Paniniya Shiksha

Book excerpt: Paniniya Shiksha is the most popular and well-known among the 72 Shiksha texts in Vedic Literature. It is a general manual of Sanskrit pronunciation applicable to all the four Vedas. Clear, concise and comprehensive, it teaches the 64 letters of the alphabet, and covers all the five major divisions of Vedic phonology, pitch, duration, place of articulation, effort or mode of articulation and phonation. This monograph provides a translation and a detailed analysis of the position of Panini's work in the field of Vedic phonology, and in Vedic Literature as a whole. To help the reader follow the logic of the text, a commentary is provided explaining how each verse follows from its previous verse, and how each verse fits into the overall theme of unfoldment of knowledge. The goal of Paniniya Shiksha is to refine the physiology and gain enlightenment through recitation of the Vedic texts with proper pronunciation. This is the program of Vedic education, the standard system of education in ancient India. This broader context of the unfoldment of the full latent potential of the student through Vedic education must be understood in order to fully appreciate the great contribution of Panini in the field of Vedic phonology. The analysis of the broader context of this Shiksha work, shows it to be a proper foundation and starting point for study in all the various disciplines of Vedic science: The origin of speech, described by Panini, is the fountainhead of all knowledge, the wellsprings from which the whole breadth and depth of Vedic Literature find their source and sustenance. Panini lived thousands of years ago, but he has made a lasting contribution to the understanding of the dynamics of integration of life through refinement of speech, through perfecting the pronunciation of the Sanskrit language. Paniniya Shiksha is a manual for correct pronunciation, but it is also a guidebook to complete fulfillment in life through Vedic recitation.