Introduction:

veedaaMga-s are the ancilliary subjects that are needed to make the most of the veeda-s. s'ikSaa deals with phonetics - the science that helps to pronounce the veedic maMtra-s correctly, without getting influenced by regional languages, dialects etc. vyaakaraNa or grammar is required so that you can understand the structure and hence the correct meanings. nirukta deals with the veedic vocabulary and semantics. veedic maMtra-s are set in the form of metrical poetry and chaMdas helps us to understand the metres. jyootiSa or astrology helps one to determine the appropriate time, place etc. for the performance of veedic sacrifices. Astrology is now being viewed as a tool for prediction and hence all the confusion and fight over its scientific credentials. kalpa delineates the exact methods and procedures to be followed meticulously while performing veedic rituals.

Every one of these subjects have been developed in great detail and their scientific background is applicable and useful even today, not only in relation to veeda-s but also in relation to other modern subjects of enquiry. vyaakaraNa gives not only a grammar of the veedic language but a whole science of designing grammars for human languages in general. As such, it has relevance to modern computational linguistics and natural language processing. Similarly, s'ikSaa has implications for speech recognition and synthesis technologies.

The tight control that these subjects exercise on the veeda-s ensures that there is no scope for corruption. veeda-s have survived with astonishing accuracy over thousands of years although they were never written down and passed on from generation to generation only through the oral tradition. A study of the veedaaMga-s is very helpful in the current setting to tone up our memory, accent and clear pronunciation, grammatical correctness and precision and clarity of expression. It is a pity that we have largely forgotten these time tested methods.

1. s'ikSaa (Phonetics)
2. vyaakaraNa (Grammar)
3. nirukta (Semantics)
4. chaMdas (Prosody)
5. jyootiSa (Astrology)
6. kalpa (Methods and Procedures)