Shiksha - Vedanga 6p3g4l

Shiksha For the Indian non-governmental organization, see discovery recorded in the Pratishakhya texts (particuShiksha (NGO). For the Yiddish slang word, see Shiksa. larly the Samaveda Pratishakhya, which is claimed to be the earliest[1] ), is an organization of the stop consonant Shiksha (Devanagari: शिक्षा IAST: śikṣā) is one of the sounds into a 5x5 varga or square: six Vedangas, treating the traditional Hindu science of phonetics and phonology of Sanskrit.

ka kha ga gha ṅa

ca cha ja jha ña Its aim is the teaching of the correct pronunciation of ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa the Vedic hymns and mantras. The oldest phonetic textbooks are the Pratishakyas (prātiśākhya, a vrddhi abta tha da dha na stract from Sanskrit prati-śākhā), describing pronunciapa pha ba bha ma tion and intonation of Sanskrit, as well as the Sanskrit rules of sandhi (word combination) specific to individual in which difference between sounds is preserved whether schools or Shakhas of the Vedas. you recite it horizontally or vertically. It was extended and completed with fricatives and sibilants, semi-vowels, and vowels, and was eventually codified into the Brahmi 1 Pratishakhyas alphabet, which is one of the most systematic sound-towriting mappings. Scholar Frits Staal has commented, The Pratishakhyas, which evolved from the more ancient “Mendelejev’s Periodic system of elements, the varga sysVedic Texts padapathas (padapāṭha) around 800 BCE, tem was the result of centuries of analysis. In the course deal with the manner in which the Vedas are to be enun- of that development, the basic concepts of phonology [2] ciated. There are separate Pratishakhyas for each Veda. were discovered and defined. " They complement the books called Shiksha written by The Varga system and the Pratishakshyas, contributions various authorities. of the Shiksha texts, are elaborate systems which deal with the generation and classification of sound. According to the old tradition, sound is generated when four conditions are satisfied: a ground or base; an electromagnetic Rigveda-Pratishakya (Shakala shakha), attributed to force; a gravitational force implying the existence of other Shaunaka nearby bodies or particles; and space for the bodies to expand. The middle two parameters generate vibration Shukla Yajurveda-Pratishakhya in the bodies. Depending upon the magnitude of these Taittiriya (Krishna Yajurveda) Pratishakhya, ed. parameters, there are 304 types of sounds, out of which Whitney 1871 12 types are within human audible range. The lowest of these is called sphota, and the highest is called mahaghaAtharvaveda-Pratishakhya (Shaunakiya shakha) narava.

Five Pratishakhyas are preserved: • • • •

• Shaunakiya shakha)

Chaturaadhyaayika

(Shaunakiya Vajasaneyi Praatishaakshya (8-25) calls these letters of the alphabet Brahma Rashi [meaning Universal letter unit]. Thus, the script is called Brahmi script. [3]

The Shiksha Texts and the Pratishakhyas led to great clarity in understanding the surface structure of language. For clarity of pronunciation, they propose breaking up the large Vedic compounds into stems, prefixes, and suffixes. Certain styles of recitation (pāṭha), such as the jaṭāpāṭha, involved switching syllables, repeating the last word of a line at the beginning of the next, and other permutations. In the process, a considerable amount of morphology is discussed, particularly regarding the combination of sequential sounds, which leads to the modalities of sandhi. An even more important

1.1 Other Shiksha texts In addition, several Shiksha texts exist, most of them in metrical verse form but a few in sutra form. The following list contains some of these surviving texts (English translation of Paniniya Siksa.pdf): • Amoghanandini Shiksha • Apisali Shiksha (in sutra form) 1

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2 • Aranya Shiksha

• Siddhanta Shiksha

• Atreya Shiksha

• Svaraankusha Shiksha

• Avasananirnyaya Shiksha • Bharadvaja Shiksha • Chandra Shiksha of Chandragomin (sutra form) • Charayaniya Shiksha • Galadrka Shiksha

• Svarashtaka Shiksha • Svaravyanjana Shiksha • Vasishtha Shiksha • Varnaratnapradipa Shiksha

• Kalanirnya Shiksha

• Vyaali Shiksha

• Katyayani Shiksha

• Vyasa Shiksha

• Shiksha

• Yajnavalkya Shiksha

• Kaundinya Shiksha • Keshavi Shiksha

SYLLABICITY

Although many of these Shiksha texts are attached to specific Vedic schools, others are late texts.

• Kramakarika Shiksha • Kramasandhaana Shiksha

2 Syllabicity

• Laghumoghanandini Shiksha • Lakshmikanta Shiksha • Lomashi Shiksha • Madhyandina Shiksha

Traditionally syllables (not letters) in Sanskrit are called Akshara, meaning “imperishable (entity)": “atoms” of speech, as it were. These aksharas are classified mainly into two types:[4]

• Mandavya Shiksha

• Svara (pratyahara aC) : Vowel

• Mallasharmakrta Shiksha

• Vyanjana (pratyahara haL) : Consonant

• Manasvaara Shiksha • Manduki Shiksha • Naradiya Shiksha • Paniniya Shiksha (versified)

Svara aksharas are also known as prana akshara; i.e., they are main sounds in speech, without which speech is not possible. Pāṇini referred to svara as ac pratyahara. Later they became known as ac Akshara.

• Parashari Shiksha

Vyanjana means embellishment, i.e., consonants are used as embellishment in order to yield sonorant vowels. They are also known as Prani akshara; that is, they are like a body to which life (svara) is added. Pāṇini’s name for vyanjana was Hal Pratyahara, which were later referred to as Hal akshara.

