HINDU ENCYCLOPEDIA

सनातन धर्म भूमिका

Meaning of "Yaska"

Word

Yaska

Sanskrit

यास्क

IAST

yāska

In General

Yaska is known today as the earliest known etymologist and lexicographer among all languages in the world. All the words in Sanskrit have roots or ‘dhathu’ as the ancient scholars say. All the various ‘dhathu’ are derived from natural sound which has immense meaning. Take the word ‘Hrdaya’ (heart) for example. The Vedas themselves trace its origin. ‘Hrdayam’ derived from ‘hridi ayam’, which means that Lord dwells in the heart. Yaska Nirukta makes similar enquiry into words and reveals their significance. All the Indian languages seek its root in Sanskrit because of this aspect of scientific study done by language expert in Sanskrit.

Veda

Yaska contribute the major part of a Vedanga called Nirukta. But he also had his own predecessors in language study. His work Nirukta is an elaboration on Nighantus available at his time, including the one by Kashyapa prajapati. Nighantu is a glossary of difficult and rare Vedic terms. Yaska followed the custom of interpreting the meaning of a word by gong to the root sound and do not speak anything about common words. Yaska Nirukta is divided into three parts. The Naighantuka kanda of the Nighantus consists of 3 lists of synonyms. The Naigama (Aikapadika) kanda consists of a list of isolated and difficult words. The Daivata kanda contains a classification of devatas..

Rig Veda got many commentaries from time immemorial. The earliest known commentary on Rig Veda is by Yaska, though only a part of it was recovered. It is very philosophical and intuitive. Aurobindo depended more on this commentary than that of Sayana.

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Word Sanskrit IAST In General Veda Purana