(“explanation”) These were the ancillary disciplines of knowledge related to the Vedas, the earliest Hindu holy writings.
Nirukta is interested in the origins of archaic terms and
their etymological interpretations.
This seemed to be a severe issue, since about a fourth of
the Vedic terms appear just once, and their pre cise meanings became either
obscure or unknown over time.
Yaska the grammarian wrote the most renowned nirukta
manuscript, known simply as the Nirukta, in the fifth century B.C.E.
His work was very useful to subsequent readers, but it is
apparent that the meanings of many of these phrases had grown dubious and
ambiguous even in Yaska's day.
Vyakarana (Sanskrit grammar), chandas (Sanskrit prosody),
kalpa (ritual instructions), shiksha (correct pronunciation), and jyotisha are
the other Vedangas (auspicious times for sacrifices).
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