Nirukta : one of the Vedāṇgas. The term means etymology & glossary. It is devoted to the explanation of difficult Vedic words. The only work of this kind now known to us is that of Yaska, though 17 writers of Nirukta preceded him.
... its place as one of the Vedāngas, and this Vedanga is known as Nirukta. Nirukta is not confined only to meanings of words; it traces the words to their originals, and it indicates how different similar or dissimilar words arose from those origins. The principle that all names are originated from verbs is an important principle of Nirukta, and even modern linguists accept this principle. It is believed... becomes free from sin and proceeds towards heaven. Page 100 There have been several commentaries on Nirukta such as those of Durgāchārya, Skanda Maheshwara and Vararuchi. Nirukta deals with various subjects which are very close to Grammar or Vyākarana, and therefore Nirukta is often considered to be a part of Vyākarana. However, Vyākarana is considered to be a principal part of the six... social law and yet complex and flexible application of it, and even a supervening tendency to preach transcendence of all good and evil and all the binding chains of dharma. We come next to Nirukta. Nirukta is a kind of commentary on Nighantu which is a collection of difficult words of the Veda. Nighantu is supposed to have been composed by Prajāpati Kashyap. In the first two chapters, Nighantu provides ...
... Page 179 4 January 1913 Work (nirukta) has emerged from its hesitations & is being steadily done; incidentally much that was seen by intuition formerly is being proved by the data. Trikaldrishti Pain in the V's [Viceroy's] wounds continues; foreseen. Peace negotiations at their critical stage. Most of the day spent in Nirukta. Some development of rupadrishti in the evening... Page 185 overbear it. At the same time there is a sensible movement of the Para Tapas to throw off the general obstruction and pursue steadily and powerfully the totality of the siddhi. Nirukta has been resumed today and is being well, but slowly done. Rupa emerged in the afternoon and evening, not perfect, but with greater force than before, so that perfect forms more frequently come... utthapana of neck & legs this morning, but not for long, as the adhogati succeeded in enforcing defect of anima .. The Page 188 morning began with a clouded state, in which however Bhasa & Nirukta [proceeded]; 2 in both the weariness of adhogati born of difficulty is being allowed to manifest according to its power & extruded. It is no longer able to prevent work or stop its continuity, but ...
... slight and indecisive but no longer doubtful. Sleep at night six hours & short sleep in daytime. 18 July 1912 Programme. 1) Preparation of karma (sahitya, bhasha, philosophy, nirukta, prerana) Preparation of kama (knowledge, bhava, outflow) Madhurabhava of dasyam in action. 2) Beauty prepared, health & utthapana maintained, physical ananda insisted on 3) Vijnanam made... overshadowed; only the buddhi keeps its grasp on the Anandam Brahma. Sleep at night six hours, in daytime half an hour. 19 July 1912 Programme. 1) Continuation of karma (Bhasha, Sahitya, nirukta, prerana, kavya); preparation of kama with strong action of madhura bhava; Krishnakali finally realised in triple dasya. 2) Health & utthapana to move forward and the intenser ananda to become frequent... vijnana is not yet perfect, but it has moved nearer to perfection. The powers are already more active, successful & frequent. Page 96 Karma—The Life Divine continued, Rigveda resumed, nirukta & prerana slightly, kavya touched, Bhasha proceeded with. The difficulty of understanding Magha now only persists, ordinarily, where the meaning of important words is unknown. Triple dasya was strongly ...
... relevant notes as Sri Aurobindo jotted them down in July 1912, so that we all may know when it happened and how it happened. 1 Nirukta, Vedic etymology, composed by Yaska. Let us note at once that Sri Aurobindo did not write a 'new Nirukta' but his Origins of Aryan Speech" shows to where he was leading. Page 337 "July 13 th . Ananda Mimansa 1 begun last night;... Rigveda resumed, nirukta & prerana slightly, kavya" 1 touched, Bhasa proceeded with. The difficulty of understanding Magha now only persists, ordinarily, where the meaning of important words is unknown. "July 20 th . Bhasa & the Life Divine have already been resumed. "During the day the karma 1 ' was strengthened—Rodogune 7 revised, prerana liberated from its shackles, nirukta strongly brought... clearly worked out. Sri Krishna has shown me the true meaning of the Vedas, not only so, but he has shown me a new Science of Philology showing the process and origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta 1 can be formed and the new interpretation of the Veda based upon it. He has also shown me the meaning of all in the Upanishads that is not understood either by Indians or Europeans. I have therefore ...
