Template:Foundational Articles
Veda Vargeekarana (वेदवर्गीकरणम्)
Veda (Samskrit : वेदः) is regarded as revealed scripture, self-explanatory and self authoritative, according to many traditional Indian scholars. वैदिकसूक्त-s || Vedic Suktas (Collection of Mantras) and मन्त्र-s || Mantras are "seen by" or "revealed to" and only spoken by the ऋषि-s || Rishis (seers or sages). These rishis are neither authors of the Mantras nor are they responsible for the contents of the Mantras. Thus Vedas are called अपौरुषेयः ॥ Apaurusheya. There is no final authority beyond the Vedas according to Bharatiya philosophy. While the mantras are revealed, the structural arrangement of Vedas given by वेदव्यासः ॥ Veda Vyasa and further formation of शाखा-s || shakas (recensions) or versions of Vedas seen today is based on different rishis. महर्षिः वेदव्यासः || Maharshi Veda Vyasa collected all the Mantras in existence during his period, edited, codified and organized them into four groups in the form that we see today.
ऋग्वेदः || The Rigveda यजुर्वेदः || The Yajurveda सामवेदः || The Samaveda अथर्वणवेदः || The Atharvanaveda
Of these, the first three were the principal original division, also called त्रयी-विद्या || Trayi vidya, that is, 'the triple science' of reciting mantras (Rigveda), performing यज्ञ-s ॥ yajnas (sacrifices) (Yajurveda), and singing of mantras set to musical notes (Samaveda). Atharvaveda consists of mantras applicable to activities of daily life, such as ailments and their cure, achieving desired things, warfare, trade, commerce, construction among other things.
Shad Vedangas (षड्वेदाङ्गानि)
Vedangas (Samskrit : वेदाङ्गम्) literally meaning 'limbs of the Veda' are the six angas or explanatory limbs to the Vedas. They include Shiksha (authored by various rishis), Vyakarana of Panini, the Chandas of Pingalacharya, the Nirukta of Maharshi Yaska, the Jyotish of Lagadha and the Kalpas (Shrauta, Grhya, Dharma and Shulba) belonging to the authorship of various Rishis.
It is said that Bhagavan Vishnu incarnated as Maharshi Veda Vyasa in Dvapara yuga and organized the Vedas in their present form. Maharshi Vyasa's efforts brought about uniformity in the religious observances thereby performance of rites and rituals, religious ceremonies, yajnas (sacrifices) and vratas (vows) continued without any flaw. As Vedas have different aspects of understanding to them, various types of expositions on Vedas came into existence and each became a subject to be learnt for a comprehensive understanding of the Vedas to be achieved. Maharshi Yaska, who gave Nirukta to the world, also expounded vedic terminology on the basis of legends and ancient lore. Manu, the Law giver of ancient Bharatavarsha, laid down certain instructions as to how the teaching of Vedas should be conducted.
The Six Angas are as follows :
- Shiksha is a knowledge of phonetics. Shiksha deals with pronunciation and accent. The text of the Vedas are arranged in various forms or Pathas (पाठ-s). The Padapatha (पदपाठः) gives each word its separate form. The Kramapatha (क्रमपाठः) connects the word in pairs.[1]
- Chandas is the knowledge of meters. This auxiliary discipline lays its focus on the metrical construction of vedic mantras and poetic meters, including those based on the number of syllables per mantra and those based on the duration of pronunciation of syllables in a mantra.
- Vyakarana is the knowledge of construction of words or grammar. This auxiliary discipline has focused on the rules of grammar and siddhiprakriya (सिद्धिप्रक्रिया | the process of deriving a word), so as to establish the exact form of words and sentences to properly express ideas.
- Nirukta gives the vyutpatti-artha (व्युत्पत्ति-अर्थ | etymology), explaining words, particularly those which are archaic and have a different ancient vedic usage with uncommon meaning. This auxiliary discipline has focused on developing a Nighantu which is a dictionary that has a collection of vedic usages. These words are analysed to establish the proper meaning of the words according to the context used in vedas.
- Jyotish deals with astronomy and astrology. It deals with the movements of the heavenly bodies, planets, etc., and their influence in human affairs.[1] This auxiliary Vedic discipline focused on time keeping.
- Kalpas are the texts that deal with the methods of yajna and other rituals. This field focused on standardizing procedures for Vedic Shrauta rituals, Smarta rituals associated with samskaras - major life events such as birth, wedding and death in family, as well as discussing dharmas laid down for the personal conduct and proper duties of an individual in different stages of his life.