Word

Siksa or Siksha

Sanskrit

शिक्षा

IAST

śikṣā

In General

Siksha is a Vedanga, one of the six limbs of Veda. General meaning of Siksha is instruction and is a study of Phonetics and phonology.

Veda

Mantras are Sound forms. Siksha deals with Uccarana (pronunciation or enunciation), Svara(tone or accent), Matra(duration in pronouncing vowels), Bala (force or stress), Sama (continuity) and Santana (combination). The sound of each mantra is defined with utmost accuracy by this discipline. The different sounds have their source in different parts of the body when they are vocalized. So, such details of scientific and practical importance are dealt with this vedanga. Siksa goes to the fine details like, on how lips is to be combined and from which part of vocal path the breath must impinge and how it must be discharged from mouth. The practices of Mantras under Siksa thus achieve a status equivalent to Yoga because of breath control.

Siksa Sastra is a guard to ensure the right enunciation of the Vedic mantra and is the life breath and that form the nose of Vedapurusha. As the life of a Vedic Mantras is centered in its pronunciation each syllable should be enunciated gently yet distinctly. Similarly Vedic mantra or a hymn is to be enunciated strictly according to its measure. Each syllable is raised, lowered, or pronounced evenly – udatta, anudatta, svarita. Vedas were taught as oral tradition because of the intricacies in pronunciation. There are at least 30 works in Siksha, its authors include Panini, Yajnavalkya, Abhikali, Candrakomi, Vasista, Katyayana, Parasara, Mandavya, Narada, Lomasa. Naradiya siksha and Paniniya siksha are available in print.

The saksha sastra has got error correction method and rules to identify a Vedic verse. Padapatha, Jatapatha are some style of recitation for this purpose.