The Vedangas, limbs of Vedas

The Vedangas are the limbs of Vedas which led the development of Vedic language. The Vedangas or auxiliaries to the Vedas are of six disciplines. These are Shiksha – Euphony & Pronunciation, Vyaakarna – Grammer, Chhandas – metre, Nirukta – Etymology, Jyotisha – Astronomy, Kalpa – Ritual & Traditions.

Foundation of Vedangas –
As a part of evolution (Shiksha), the culmination of language as rhythms and meters (Chhanda), the realization of the causation (Karana) language systems as a deeper system of consonants, vowels, syntaxes and semantics (Vyakarana), the collapse of all that to a larger embedded pool of conscious flow of interdependence and etymons (Nirukta) leading to a Universal in a nutshell or seed Logos integrating time (Kalpa) and diverse manifestation (Jyotisha) is the whole foundation of Vedangas.
Importance of the Vedangas -

After thoroughly understanding of extensiveness and intensiveness of Vedangas, it can easily be concluded that Vedic language was developed to its pinnacle a few thousand years before Christ which even most developed & modern languages cannot touch upon.
 
The Vedangas played an important role in maintaining the purity and integrity of the Vedic tradition. For centuries they taught and continue to teach Vedic students how to recite the Vedic hymns, understand their meaning and perform the various rituals and ceremonies strictly according to the established procedures. Their study inculcates among its students a sense of discipline and respect for tradition and helps them conduct themselves in society as upholders of the Vedic dharma and traditional family values.
 
Shiksha – Education – Nose & Lungs of Vedas -
Of the six organs of Vedas, the most primary Anga is Shiksha. Shiksha composed for pure pronunciation of Vedic Chants. It has focussed on Sanskrit letters, accent and melody. Just as the nose enables us to breathe which, in turn, sustains the life force, Shiksha is the life breath of the Veda mantras. It represents the study of sounds and pronunciation associated with each syllable that constitute the mantra. The Shiksha Shastra says that 51 syllables of Sanskrit language represent the various parts of Parashakti’s body and even define which syllables represents which part.
Mantras can result only if the requirements of syllable and tonal purity is fully satisfied. Sounds of various languages have various effects. Unless Sanskrit language, the efficacy of sound of mantra is lost.
Shiksha is driven by the phonetics and the phonology of pronunciation, as a process of internalization. The focus of Shiksha is on understanding the range and deep taxonomy of Sanskrit alphabets. Each letter of the Veda mantra must be uttered correctly within duration of time, as laid down. This is called Akshara Shuddhi – syllable purity. In addition to the time duration, there are rules as to the pitch of sound – high, middle or low. This is called Swara Shuddhi – tonal purity.
Phonetics are most important in the case of the Vedic language, because we see that change in sound leads to change in results and effect. Hence, Shiksha which is Vedic Phonetics has been regarded as the most important of the six Angas (organs) of Veda Purusha. Lastly, duration (Matara) of sound – short and long, is important. Matters such as how to pronounce compound and compounded words without splitting them into syllables and certain guidelines necessary for those learning to chant Vedas are contained in the Shiksha Sastra. However, minor variations are permissible in tone and pitch.
 
Chhandas – Metric Composition – Feet of Vedas -
Chhanda represents the next step. The simple word analogous to Chhanda is chant. Chanda bounded all the rhymes and rhythmic system of Vedic chants properly. It has focussed on the poetic meters.

With Chhanda, the Yogi gets an access to the mastery of rhyme and meter of the mantras. Vedas are mostly in verse-form (Chhandas). A verse has to have a specified ‘metre’ and number of letters in it, to obtain a good fit.

All the Veda mantras in the form of poetry are ‘Chhandas’. The others, i.e. those which are not part of Vedas are called ‘Slokas’. Prose is called ‘Gadya’ and Chhandas (Poetry) is called ‘Padya’ in Sanskrit.
Indra Vajra, Upendra Vajra, Sragdhara etc. are some of the many metres used in strotras and kaavyas. Eight syllables – Anushtup; Nine Syllables – Brhatee; Ten – Pagati; Eleven – Trishtup; Twelve – Jagati; twenty-six – Udkrti (Bhujanga Vijrmbhitam); Beyond twenty-eight – Dandakam. The letters in a certain metre go leaping like a tiger. This is called ‘Sardola Vikreeditam. The metre which sounds like a creeping snake is called ‘Bhujanga Prayatam’. The Soundarya Lahari of the Adi Shankaracharya is in the ‘Sikarini’ metre. Here each pada has 17 syllables. If the 17 syllables are split into 6 & 11, it is called ‘Sikharini’. In some poetic hymns, the 24-syllable Gayatri metre is split into four padas with six letters in each.

Each mantra is dedicated to a Devata. Therefore, each mantra has a presiding deity. There is a chhandas especially for it and there is a rishi who gave it to the world. The rishi who brought it to the knowledge of the world is the rishi of the mantra. When one touches his head on repeating the name of the rishi, before starting the mantra, it is symbolically placing the feet of the sage on one’s head as a mark of reverence, because the mantras were made available to us only through sages.

