वेदाङ्ग a See below.
वेदाङ्ग n. bn. ‘a limb (for preserving the body) of the
वेद’,
N. of certain works or classes of works regarded as auxiliary to and even in some sense as part of the
वेद, (six are usually enumerated [and mostly written in the
सूत्र or aphoristic style]; 1.
शिक्षा, ‘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 See
प्रातिशाख्य] : 2.
छन्दस्, ‘metre’ [represented by a treatise ascribed to
पिङ्गल-नाग, which, however, treats of
Prākṛt as well as
Saṉskṛt metres, and includes only a few of the leading Vedic metres] : 3.
व्याकरण, ‘linguistic analysis or grammar’ [represented by
पाणिनि's celebrated
सूत्रs] : 4.
निरुक्त, ‘explanation of difficult Vedic words’ [
cf. यास्क] : 5.
ज्योतिष, ‘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, ‘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),
[IW. 145 &c.]