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Shiksha (Sanskrit: शिक्षा, IAST: śikṣā) is a Sanskrit word, which means "instruction, lesson, learning, study of skill".[1][2][3] It also refers to one of the six Vedangas, or limbs of Vedic studies, on phonetics and phonology in Sanskrit.[3][4]
Shiksha is the field of Vedic study of sound, focussing on the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, accent, quantity, stress, melody and rules of euphonic combination of words during a Vedic recitation.[3][5] Each ancient Vedic school developed this field of Vedanga, and the oldest surviving phonetic textbooks are the Pratishakyas.[2] The Paniniya-Shiksha and Naradiya-Shiksha are examples of extant ancient manuscripts of this field of Vedic studies.[3][5]
Shiksha is the oldest and the first auxiliary discipline to the Vedas, maintained since the Vedic era.[2] It aims at construction of sound and language for synthesis of ideas, in contrast to grammarians who developed rules for language deconstruction and understanding of ideas.[2] This field helped preserve the Vedas and the Upanishads as the canons of Hinduism since the ancient times, and shared by various Hindu traditions.[6][7]
- ^ Sir Monier Monier-Williams, Siksha, A DkSanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages, Oxford University Press (Reprinted: Motilal Banarsidass), ISBN 978-8120831056, page 1070
- ^ a b c d Annette Wilke & Oliver Moebus 2011, pp. 492–493 with footnotes.
- ^ a b c d Sures Chandra Banerji (1989). A Companion to Sanskrit Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 323–324. ISBN 978-81-208-0063-2.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
jameslochtefeldsca629was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Annette Wilke & Oliver Moebus 2011, pp. 477–495.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Scharfe1977p78was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Guy L. Beck 1995, pp. 35–36.