|1995|pp=35-36}}
 +
 +
The ancient Vedic schools developed major treatises analyzing sound, vowels and consonants, rules of combination and pronunciation to assist clear understanding, to avoid mistakes and for resonance (pleasing to the listener).{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=477-493}} These texts include ''Samhita-pathas'' and ''Pada-pathas'', and partially or fully surviving manuscripts include ''Paniniya Shiksha'', ''Naradiya Shiksha'', ''Bharadvaja Shiksha'', ''Yajnavalkya Shiksha'', ''Vasishthi Shiksha'', ''Parashari Shiksha'', ''Katyayani Shiksha'' and ''Manduki Shiksha''.<ref name="Banerji1989p323" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Kireet Joshi|title=The Veda and Indian Culture: An Introductory Essay|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1CJlM2nhlt0C&pg=PA96|year=1991|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0889-8|pages=96–97}}</ref>
    
==Etymology==
 
==Etymology==
'''Shiksha''' literally means "instruction, lesson, study, knowledge, learning, study of skill, training in an art".<ref name=mmwsat1070/> It also refers to one of the six [[Vedanga]]s, which studies sound, Sanskrit phonetics, laws of euphonic combination (''sandhi''), and the science of making language pleasant and understood without mistakes.<ref name=jameslochtefeldsca629/> ''Shiksha'' as a supplemental branch of the [[Vedas]], included teaching proper articulation and pronunciation of Vedic texts.<ref name=jameslochtefeldsca629>James Lochtefeld (2002), "Shiksha" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, page 629</ref> It was one of six fields of supplemental studies, others being grammar (Vyakarana), prosody (Chandas), ritual (Kalpa), etymology (Nirukta) and astrology (Jyotisha, calculating favorable time for rituals).<ref name=jameslochtefeldsca629/>
  −
   
The roots of ''Shiksha'' can be traced to [[Rigveda]] which dedicates two hymns 10.125 and 10.71 to revere sound as a goddess, and links the development of thought to the development of speech.{{Sfn|Guy L. Beck|1995|pp=35-39}} The mid 1st-millennium BCE text [[Taittiriya Upanishad]] contains one of the earliest description of ''Shiksha'' as follows,
 
The roots of ''Shiksha'' can be traced to [[Rigveda]] which dedicates two hymns 10.125 and 10.71 to revere sound as a goddess, and links the development of thought to the development of speech.{{Sfn|Guy L. Beck|1995|pp=35-39}} The mid 1st-millennium BCE text [[Taittiriya Upanishad]] contains one of the earliest description of ''Shiksha'' as follows,
    
{{Quote|
 
{{Quote|
<poem>
   
{{lang|sa|ॐ शीक्षां व्याख्यास्यामः ।
 
{{lang|sa|ॐ शीक्षां व्याख्यास्यामः ।
 
वर्णः स्वरः । मात्रा बलम् ।
 
वर्णः स्वरः । मात्रा बलम् ।
Line 18: Line 17:  
Om! We will explain the Shiksha.  
 
Om! We will explain the Shiksha.  
 
Sounds and accentuation, Quantity (of vowels) and the expression (of consonants),
 
Sounds and accentuation, Quantity (of vowels) and the expression (of consonants),
Balancing (Saman) and connection (of sounds), So much about the study of Shiksha. || 1 ||
+
Balancing (Saman) and connection (of sounds), So much about the study of Shiksha -1 |6=Taittiriya Upanishad 1.2, Shikshavalli|7=Translated by [[Paul Deussen]]<ref>Paul Deussen (1997 Reprint), Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, page 222</ref><ref name="Banerji1989p323"/>}}
</poem>
  −
|Taittiriya Upanishad 1.2, Shikshavalli|Translated by [[Paul Deussen]]<ref>Paul Deussen (1997 Reprint), Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, page 222</ref><ref name="Banerji1989p323"/>}}
  −
 
  −
Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus date the Shiksha text of the Taittiriya Vedic school to be from 600 BCE at the latest.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=477 with footnotes}} Texts such as this established, among other things, a rational order of the Sanskrit alphabet, state Wilke and Moebus. Other texts, such as ''Vyasa-Siksa'' of the Krishna [[Yajurveda]], were composed later.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=477 with footnotes}}
  −
 
  −
The ancient Vedic schools developed major treatises analyzing sound, vowels and consonants, rules of combination and pronunciation to assist clear understanding, to avoid mistakes and for resonance (pleasing to the listener).{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=477-493}} These texts include ''Samhita-pathas'' and ''Pada-pathas'', and partially or fully surviving manuscripts include ''Paniniya Shiksha'', ''Naradiya Shiksha'', ''Bharadvaja Shiksha'', ''Yajnavalkya Shiksha'', ''Vasishthi Shiksha'', ''Parashari Shiksha'', ''Katyayani Shiksha'' and ''Manduki Shiksha''.<ref name="Banerji1989p323"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Kireet Joshi|title=The Veda and Indian Culture: An Introductory Essay|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1CJlM2nhlt0C&pg=PA96|year=1991|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0889-8|pages=96–97}}</ref>
      
==History==
 
==History==

Navigation menu