Sanskrit

Noun

वेदाङ्ग • ‎(vedāṅga) n

1. (literary) a limb (for preserving the body) of the Veda.
2. (Hinduism) Name of certain works or classes of works regarded as auxiliary to and even in some sense as part of the Vedas.

Usage notes

• Six Vedangas are usually enumerated [and mostly written in the सूत्र or aphoristic style] ; 1. शिक्षा ‎(śikṣā), ‘the science of proper articulation and pronunciation’, comprising the knowledge of letters, accents, quantity, the use of the organs of pronunciation, and phonetics generally, but especially the laws of euphony peculiar to the वेद [many short treatises and a chapter of the तैत्तिरीय-आरण्यक are regarded as the representatives of this subject ; but other works on Vedic phonetics may be included under it » प्रातिशाख्य]: 2. छन्दस् ‎(chandas), ‘metre’ [represented by a treatise ascribed to पिङ्गल-नाग, which, however, treats of Prakrit as well as Sanskrit metres, and includes only a few of the leading Vedic metres]: 3. व्याकरण ‎(vyākaraṇa), ‘linguistic analysis or grammar’ [represented by पाणिनि's celebrated सूत्रs]: 4. निरुक्त ‎(nirukta), ‘explanation of difficult Vedic words’ [cf. यास्क]: 5. ज्योतिष ‎(jyotiṣa), ‘astronomy’, or rather the Vedic calendar [represented by a small tract, the object of which is to fix the most auspicious days for sacrifices]: 6. कल्प ‎(kalpa), ‘ceremonial’, represented by a large number of सूत्र works [cf. सूत्र]: the first and second of these वेदाङ्गs are said to be intended to secure the correct reading or recitation of the वेद, the third and fourth the understanding of it, and the fifth and sixth its proper employment at sacrifices: the वेदाङ्गs are alluded to by मनु, who calls them, in iii, 184, प्रवचनs, ‘expositions’, a term which is said to be also applied to the ब्राह्मणs)