Lesson 4 Shrutis (Contd) As we have learnt so far we need to understand Vedas and to enable us do so the rishis and sages have divided them in different ways and added commentaries and sutras etc. Let us try to understand Vedangas. The Vedangas (The angas means Bodies or limbs) There are six Angas or explanatory limbs, to the Vedas: The Siksha of Maharshi Panini (Phonetics or Shabda Vigyan) The Vyakarana of Maharshi Panini (Sanskrit Grammar) The Chhandas of Pingalacharya (Meter or Matra or Raga) The Nirukti of Yaksa (Philosophy or etymology, Conclusive Meanings) The Jyotisha of Garga (Astronomy and astrology, Science of Time) The Kalpas (Srauta, Grihya, Dharma & Sulba) (The rituals or social science) belonging to the authorship of various Rishis. Siksha is the knowledge of phonetics. Siksha deals with pronunciation and accent. The text of the Vedas is arranged in various forms or Pathas. The Pada-patha gives each word its separate form. The Krama-patha connects the word in pairs. Phonetics is very helpful in correctly pronouncing words in any Language. We experience this problem of pronunciation of words in other languages. For example San Jose is pronounced as San Hose and we can find so many words in English which spell something else but are pronounced in a different way. Phonetics being a scientifically written language solves this problem. If you cannot read Sanskrit or find it difficult to pronounce you may take help of phonetics. Some books give this. I found Bhagavad Gita As it Is having the phonetics in Appendix and that helped me pronounce properly. (Unfortunately I don't have phonetic fonts on my computer and hence it is difficult to write transliteration of Sanskrit verses) Vyakarana is Sanskrit Grammar. Panini's books are most famous. Without knowledge of Vyakarana, you cannot understand the Vedas. This is very elaborate and has much less chance of misinterpretation. Chhandas is meter or raga. As we learnt earlier the hymns or slokas are sung in a meter to make them more effective and potential. Nirukti is philosophy or etymology. It gives conclusive meaning of the texts of Vedas. Jyotisha is astronomy and astrology. It deals with the movements of the heavenly bodies, planets, etc., and their influence on human affairs. All of us are aware of this. Even Einstein stated that when a star blinks in the far distance he gets affected to some degree. The modern thought tries to reject it but it is so deep rooted in our psyche that we do use it knowingly or unknowingly. Kalpa Sutras are the rituals. Kalpa Sutras are further sub-divided into different sutras. They are: The Srauta Sutras which explain the ritual of sacrifices (collective yajna). It means doing yajna in a society where everybody participates. The Sulba Sutras deal with the size and measurement of Yajna Kundas or Garbhagriha of a temple. They also explain how these places are built. The Grihya Sutras concern domestic family life and the rituals to be followed by the family. The Dharma Sutras deal with ethics, customs and laws and occupational duties of a person. These Kalpa Sutras are further elaborated in different scriptures but we will not go into those details.. (Next Lesson: Agamas)