... Science of Philology showing the process and origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta can be formed and the new interpretation of the Veda based upon it." Yaska was the author of the original Nirukta, an etymological text, mentioned in the Mahabharata. Page 365 Sri Aurobindo worked on Nirukta over a period of time. The work progressed, a little hesitatingly at first, then more... was attained, he was left unsatisfied "since possibility still has its play." Possibilities were not acceptable, only the right word would do. Within the week (up to January 4), however, the "Work (nirukta) has emerged from its hesitations 8c is being steadily done; incidentally much that was seen by intuition formerly is being proved by the data." The reader will remember that Sri Aurobindo had also... association of ideas with the sound forms they represent, and avoid lures which may draw him away "from the great discoveries awaiting mankind on his badly explored tract of knowledge." Through Nirukta, the use of etymology, through The Origins of Aryan Speech, and his profuse writings on the Veda and the Upanishads, Sri Aurobindo has provided us with the clue and the methodology of exploring ...
... by J; that is, both Yavana and Javana are permissible and therefore interchangeable. Javana in later Sanskrit literature means 'one who possesses speed'. (Compare Yaska's derivation of Pijavana, Nirukta II, 24, Roth's edition, Gottingen.)" The explicit interchanging of Yavana and Javana is found in a Buddhist allusion to the script which Pānini named "Yāvānānī". Agrawala 2 writes: "Yāvānānī... of Mazdeanism are involved here. The evidence is markedly insufficient. Benveniste's second point is connected with Grier-son's observation on the Kambojas' speech. Benveniste cites Yāska's Nirukta (II, 2.8) to the effect that the Kambojas spoke a language with Irānian words in it (e.g., śavati, "to go"). But does Yāska imply that this language was Aramaic with Irānian words strewing it... Benveniste's linguistic generalization. His Kambojas would never qualify as the people for whom Aśoka got the Aramaic version engraved. And we should remember Agrawala's remark: 2 "The Nirukta... is a commentary on a traditional list of Vedic words known as the Nighantu." The Nighantu itself (11.14) lists śavati among the verbs meaning "to go". So the implication of Yāska's statement ...
... the physical brain dull and overcast. The Maheshwari-Mahasaraswati shanti is giving place under such circumstances to the Mahasaraswati-Mahakali quietude based on a concealed Maheshwari pratistha. Nirukta is now acting under the rule of the vijnana normally & bhasha begins to follow suit; the intellect in the environment has recognised the necessity of passivity & the superior results of the vijnanamaya... is Page 165 about to ensue in which these survivals have to be eliminated both in the vijnana & the physical siddhi, as well as in the samata, dasya & tejas, and the sahitya, bhasha & nirukta have to be consolidated; the trikaldrishti of exact time & arrangement of circumstance & the ritam in karma have to be well-established,—and the obstacles in the saundarya, religious karma, Krishnanritya... The aishwarya was strong today & lipi frequent; but the trikaldrishti much disturbed, rupadrishti almost suspended; particular tejas acts, but general tejas is discouraged and faith depressed. The Nirukta progresses and has attained a certain perfection of method, but not yet of vijnanamay substance, since possibility still has its play. The great gain in the method of work is renunciation of haste ...
... only in Sayana, but also in the ancient book on Grammar, Nirukta, we come across traces of spiritual interpretation. Let us cite here only one instance: sarira-madhyavarti... (Indra designated as the Knower of the field (nature), as Life that resides in the body). This is one of the interpretations of the word 'Indra' given by the author of Nirukta. But as a matter of fact, the Vedas are not merely... domain of the Upanishads. Besides, the few who engaged themselves in a discussion of the Vedas confined themselves more to the commentaries on the Vedas than the Vedas proper. The grammar of Panini, Nirukta, the science of derivation of meanings from the roots, Mimamsa, the commentaries on the Vedas and, above all, the commentaries made by Sayana Acharya made it so difficult to understand the text of... The Vedas have a spiritual mystery of their own. We do not say that it is we who have discovered that spiritual mystery for the first time. As regards this we have already referred to Sayana and the Nirukta. Even in this modern age there are some who have endeavoured to present a spiritual interpretation of the Vedas. Perhaps Dayananda Saraswati is the pioneer among them. Pundit Durgadas Lahiri ...
... the one dharma and yoga which dominated and more and more tended to replace all others. It is necessary to recover the proper meaning of this important word by Nirukta, and, in order to [do] it, to lay down briefly the principle of Nirukta. The Sanscrit language is the devabhasha or original language spoken by men in Uttara Meru at the beginning of the Manwantara; but in its purity it is not the... is called the Paramhansa, one who has gone or evolved to the highest in that stage of evolution. This is the fundamental knowledge underlying the Veda, the loss of which, aided by the corruption of nirukta, has led to the present confusion and degradation of its meaning. Chandra is the devata of the smriti or prajna; Surya of the satyam; Indra of the understanding and manas; Vayu of the sukshma prana; ...
... dealings with such words as gau and candra . The Nirukta bears evidence to this capacity and in the Brahmanas and Upanishads we find the memory of this free and symbolic use of words still subsisting. Certainly, Dayananda had not the advantage that a comparative study of languages gives to the European scholar. There are defects in the ancient Nirukta which the new learning, though itself sadly defective ...
... attempt, successful & vigorous in the Panjab, is not likely to command acceptance among the more subtle races of the south & east. It was based like the European rendering on a system of philology,—the Nirukta of Yaska used by the scholastic ingenuity & robust faith of Dayananda to justify conclusions far-reaching & even extravagant, to which it is difficult to assent Page 114 unless we are offered... to the educated mind in India the authority of the Vedas. Nevertheless, he put his finger on the real clue, the true principle by which Veda can yet be made to render up its long-guarded secret. A Nirukta, based on a wider knowledge of the Aryan tongues than Dayananda possessed, more scientific than the conjectural philology of the Europeans, is the first condition of this great recovery. The second ...
... Suvāstu (= modern Swat). Even King Sudās is to be placed in the upper Indus valley: his famous victory over the ten kings took place on the river Paruṣṇī (7,18,8-9), which can be identified, with Yāska (Nirukta 9,26), with the river Irāvatī (= modern Ravi) in the Panjab; he also fought on the Yamunā (= the modern Jumna) (7,18,19). But Trasadasyu and Sudās do not represent the earliest phase in the... II, p. 454 for all proper information on Sudās. But K. Chattopadhyaya 194 has penetratingly corrected Parpola's authorities: King Sudās has been called in the Rgveda Paijavana. Yaska in a Nirukta passage (11.24) ... paijavanah pijava-nasya putrah, says that Pijavana was the name of Sudās's father. King Divodāsa is also mentioned as the ancestor of Sudās. Professors Macdonell and Keith 195 ...
... in hymns of all the books of the Rgveda. Yaska 17. Ibid., pp. 78 - 79. 18. Ibid., pp. 80-81. Page 193 (Nirukta 6.27) in his comment on Rgveda 8.66.10 says, The Panis are merchants', and in his comment on R.V. 10.108.1 (Nirukta 11.25) he calls the Panis demons. The distinction between the human and the superhuman Pani is also recognised by Say ana, the author of ...
... works composed in the style of the Sutras in accordance with the Indian traditional view, divided into six branches, called Vedangas (members of the Veda). These are; Shiksha, Chhanda, Vyakarana, Nirukta, K.alpa, and Jyotisha. 2. Rhys Davids, American Lectures, p. 102 Page 90 the sounds of ovation which greeted his ear, one in particular is said to have attracted his attention — that... archaic metres systematically. The third Vedanga is Vyakarana or grammar. (The most important information regarding pre-Paninian grammar is to be derived from Yaska's work.) The fourth Vedanga is Nirukta or etymology, as represented in the work ot'Yaska, which is a sort of etymological lexicography of Vedic terms. The fifth Vedanga is Kalpa, science of ceremonies. The last Vedanga is called Jyotisha ...
... sense such as Nirukta and other Vedangas. But even then, he says, 'the true sense of the Veda can be recovered directly by meditation and tapasya', those who can use these means need no outward aids for this knowledge. This also is sufficiently clear and positive." Modern scholarship, which dates the Rigveda to c. 1500 B.C., computes that Yaska compiled his Nirukta in the period ...
... see how they use this method in assigning the names assumed by the sacrificial Horse. Here modern philology comes to our help, for, by the clue it has given, we can revive in its principle the Nirukta of our ancestors and discover by induction & inference the old meaning of the Vedic vocables. I will leave Haya alone for the present; because philology unaided does not help us very much in getting ...
... by Swami Dayananda, the founder of the Arya Samaj, to re-establish the Veda as a living religious Scripture. Dayananda took as his basis a free use of the old Indian philology which he found in the Nirukta. Himself a great Sanskrit scholar, he handled his materials with remarkable power and independence. Especially creative was his use of that peculiar feature of the old Sanskrit tongue which is best ...
... mentality in the environment to the movements of the vijnanam. The annam of the body resists the working of the sahitya, the only karma that as yet seeks to proceed regularly, though bhasha, study and nirukta are pressing forward. A strong siege of tamas besets the physical brain. Knowledge floods it from the vijnanam, knowledge of type & possibility, but not yet of actuality; but the brain is unwilling ...