• Padyaatmika Keshavi Shiksha

Vyanjana aksharas are divided into three types:

• Paniniya Shiksha (in sutra form) • Paniniya Shiksha (with accents)

• Pari Shiksha • Pratishakhyapradipa Shiksha • Sarvasammata Shiksha

•

• Sparsa : Stop • Antastha : Approximant • Usman: Sibilant

• Shaishiriya Shiksha • Shamaana Shiksha • Shambhu Shiksha • Shodashashloki Shiksha • Shikshasamgraha

Sparsa aksharas include syllables from Ka to Ma; they are 25 in number. Antastha aksharas include syllables ya, ra, la and va. Ushman aksharas include śa, sha, sa and ha. It was said that in Sanskrit a vowel can be pronounced in 18 ways (3x2x3), based on timing, manner, and accent of pronunciation.

6.1

Efforts of articulation

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Morae

Each vowel can be classified into three types based on the duration of pronunciation (morae): • Hrasva : Short vowel, Eka-mātra

3 Dantya : Dental Ōshtya : Labial Apart from that, other articulations are combinations of the above five places:

• Dīrgha : Long vowel, Dvi-mātra

Dantōsthya : Labio-dental (E.g.: v)

• Pluta : Prolonged vowel, Tri-mātra (pluti)

Kantatālavya : e.g.: Diphthong e

Kantōsthya : labial-velar (E.g.: Diphthong o) We see that each vowel can be pronounced in three ways according to the duration of articulation. ×. The unit of time is a mātra (approx. 0.4 second). There are three active places of articulation:

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Nasality

Each vowel can be further classified into two types based on the manner of pronunciation: Mukha : Oral (open)

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Jihvāmūla : tongue root, for velar Jihvāmadhya : tongue body, for palatal Jihvāgra : tip of tongue, for cerebral and dental Adhōṣṭa : lower lip, for labial

Nāsika : Nasal (all vowels are considered phonemically oral)

6.1 Efforts of articulation

Pitch accent

Effort of articulation (Uccāraṇa Prayatna) is of two types for consonants,

Main article: Vedic accent Each vowel can also be classified into three types, that is, pronounced in three ways, based on accent of articulation. This feature was lost in Classical Sanskrit, but used in reciting Vedic & Upanishadic hymns and mantras. Udātta : high pitch

Bāhya Prayatna : External effort Spṛṣṭa : Plosive Īshat Spṛṣṭa : Approximant Īshat Saṃvṛta : Fricative Abhyantara Prayatna : Internal effort

Anudātta : low pitch

Alpaprāna : Unaspirated

Svarita : falling pitch

Mahāprāna : Aspirated Śvāsa : Unvoiced

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Places of articulation

Generally, in articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (or point of articulation) of a consonant is the point of , where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active (moving) articulator (typically some part of the tongue) and a ive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of the roof of the mouth). But according to Indian linguistic tradition,[5] there are five ive places of articulation: Kaṇṭhya : Velar Tālavya : Palatal Mūrdhanya : Retroflex

Nāda : Voiced

6.2 Articulation of consonants Articulation of consonants will be a logical combination of components in the two prayatnas. The below table gives a view upon articulation of consonants.

7 See also • Shiva Sutra • India’s premier school search engine shiksha24.com

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References

[1] Staal, J. F., The Fidelity of Oral Tradition and the Origins of Science. North-Holland Publishing Company, 1986. [2] Frits Staal, The science of language, Chapter 16 in Gavin Flood, The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism Blackwell Publishing, 2003, 599 pages ISBN 0-631-21535-2, p. 352. [3] http://basudeba.blogspot.ca/2012/01/ ashta-siddhis-other-querries.html [4] “Siddhanta Kaumudi” by Bhattoji Diksita and “Laghu Siddhanta Kaumudi”, by Varadaraja. [5] “Siddhanta Kaumudi” by Bhattoji Diksita and “Laghu Siddhanta Kaumudi”, by Varadaraja. [6] “Telugulo Chandovisheshaalu”, Page 127 (In Telugu).

REFERENCES

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Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

• Shiksha Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiksha?oldid=665666070 Contributors: Mrwojo, Carlossuarez46, Utcursch, Mukerjee, Florian Blaschke, Dbachmann, Kwamikagami, EurekaLott, Rramphal, Anthony Appleyard, Stemonitis, Dangerous-Boy, Koavf, Bgwhite, Wavelength, SmackBot, Bobet, CSWarren, Colonies Chris, Klimov, Gandalf1491, Bsskchaitanya, Grammatical error, CmdrObot, Sadharan, Garik, Nick Number, Teentje, Naveen Sankar, Leolaursen, Sindhutvavadin, V l n, JaGa, Bdsatish, Zerokitsune, Sanscrit1234, Wassermann~enwiki, Varoon Arya, AlleborgoBot, Roberts7, Rosamaple, SchreiberBike, Wakari07, Cminard, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, ArthurBot, FrescoBot, Aditya soni, Theo10011, Uanfala, John of Reading, Dewritech, Shikshaone, BG19bot, BASUDEBA, Kswarrior, Iztwoz, 2macia22 and Anonymous: 21

9.2

Images

• File:Om.svg Source: https://.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/Om.svg License: PD Contributors: svg created by Rugby471 from a public domain symbol Original artist: Rugby471

9.3

Content license

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