HINDUISM FOR ALL - VEDAANGA

HINDUISM FOR ALL

VEDAANGA

The Vedic words, letters even accent were considered, holy and unchangeable, hence the need to protect and correctly interpret them gave rise to the vedaanga literature. Of the six Vedaangas, four were connected to verbal activity (Vaachika) and two were connected to physical activity (Kaayika) i.e. prosody, grammar, etymology and phonetics dealt with verbal aspect of the Vedic literature whereas the Kalpa which contained Dharmasootras (Guidelines for regulating one’s social life), Gruhyasootras (Guidelines for regulating one’s domestic rites), Srautasootras (Guidelines for performing Vedic sacrifices) and Shulbhasootras (the architectural guidelines for vedic altars) and Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology) provided for the scope of application of Vedic mantras in one’s life.

The study of the Vedaanga was considered necessary to comprehend the essence and spirit of Vedas.

The Vedaanga literature paid way to the development of scientific and technical literature of the ancient Indians. The Jyotisha, which was the forerunner of mathematics, produced scholars like Aaryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Varaahamihira to name just a few, whose contribution to mathematics is slowly being recognized all over the world. Albert Einstein is reported to have said, “The world should be thankful to Indians, for, they taught us how to count”.

Evidently, this statement points to the invention of zero by Brahmagupta. If arithmatics had its origin in Jyotisha, geometrical function were contributed by Shulbha Sootra, the famous Pythagoras Theorem is reportedly discussed 400 years before Pythagoras by Rishi Bodhaayana in his Shulbha Sootra.The science of Sounds in language is called phonetics.

The modern phonetics and structural grammar owes a lot to the Indian phonetics. Noam Chomsky, the famous philologist, credits Paanini, the Grammarian of Sanskrit Language, for laying the foundation of structural theory of Grammar for language.

Thus one can easily accredit the development of technical literature in India to the Vedic literature, in whose auspices the Vedaangas grew.

This article is a snippet from the Book Hinduism For All, Authored by TS Srinivasan and Edited By Dr Ramchandrashekar. Hinduism for All is available online at www.giri.in & across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture & Tradition.

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