... almost lost and the Rishis who still knew had to save it by handing it down through initiation to disciples and at a last stage outward and mental means had to be used for finding the sense such as Nirukta and other Vedangas. But even then, he says, "the true sense of the Veda can be recovered directly by meditation and tapasya", those who can use these means need no outward aids for this knowledge. ...
... 28. Rig-Veda, IV. 52-4. 29.Is ha Upanishad, 14. 30. Rig-Veda, III. 61-3. 31.IS ha Upanishad, 7. 32. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 33.Cf. 'R ṣ ir dar ś an ā t' (Yaska's Nirukta, II. 3.3). 34.Compare: "...All creation is an act of light" (Savitri, Book II, Canto XV). "...all-knowing Light." ( Savitri, Book II, Canto III). "A knowledge which became what it perceived" ...
... nar-, 334, 418 Nasatyas, 213, 251, 280 Nausharo, 227 Navdatoli MI, 215 Nevasa, 246 Nighantu, 269, 409 ninety-nine ..., 283, 303-4, 327, 329, 332 Nirukta, see Yaska Norman, K.R., 255-9, 272, 280 Nuristan/Nuristanis, 280, 281-2 Nuristani languages, 282 obstructors, 187, 360-62 oceans (in the Rigveda) 187, 396-7 ...
... Sri Aurobindo refers also to the frequent appeal by the Upanishads to the Rigveda's authority for the truths they themselves announce, and he informs us that even the ancient lexicographer Yāska's Nirukta speaks of several schools of Vedic interpretation, from which it singles out as the most authentic the spiritual one holding that "the Rishis saw the truth, the true law of things, directly by an ...
... of the valuable heritage of ancient humanity, there has been a wide difference in regard to the interpretation of the Veda. The original scholastic work on the Veda had begun with Yaska and his Nirukta, and even Page 2 Yaska acknowledges that there were in his times at least three alternatives, — ādhibhautika, ādhidaivika and ādhyātmika. In due course, the ritualistic interpretation ...
... denoting this sense of अंग्, the अन् is obviously intensive or reduplicative, not privative. Cf अनर्च from अर्च् etc for reduplication; दिदिविः etc for its intensive force. When the idea of the true Nirukta was lost, the false idea of "bodiless" was conveyed into this name of Kamadeva and the story of the Kumarasambhava brought in to explain so inapt an epithet. Page 536 Translation. That ...
... Eleusinian, 107 Nādi-Stuti, 14 Naga-worship, 101 Namyawaza, 32, 33 Naram-Sin, 88, 89 Nasatyas, 34, 35, 86 Natarajan. P., 23fn. Natufians, 22, 23 Nirukta, 108 Nordics, 20 Norse Sagas, 18 North-West Frontier, 63 Northerners, 1 Oldenberg, 110 Old High German, 90 Origins of Aryan Speech ...
... interpretation of particular texts is he more convincing than the later erudition of Sayana. The commentary of Sayana closes the period of original and living scholastic work on the Veda which Yaska's Nirukta among other important authorities may be said to open. The lexicon was compiled in the earlier vigour of the Indian mind when it was assembling its prehistoric gains as the materials of a fresh outburst ...
... overpassed, outstripped. रक्षकत्वेन पर्यग्रहीत् । भूष अलंकारे भुवादिः । लडि रूपं । यद्वा पर्यभवत् । अत्यक्रामत् । अस्मिन्पक्षे भवतेर्व्यत्ययेन क्सः । क्ष्युकः कितीतीट्प्रतिषेधः ।। Sayana follows the Nirukta in these alternative explanations. परिभूष् is in the Veda simply an intensive form of परिभू and means here “enveloped or encircled with his own being”. Indra, the Purusha of the divine luminous ...
... but this is not luminous. It is however, powerfully active & there is knowledge, though not jyotirmaya knowledge. 5) Gita —Commentary on the Gita to be written Karma Life Divine II—Veda. Nirukta & Hymns to the Ribhus, the latter commenced today, the former yesterday. Lipi. 6) Tapas —ie it will continue, in answer to a doubt in the mind. 7) telepathy. the telepathy of the trikaldrishti ...
... fact it contains both significances. Agni as Hotri calls the gods to the sacrifice by the mantra and, on their coming, gives to them the offering. अध्वरेषु. The word अध्वर is explained by the Nirukta as meaning literally अहिंस्रः "unhurting", अ + ध्वर from ध्वृ and so, the unhurt sacrifice, and so simply sacrifice. Certainly, it is used as an adjective qualifying यज्ञ, अध्वरो यज्ञः. It must therefore ...
