Vyakarana

(“analysis”) One of the six Vedangas.
These were the auxiliary branches of
knowledge connected with the Vedas,
the oldest Hindu religious texts, and all
the Vedangas were associated with the
use of the Vedas. In its essence,
vyakarana is the study of Sanskrit grammar, which was obviously essential to
understanding the Vedic texts (which
were written in Sanskrit). Vyakarana’s
role as the gatekeeper to the Sanskrit
language made grammar the queen
of the traditional learned sciences,
and in many contexts it is what is
meant by the term vidya (“knowledge”).
Aside from vyakarana, the other
Vedangas are shiksha (correct pronunciation), chandas (Sanskrit prosody),
kalpa (ritual instructions), nirukta
(etymology), and jyotisha (auspicious
times for sacrifices).