Vyaakarana – Grammer – Mouth of Vedas –
Grammar simplified the usage of Vedic Chants and decoding their roots of words. grammar and linguistic analysis. It has focussed on grammatical rules. It also analysis the linguistics to establish the words and sentences form to express properly.
 
Vyaakaraṇa means “separation, distinction, discrimination, analysis, explanation” of the constituent mantra. It is language analysis, which augments a writer or a composer to express his or her creative will be based on the norms of the Cosmic Word, and help a reader discriminate accurate language, from disjointed and disorganized ones.

Language system therefore evolves to express the transient material world first. Thereafter, the objective is to express the subtle and the psychic feelings, which is next; and finally, to arrive at the flux of causation (Karana) by which the eternal human desire for understanding the full meaning of life and its position in the universe, are best targeted.
 
Vyaakarana propounds the ‘Shabda Brahma Vaada’ – the theory that sound and infinite are inter-linked. When the sounds are properly understood and used as speech, we can not only communicate our thoughts but also strive for self-purification.
 
Nataraja gave fourteen different beats or rhythmic sounds. With the aid of the fourteen sounds that were produced (on the damaru) at the time of the conclusion of the cosmic dance, Lord Shiva laid the foundation of the Vyaakarnas Sutras. The fourteen sutras were committed to the memory by Paanini and on that basis he wrote the basic text called ‘Ashtaashyaayi’ so called because it contains eight chapter. 
 
Niruktam – Etymology – Ears of Vedas
Each sound has its root too. In English, only verbs have roots, not nouns. But in the Sanskrit, all words have roots. Nirukta break up each word into its component roots and analyses its meaning.
Nirukta means “a system of expression which is uttered, pronounced, explained, expressed, defined, and made loud, with full awareness of its origin and the purpose of going away from that origin. It is like a movement from a Tree to its fruits, and the seed, from where the next Tree is re-sprouted. Thus, death and resurrection of a vegetation or agrarian cycle are also evident in the rules of the Cosmos.

Jyotisha – Astrology – Eyes of Vedas
Modern science merely indicates the planetary positions at various points of time. The science of astrology in conjunction with and based on astronomy, deals with the questions such as “How does it affect us”. On earth, the fate of man changes in the same way as the movement of planets. Lean times, prosperous periods, misery, happiness, high position, fall therefrom – such are the changing fortunes of man. Such changes are not confined only to man. Institutions and even countries have their run of good and bad times.

The planetary disposition is determined by earlier karma. Disease appears and the mind is disturbed. Psychic forces also prevail. All these are the results of a single karma. This can be proved on the basis of each one of the causes attributed to the mishap. But the method of calculation used in planetary movements is the easiest.

A sacrifice performed on the basis of the injunctions in regard to the proper structure and construction of the Yajna Vedi yields favourable results. So, it became necessary to accurately calculate these requirements to conform to specifications. On this account, mathematics has been developed as an auxiliary organ (Upaanga) of Vedas which contains Arithmetic, Geometry & Algebra.
The origin of creation timed through astronomical calculations (Jyotisha) is said to near about the same time as what is arrived at by modern research. The Kaliyuga has 4,32,000 years. The Dwaperyuga has twice (8,64,000) years. Tretayuga has thrice (12,96,000) years. Kritayuga has four times (43,20,000) years. All the four together, called a Mahayuga, has 43,20,000 years. The duration of the reign of a Manu is called “Manvantaram”. A single manvantra has 71 chatur Yugas. One thousand such Mahayugas make the period of the reign of the fourteen Manus. Fourteen Manus constitute a day (which does not include his night). In other words, 86400 lac years constitute one year of Brahma. 365 such days constitute one year of Brahma. On this basis his life span is 100 such years. The duration of this Universe is the same. 

Kalpa – Rituals & Traditions – Arms of Vedas
Kalpa focused on ritualistic events of life and discussed about different stages of life. It has standardized procedures for Vedic rituals. Specially for life events like birth, wedding and death in family. Kalpa has also discussed about different stages of his life.
Kalpa became the most important Sanskrit word as it forwards a long scheme of the temporal scale of the Vedic time, scale and gravity. The wheel of Time is a system that is “proper, competent, and therefore sacred over time”. The dynamics of evolution and involution and the interrelationship between the two as the microcosm (pinda) and the macrocosm (Brahmanda) provides the causation of the ceremonial and the manifested over time. The chain of four quadrants, or the 12 suns or the signs of Zodiacs, represent the Shrauta sutras in Kalpa Shastras.

Kalpa deals with matters such as how should a particular ritual be done; what functions or karma should be performed by man of each caste or verna or ashrams; which ritual involves which Mantra, which materials, which Devata; how many Ritviks (Priests) should be employed; what vessels of what shape and size should be used.
The Kalpa Sutra detail the forty samskaras and eight Aatma gunas. Barring the fourteen Havir-Soma Yajnas, the remaining 26 are mentioned in the Grihya Sutra. The eight Aatma gunas are – compassion (daya), patience (Kshama), absence of anger & envy (Anasuya), cleanliness (Soucha), absence of obstinacy, sweet nature, lack of greed and absence of desire. Kalpa teaches us every job. How he should sit, how he should eat, how he should wear his clothes, how houses to be built and where agni to be lit for Homa.
Reference - The Vedas – by Pujasri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi