Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c12.12

c12.12

**Nirukta.** The fourth Vedāṅga is *Nirukta* or Etymology as represented in the work of Yaska, which is a sort of an etymological lexicography of Vedic terms. The *Nirukta* together with the *Prātiśākhyas* and Pāṇini's Grammar supplies the most interesting and important information on the growth of grammatical science in India. The *Nirukta* is in reality a commentary on the *Nighaṇṭu*, a collection of Vedic words and synonyms which, by virtue of their arrangement, largely explain themselves. Yāska had before him five such collections of which the first three contain synonyms, the fourth a list of specially difficult Vedic words, and the fifth, a classification of the various divine personages who figure in the Veda.