Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.11

c9.11

These first essays in the editorial art and technique for securing textual purity laid the foundation of Linguistics or Metrics known as *Śikshā* recognized as one of the six sciences which were auxiliaries to the Vedas (Vedāṅgas). This literary art is elaborated in the later *Prātiśākhya* literature in which are presented with examples the euphonic modification necessary for turning the *Pada* into the *Saṁhitā* text, and also in the works known as *Anukramaṇīs*, or Indexes, giving the number of the hymns, verses, words, and even syllables of the sacred text as means of checking its integrity. As Macdonell (*India's Past*) has remarked, "these devices have secured a faithfulness of tradition unparalleled in any other ancient literature."