The six Vedangas

01The body of the Veda

The Paniniya Shiksha pictures the Veda as a person. Chandas is its feet, Kalpa its hands, Jyotisha its eyes, Nirukta its ears, Shiksha its nose and Vyakarana its mouth. A Veda without these limbs cannot walk or speak. The Mundaka Upanishad lists all six under apara vidya, the lower knowledge, beside the four Vedas themselves, and every traditional pathashala still teaches them alongside the chanting.

02Sound, metre, grammar, meaning

Shiksha teaches the place and effort of every sound and the pitch accents udatta, anudatta and svarita; the Pratishakhyas apply it to each Vedic shakha. Chandas, taught in Pingala's Chandahshastra, counts the syllables of Gayatri, Trishtubh, Jagati and the other metres, and in doing so Pingala worked out binary patterns of long and short. Panini's Ashtadhyayi, nearly 4,000 sutras in eight adhyayas, describes the whole Sanskrit language. Yaska's Nirukta explains the hard words of the Veda, the Nighantu, by tracing them to their roots.

03Shiksha: six things to get right

In the second anuvaka of its first valli, the Taittiriya Upanishad gives the lesson of Shiksha and names its six parts: varna, the sound itself; svara, the pitch; matra, the length; bala, the effort; sama, the even flow; and santana, the joining of sounds. Every Veda has its own Pratishakhya that applies these rules to its shakha: the Rik Pratishakhya ascribed to Shaunaka, the Taittiriya Pratishakhya, the Vajasaneyi Pratishakhya of Katyayana, and the Atharva Pratishakhya. The Samavedis have the Naradiya Shiksha for the notes of the saman. A boy in a pathashala learns these by ear long before he can name them, as the teacher corrects each syllable.

04Vyakarana: from Mahadeva's drum

The grammarians tell how, at the end of his dance, Bhagwan Nataraja sounded his damaru fourteen times, and from those sounds came the fourteen Maheshvara Sutras, a-i-u-n and the rest, on which Panini built his Ashtadhyayi. The work runs in eight adhyayas of four padas each, and its sutras are so brief that a single letter can carry a rule. Katyayana's Varttikas tested and completed it; Patanjali's Mahabhashya explained both, and the three are honoured as the munitraya, the three sages of grammar. Patanjali is revered as an avatara of Adishesha. Bhartrihari's Vakyapadiya later built a whole philosophy of the word, shabda-brahman, on this grammar.

05Nirukta: why the meaning matters

Yaska's Nirukta is a commentary on the Nighantu, a word-list in five chapters: three of synonyms, one of hard Vedic words, and one of the devatas grouped by their place on earth, in the middle air and in the sky. Yaska follows Shakatayana in holding that nouns come from verbal roots, and he traces Agni, Indra and hundreds of other words to the action they name. When Kautsa argued that the mantras have no meaning and only their sound matters, Yaska answered him point by point. Then he gives the verse every teacher quotes: one who learns the Veda by heart and does not know its meaning is a post, a mere bearer of a load.

06Chandas: counting the syllables

Chandas tells how many syllables each pada holds and so keeps the mantra from losing or gaining a sound. The seven chief Vedic metres climb by four syllables at a time: gayatri of 24, ushnik of 28, anushtubh of 32, brihati of 36, pankti of 40, trishtubh of 44 and jagati of 48. The Anukramanis name the metre of every rik, and a priest says the rishi, chhandas and devata before he chants. Pingala's Chandahshastra, in eight adhyayas, sets out both the Vedic and the later classical metres, writing every pattern of light and heavy syllables as a row of two signs, and his commentators built from it the triangle of numbers they called the meru-prastara.

07Time and the rite

Jyotisha fixes the right time for the yajna. The Vedanga Jyotisha of Lagadha, in recensions for the Rigveda and Yajurveda, reckons a five-year yuga of solar and lunar years and the positions of sun and moon among the nakshatras. Kalpa lays down the rite itself in four kinds of sutra: Shrauta for the great Vedic sacrifices, Grihya for the household samskaras, Dharma for conduct and law, and Shulba for the geometry of the fire altars. The Baudhayana Shulba Sutra states the relation of the sides of a right triangle.

08The Kalpa Sutras of each Veda

Each Veda has its own Kalpa Sutras, and a family follows the sutra of its shakha. For the Rigveda, the Ashvalayana and Shankhayana Shrauta and Grihya Sutras. For the Krishna Yajurveda, the Apastamba, Baudhayana, Hiranyakeshi, Bharadvaja and Vaikhanasa sutras; the Vaikhanasa Agama still governs worship at Tirumala. For the Shukla Yajurveda, Katyayana's Shrauta Sutra and Paraskara's Grihya Sutra. For the Samaveda, the Latyayana and Drahyayana Shrauta Sutras and the Gobhila Grihya Sutra. For the Atharvaveda, the Vaitana and Kaushika. The Dharma Sutras of Gautama, Baudhayana, Apastamba and Vasishtha lay down conduct, and the Shulba Sutras of Baudhayana, Apastamba and Katyayana the measuring of the altars.

