(Sanskrit: वेदाङ्ग vedāṅga, "limbs of the Veda") are six auxiliary disciplines of Hinduism that developed in ancient times, and have been connected with the study of the Vedas. These are:
Shiksha (śikṣā): phonetics, phonology, pronunciation. This auxiliary discipline has focused on the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, accent, quantity, stress, melody and rules of euphonic combination of words during a Vedic recitation.
Chandas (chandas): prosody. This auxiliary discipline has focused on the poetic meters, including those based on fixed number of syllables per verse, and those based on fixed number of morae per verse.
Vyakarana (vyākaraṇa): grammar and linguistic analysis. This auxiliary discipline has focused on the rules of grammar and linguistic analysis to establish the exact form of words and sentences to properly express ideas.
Nirukta (nirukta): etymology, explanation of words, particularly those that are archaic and have ancient uses with unclear meaning. This auxiliary discipline has focused on linguistic analysis to help establish the proper meaning of the words, given the context they are used in.
Kalpa (kalpa): ritual instructions. This field focused on standardizing procedures for Vedic rituals, rites of passage rituals associated with major life events such as birth, wedding and death in family, as well as discussing the personal conduct and proper duties of an individual in different stages of his life.
Jyotisha (jyotiṣa): Auspicious time for rituals, astrology and astronomy. This auxiliary Vedic discipline focused on time keeping.
The Vedangas are the last treatises of the Vedic Literature. Paniniya Shiksha (41-42) narrates two verses on the importance of the Vedangas which describe Veda as a Purusha having six limbs as six Vedangas: Chandas are His two feet, Kalpa are His two arms, Jyotisha are His eyes, Nirukta is His ears, Shiksha is His nose and Vyakarana is His mouth.The oldest record of their names occurs in the Mundaka Upanishad (1.1.5)
The term upaveda ("applied knowledge") is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain technical works. Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. The Charanavyuha mentions four Upavedas:
Archery (Dhanurveda), associated with the Yajurveda
Architecture (Sthapatyaveda), associated with the RigVeda.
Music and sacred dance (Gāndharvaveda), associated with the Samaveda
Medicine (Āyurveda), associated with the Atharvaveda.
The term upaveda (“applied knowledge”) is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain technical works. Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. As per the Caraṇavyuha, they are:
1. Ayurveda (Medicine), associated with the Ṛgveda
2. Dhanurveda (Archery), associated with the Yajurveda
3. Gāndharvaveda (Music and sacred dance), associated with the Samaveda, and
4. Arthaśāstra (Economics), associated with the Atharvaveda
Vedanga (Shiksha, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Chandas, Kalpa, Jyotisha). ParaVidya Gurukulam is an orthodox Vaidhik Gurukulam, providing Online and Direct classes on Shastras.
In this video, let's explore the entire gamut of vedic literature, with an overview of the four vedas, each of their four components, the upa vedas and the vedanags
UpaVeda - Detail. ParaVidya Gurukulam is an orthodox Vaidhik Gurukulam, providing Online and Direct classes on Shastras.