Pratisakhyas, collectively constituting four treatises, are works dealing with the phonetic aspects of the
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
language used in
VedasThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in Ancient India. The texts are composed in Vedic Sanskrit and form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, and the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism....
. These works mainly pertain to euphonic permutation and combination of letters and special characteristics of their pronunciation as they prevailed in various schools of Vedic studies.
One of the Pratisakhyas deal with the phonetic aspects of the Rig Veda.
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Pratisakhyas, collectively constituting four treatises, are works dealing with the phonetic aspects of the
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
language used in
VedasThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in Ancient India. The texts are composed in Vedic Sanskrit and form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, and the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism....
. These works mainly pertain to euphonic permutation and combination of letters and special characteristics of their pronunciation as they prevailed in various schools of Vedic studies.
Rig Veda
One of the Pratisakhyas deal with the phonetic aspects of the Rig Veda. The work is generally ascribed to be written by Saunak, an ancient
rishiA rishi denotes a poet-sage through whom the Vedic hymns flowed, credited also as divine scribes. According to post-Vedic tradition the rishi is a "seer" or "shaman" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness...
(sage). It has been translated into
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
by
Max MullerFriedrich Max Müller , more commonly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
. A
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
translation done by M. Regnier is also available.
Yajur Veda
There are two treatises dealing with phonetic and related aspects of the Yajur Veda. The first, commonly known as the
Black Yajur, is known as
Taittriya Pratisakhya. Its translation done by Professor Whitney is also available, and the same has been published in the Journal of the
American Oriental SocietyThe American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship. From the beginning its aims have been humanistic. The encouragement of basic...
. The second treatise is commonly called the
White Yajur, and is known as
Vajasaneyi Pratisakhya. The later is believed to have been written by Katyayana. Its translation done by Weber is available.
Atharva Veda
The treatise pertaining to the phonetic and other aspects of Atharva Veda is also ascribed to the sage Saunak, and derives its name from him: the
Saunakiya Chaturadhyayika, which means the Book having four chapters by Saunak. Whitney has translated the work into English.
Sama Veda
Until now (2006), no Pratisakhya has been discovered dealing with the phonetic laws of Sama Veda.