The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2628 page)

see
SKANDHA
.

 
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(Skt., ‘the limbs of the
Veda
’). The group of auxiliary texts in Hinduism developed over many centuries to preserve and explicate the Veda, especially in relation to ritual. They are sometimes considered part of the Veda, but strictly lie outside and are reckoned as
sm
ti
, not
ruti
. The Ved
ga are written mostly in
s
tra
style and are traditionally six in number:
ik
a
(phonetics);
chandas
(metre);
vy
kara
a
(grammar);
nirukta
(etymology);
jyoti
a
(astronomy and calendar);
kalpa
(ceremonial). The additional ‘limbs’ are the Up
gas, four in number:
pur
a