Chandas As Vedanga

Foreword It is very well noted that Vedas are the first literature produced in India. The Rig, Yajuh, sama and Atharva Vedas are written for the human race to follow it and lead a great life. The Vedas hold the guist, the. 1373 secret of a successful life. It was a lump at the beginning but later was divided into four parts by Bahaman Vedavyasa. The division of Vedas and it's usage in daily life was felt very essential for many purposes, and hence was necessary to simplify it.

Many people learnt Vedas to use them in their daily life. In order to make them simpler, the Vedas were divided into Sumhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. There should be a proper method to learn any subject. The six supporting fields like Shiksha, Kalpa, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Chandas and Jyotish are called the limbs of the Vedas. As per Paniniya Shiksha, the science of poetry is like feet or foundation of the entire Vedic literature, and hence it is very essential to study metres or chandas to learn Vedas. For an indepth study of Vedas, a disciple should know about three factors - The Rishi (who has seen (seer) the divine mantra), the devata (the deity to whom the mantra is submitted), the metre (in which the mantra is presented).

A Chandas is a physical form in which the syllables are counted. Pingala in his Chandahsastra says: Chandas stands for speech determined by the number of syllables uttered. Each and every metre has its own spiritual significance according to different Vedic sacrifices.

The book Thandas as Vedanga' written by Dr. Madhavi R. Narsalay explains all the basic principles of Vedic prosody which is necessary to gain knowledge about metres before learning Veda. The effort put by the author is priceless. Hope that this treatise will enhance the desirers to learn more about Vedas and Vedanta.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages