Changes

'''''Shiksha''''' (Samskrit: शिक्षा) means "instruction, lesson, learning, study of skill".<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). Shiksha is a knowledge of phonetics. It deals with pronunciation and accent.<ref>All About Hinduism, Swami Sivananda, Page 34</ref>

'''Shiksha''' (Samskrit: शिक्षा) means "instruction, lesson, learning, study of skill".<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). Shiksha is a knowledge of phonetics. It deals with pronunciation and accent.<ref>All About Hinduism, Swami Sivananda, Page 34</ref>

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"/> Each ancient Vedic school developed this field of ''Vedanga'', and the oldest surviving phonetic textbooks are the ''Pratishakyas''. The ''Paniniya-Siksa'' and ''Naradiya-Siksa'' are examples of extant ancient manuscripts of this field of Vedic studies.<ref name="Banerji1989p323"/>

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"/> Each ancient Vedic school developed this field of ''Vedanga'', and the oldest surviving phonetic textbooks are the ''Pratishakyas''. The ''Paniniya-Siksa'' and ''Naradiya-Siksa'' are examples of extant ancient manuscripts of this field of Vedic studies.<ref name="Banerji1989p323"/>

==Discussion==

==Discussion==

The ''Shiksha'' field of Vedic studies arranged the Sanskrit alphabet in a rational order, state Wilke and Moebus, each mapped to the anatomical nature of human sounds, from the back to the front - throat (at the very back), palate, palatal ridge, teeth and lips.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=478}} The letters of the Sanskrit alphabet were further organized by the Vedic scholars into a magic square, making symmetrical and resonant alternate readings of the letters possible, such as top to bottom in addition to left to right.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=478-479}} Further, the ''Shiksha'' scholars added ''Mudra'' (hand signs) to go with each sound, thereby providing a visual confirmation and an alternate means to check the reading integrity by the audience, in addition to the audible means.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=479}}

The ''Shiksha'' field of Vedic studies arranged the Sanskrit alphabet in a rational order, state Wilke and Moebus, each mapped to the anatomical nature of human sounds, from the back to the front - throat (at the very back), palate, palatal ridge, teeth and lips.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=478}}  

 

The letters of the Sanskrit alphabet were further organized by the Vedic scholars into a magic square, making symmetrical and resonant alternate readings of the letters possible, such as top to bottom in addition to left to right.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=478-479}} Further, the ''Shiksha'' scholars added ''Mudra'' (hand signs) to go with each sound, thereby providing a visual confirmation and an alternate means to check the reading integrity by the audience, in addition to the audible means.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=479}}

These Mudras continue to be part of the classical Indian dance tradition.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus  |2011|pp=479-480}} In Sanskrit, the posture of the performer is an added dimension to those of pronunciation and gesture, together these empowered muscular memory with acoustic memory in the Hindu tradition of remembering and transmitting Sanskrit texts from one generation to the next, state Wilke and Moebus.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=480}}

These Mudras continue to be part of the classical Indian dance tradition.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus  |2011|pp=479-480}} In Sanskrit, the posture of the performer is an added dimension to those of pronunciation and gesture, together these empowered muscular memory with acoustic memory in the Hindu tradition of remembering and transmitting Sanskrit texts from one generation to the next, state Wilke and Moebus.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=480}}

The methodical phonetic procedure developed by ''Shiksha'' helped preserve the Vedas without the slightest variants in the most faithful way possible.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=495}} It made the Vedas and embedded Principal Upanishads the canonical scriptures of Hinduism. The rules and symmetric of Siksa helped the student to master enormous volumes of knowledge, and use the embedded codes and rules to self check his memory.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=495}}The reciter's mind and body are engaged, making language and sound as an emotional performance.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=499}} The study of phonetics functioned to transform a Vedic text, which traditionally was composed as language-music, into a musical performance.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=500-501}} Individual sounds in the Sanskrit have independent personalities, and the reciter helps develop their character and their timbre, state Wilke and Moebus. Naradiya Siksa, a phonetics treatise on the [[Sama Veda]] explains this aspects of phonology with various similes, such as,{{Quote|

The methodical phonetic procedure developed by ''Shiksha'' helped preserve the Vedas without the slightest variants in the most faithful way possible.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=495}} It made the Vedas and embedded Principal Upanishads the canonical scriptures of Hinduism. The rules and symmetric of Siksa helped the student to master enormous volumes of knowledge, and use the embedded codes and rules to self check his memory.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=495}}The reciter's mind and body are engaged, making language and sound as an emotional performance.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|p=499}} The study of phonetics functioned to transform a Vedic text, which traditionally was composed as language-music, into a musical performance.{{Sfn|Annette Wilke|Oliver Moebus|2011|pp=500-501}} Individual sounds in the Sanskrit have independent personalities, and the reciter helps develop their character and their timbre, state Wilke and Moebus. Naradiya Siksa, a phonetics treatise on the [[Sama Veda]] explains this aspects of phonology with various similes, such as,{{Quote|