वेदाङ्ग [ vedāṅga ] [ vedāṅga ] n. " a limb (for preserving the body) of the Veda " , N. of certain works or classes of works regarded as auxiliary to and even in some sense as part of the Veda , (six are usually enumerated ( and mostly written in the Sūtra or aphoristic style ) ; 1. [ śikṣā ] , " the science of proper articulation and pronunciation " , comprising the knowledge of letters , accents , quantity , the use of the organs of pronunciation , and phonetics generally , but especially the laws of euphony peculiar to the Veda ( many short treatises and a chapter of the Taittirīya-āraṇyaka are regarded as the representatives of this subject ; but other works on Vedic phonetics may be included under it see [ prātiśākhya ] ) : 2. [ chandas ] , " metre " ( represented by a treatise ascribed to Piṅgala-nāga , which , however , treats of Prākṛit as well as Saṃskṛit metres , and includes only a few of the leading Vedic metres ) : 3. [ vyākaraṇa ] , " linguistic analysis or grammar " ( represented by Pāṇini's celebrated Sūtras ) : 4. [ nirukta ] , " explanation of difficult Vedic words " ( cf. [ yāska ] ) : 5. [ jyotiṣa ] , " astronomy " , or rather the Vedic calendar ( represented by a small tract , the object of which is to fix the most auspicious days for sacrifices ) : 6. [ kalpa ] , " ceremonial " , represented by a large number of Sūtra works ( cf. [ sūtra ] ) : the first and second of these Vedâṅgas are said to be intended to secure the correct reading or recitation of the Veda , the third and fourth the understanding of it , and the fifth and sixth its proper employment at sacrifices: the Vedâṅgas are alluded to by Manu , who calls them , in Lit. iii , 184 , Pravacanas , " expositions " , a term which is said to be also applied to the Brāhmaṇas) Lit. IW. 145