... double reward. By discovering the early Vedantic interpretation of Veda, we may pour out a great illumination on the meaning of Veda itself,—to be confirmed, possibly, by the larger & more perfect Nirukta which the future will move inevitably to discover. By recovering the realisations of Yajnavalkya & Ajatashatru, we shall recover perhaps the inspired thoughts of Vasishta and Viswamitra, of Ghora from ...
... the knower of truth, the drashta of the Veda, Agni jatavedas, or the adept in law and rule. In the latter sense it came to mean a sacrificial priest versed in the rules of the sacrifice. The later Nirukta, fixing on the sense of priesthood, the only one then known, very naturally derived it from ऋतु and इज्, sacrificing in season, which is the only possible combination by modern rules and arrives at ...
... being clearly worked out. Sri Krishna has shown me the true meaning of the Vedas, not only so but he has shown me a new Science of Philology showing the process & origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta can be formed & the new interpretation of the Veda based upon it. He has also shown me the meaning of all in the Upanishads that is not understood either by Indians or Europeans. I have therefore to ...
... that go into the Purānas' calculations have another significance and represent much smaller periods. Two other references of Mankad's 5 are important as well: (1) According to Yāska's Nirukta (14th Adyaya), Brāhma's 1. Op. cit., p. 74. The texts concerned are: Vayu, xxiv.l; lviii.30 ff. 2. Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, p. 178. The texts are: Brāhmanda iii.63,121; ...
... 483,484 Xerxes, 250,281, 325,331,333, 431,438 Yajnasri Satakarni, 519,584,585 Yajnavalkya, 20 Yadavas, 96 Yadu, 96 Yama, 143,582 Yasdagird, 29 Yāska (see also Nirukta), 130,256, 309-10 Yasodharman, 501-3,504,505, 508-16,600,606 Yaudheyas, 424,425 'Yauna',232,248,249 yāvān, 258 'yavanāni ('yavana script'), 248, 249,250,253,325-30 ...
... kalpa (which relates to the procedures and mathematics of the rituals and ceremonies of Vedic sacrifices) vyākaraṇa (a systematic body of knowledge of grammar connected with Vedic Sanskrit), nirukta (a systematic body of the vocabulary of Vedic terms and their etymology), chanda (which is a body of knowledge connected with Vedic prosody, science of meters which are to be found in Vedic poetry) ...
... at an early stage. Actually, Vedangas had begun to develop even before the Upanishads. Mandukya Upanishad mentions six Vedangas: Shiksha (Phonetics); Kalpa (Rituology); Vyakarana (Grammar); Nirukta (Etymology); Chhandas (Metrics); and Jyotisha (Astronomy and Astrology). Each Vedanga takes up one aspect of the Veda and an attempt is made to explain it. In due course, there developed a vast ...
... a tributary of the Sarayu River. Numerous hermitages stretched round the central hermitage At this Ashram, there were specialists in each of the four Vedas; in Phonetics, Metrics, Grammar, and Nirukta. There were also philosophers .well-versed in the science of the Absolute. There were logicians. There were also specialists in the physical sciences and arts. In this forest university, the study ...
... came up at an early stage. Actually, Vedangas had begun to develop even before the Upanishads. Mandukya Upanishad mentions six Vedangas; Shiksha (Phonetics); Kalpa (Rituolgy); Vyakarana (Grammar); Nirukta (Etymology); Chhanda (Metrics); and Jyotish (Astronomy and Astrology). Each Vedanga takes up one aspect of the Veda Page 90 and an attempt is made to explain it. In due course, there ...
... mysteries there were such schools in Egypt, Greece and Asia Minor. That Sayana's Bhashya-commentary-is not the sole undisputed authority on the meaning of the Vedic hymns is amply proved by Yaska's Nirukta, the first attempt at preserving the Vedic knowledge current in Yaska's time. Yaska is prior to Sayana, and he admits triple interpretation of every hymn -Tan-Adhibhautik, Adhidaivik, Adhyatmik-and ...
... Knowledge). Notwithstanding these vicissitudes, the text of the Veda - "a text determined scrupulously to its very accentuation" - had been carefully preserved, and in course of time Yaska's Lexicon (Nirukta) and Sayana's Commentary (Bhashya) came to be composed as aids to the understanding of the Veda. Faced by the intertwining complexity and baffling multiplicity of ritualistic, mythological, psy ...
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