V2DAITIGA, (Skt., member of the Veda). The name of six Sanskrit works, the object of which is to teach how to read and understand correctly Vedic texts, and how to apply them correctly to sacrificial purposes. The first four of the six Vedangas are philological in character and the other two deal with the sacrifice and its season. The names and scope of the six are as follows: (1) iksa, or phonetics. It is represented by a short treatise of 35, or, in another recension, of 59 verses, which explains the nature of letters, accent, and pronunciation, and is ascribed to Panini (q.v.). (2) Chandas, or metre, which is ascribed to Pingala. (3) Fyitkaraya, or grammar, by which native author ities understand the celebrated work of Panini (q.v.). (4) Nirukta (q.v.), or etymology. (5) Jyatisa, or astronomy, as employed in fixing the days and hours of the Vedic sacrifices. (6) Kalpa, or works on the Vedic ceremonial, which sys tematize the ritual taught by the Brahmana portion of the Veda, omitting, however, all legendary or mystical detail. They are com posed in the Sutra style. (See SUTRA.) The Vedanga was edited in Bombay, 1902. Consult: Aetr•ient Sanskrit Literature (London, 1S59) ; Weber, History of Indian Literature (Eng. trans., Boston, 1S7S) Alacdonell, San
skrit Literature (New York, 1900). VEDANTA, vii-dlin'ta (Skt., conclusion of the Veda, later interpreted as ultimate aim of the Veda). The second great division of the Ninianisa (q.v.) school of Hindu philosophy. It is chiefly concerned in the investigation of Brah ma, or the Supreme Spirit, and the relation in which the universe, and especially the Inman soul, stands to it; and in contradistinction from the Pfirraminianzs4, or the investigation of the former part of the Vedas, especially the Bral»nowts (see VEDA), it is also called Uttara mimaInsii, or the investigation of the latter part of the Vedas, the Aranyakas and .Upanishad.,', which treat of Brahma, the Supreme Spirit. Sometimes the name given to it is Stith-aka 41A . or the investigation of embodied Brah ma. In its method the Vedanta differs from the Nyliya (see NvXv.A; VAISESMKA ) by en deavoring to explain the universe as a successive development from one ultimate source or prin ciple, and it is distinct from the Siinkhya (see