09Still taught, still used

A traditional pathashala calls a complete Vedic education shadanga, the Veda with its six limbs. The Vedangas are smriti, the work of named acharyas, and they serve the Shruti. Their reach is wider than the yajna. Most traditional students begin grammar with Varadaraja's Laghu Siddhanta Kaumudi, a reordering of Panini's sutras. Every panchanga that fixes a festival or a muhurta descends from Jyotisha. Every upanayana, wedding and shraddha is done by a Grihya Sutra, whether the family knows its name or not. And the priest who corrects a child's Gayatri, insisting on the right length of a vowel, is teaching Shiksha.

What it contains

1. 1
   Shiksha (phonetics)

   Pronunciation, accent and the joining of sounds, taught in the Paniniya Shiksha and applied to each shakha by its Pratishakhya. The Taittiriya Upanishad names its six parts: varna, svara, matra, bala, sama and santana. In the image of the Veda as a person, Shiksha is the nose.

2. 2
   Chandas (metre)

   The Vedic metres, from gayatri of 24 syllables to jagati of 48, set out in Pingala's Chandahshastra. Every mantra is recited with its rishi, chhandas and devata named first. Chandas is the feet of the Veda.

3. 3
   Vyakarana (grammar)

   Panini's Ashtadhyayi, in eight adhyayas and nearly 4,000 sutras, built on the fourteen Maheshvara Sutras. Katyayana's Varttikas and Patanjali's Mahabhashya complete it, and the Kashika and the Siddhanta Kaumudi teach it. Vyakarana is the mouth of the Veda.

4. 4
   Nirukta (etymology)

   Yaska's Nirukta, explaining the Vedic word-list called the Nighantu by tracing each word to its root. It answers those who say the mantras have no meaning, and it groups the devatas by earth, middle air and sky. Nirukta is the ear of the Veda.

5. 5
   Jyotisha (astronomy)

   Lagadha's Vedanga Jyotisha, in a Rigveda recension and a Yajurveda recension, reckons a five-year yuga and the places of sun and moon among the nakshatras to fix the times of the yajna. It calls itself the crest of the Vedangas, like the crest of a peacock. Jyotisha is the eye of the Veda.

6. 6
   Kalpa (ritual)

   The Shrauta, Grihya, Dharma and Shulba Sutras of each Veda, among them those of Apastamba, Baudhayana, Ashvalayana, Katyayana, Paraskara and Gobhila. Every Vedic rite performed today follows a Kalpa Sutra of the family's shakha. Kalpa is the hands of the Veda.

Famous verses

छन्दः पादौ तु वेदस्य हस्तौ कल्पोऽथ पठ्यते। ज्योतिषामयनं चक्षुर्निरुक्तं श्रोत्रमुच्यते॥ शिक्षा घ्राणं तु वेदस्य मुखं व्याकरणं स्मृतम्। तस्मात्साङ्गमधीत्येव ब्रह्मलोके महीयते॥

Chandas is the feet of the Veda, Kalpa its hands, Jyotisha its eyes, Nirukta its ears; Shiksha is its nose and Vyakarana its mouth. So one who studies the Veda with its limbs is honoured in Brahmaloka.Paniniya Shiksha 41–42

स्थाणुरयं भारहारः किलाभूदधीत्य वेदं न विजानाति योऽर्थम्। योऽर्थज्ञ इत्सकलं भद्रमश्नुते नाकमेति ज्ञानविधूतपाप्मा॥

One who learns the Veda and does not know its meaning is a post, a mere carrier of a load. One who knows the meaning gains every good, and, his sins shaken off by knowledge, reaches heaven.Nirukta 1.18

यथा शिखा मयूराणां नागानां मणयो यथा। तद्वद्वेदाङ्गशास्त्राणां ज्योतिषं मूर्धनि स्थितम्॥

As the crest on the peacock's head, as the jewel on the cobra's hood, so Jyotisha stands at the head of the sciences of the Vedangas.Vedanga Jyotisha, Rigveda recension 35 (Yajusha recension 4)

नृत्तावसाने नटराजराजो ननाद ढक्कां नवपञ्चवारम्। उद्धर्तुकामः सनकादिसिद्धानेतद्विमर्शे शिवसूत्रजालम्॥

At the end of his dance, Nataraja, king of dancers, sounded his drum nine and five times, wishing to uplift Sanaka and the other siddhas. This is the net of Shiva Sutras I now examine.Nandikeshvara Kashika 1 (on the fourteen Maheshvara Sutras)