Vedanga parichaya sammelanam (conference)
With the anugraham of Sri Sharadamba and Sri Chandramoulishwara and with the blessings of our Sringeri Jagadgurus Sri. Mahasannidhanam Swamigal and Sri. Sannidanam Swamigal, we humbly presented the first VEDANGA PARICHAYA SAMMELANAM (Conference) in Sri Bharati Tirtha Patashala, Sengottai, Tamil Nadu on the 24th of March 2019. The endeavour was supported by the South Zone Cultural Center, Thanjavur, Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.
As the name implies this conference was about Shadangam. Shadangam constitutes the 6 angas or “limbs” of the Vedas and are next in importance to the Vedas themselves. They are among the basic texts of Hinduism. The 6 angas are:
- Siksha (Phoenetics) – nose of the Vedapurusha
- VyAkarana (Grammar) – mouth of the Vedapurusha
- Nirukta (Etymology/Lexicon) – ear of the Vedapurusha
- Kalpa (Manual of rituals) – hand of the Vedapurusha
- Chhandas (Metre/Prosody) – foot of the Vedapurusha
- Jyotisha (Astronomy/Astrology) – eye of the Vedapurusha
According to the inspiring words of Sri. Mahasannidhanam Swamigal, these days shadangam is not taught commonly in most patashalas as in the older days. Under the instruction of Our Holiness Shri. Mahasannidhanam Swamigal, FOR THE FIRST TIME, we are re-introducing Shadangam education as main stream ALONG WITH conventional Vedic education (svashAkhai) for all vidyarthis and acharyas in our patashala. We hope to produce Shadangam experts at the time of graduation of these vidyarthis. This conference marks the beginning of this endeavor.
The main highlights of this conference were: this is the first time such a conference is being arranged in Tirunelveli District in the recent past and certainly the first major conference arranged in our patashala, where Vedic pundits from many parts of India participated. This was also live-casted on website, and astikas viewed it from throughout the world.
