Yāska was an early Sanskrit grammarian who preceded Pāṇini (fl.

6-5th century BCE[1]), assumed to have lived in the 7th century BCE.
Nothing is known about him other than that he is traditionally identified as the author of Nirukta, the discipline of "etymology"
(explanation of words) within Sanskrit grammatical tradition.

Yaska is the author of the Nirukta, a technical treatise on etymology, lexical category and the
semantics of Sanskrit words. He is thought to have succeeded Śākaṭāyana, an old grammarian and
expositor of the Vedas, who is mentioned in his text.

The Nirukta attempts to explain how certain words get to have their meanings, especially in the
context of interpreting the Vedic texts. It includes a system of rules for forming words from roots
and affixes, and a glossary of irregular words, and formed the basis for later lexicons and
dictionaries. It consists of three parts, viz.:(i) Naighantuka, a collection of synonyms; (ii) Naigama, a
collection of words peculiar to the Vedas, and (iii) Daivata, words relating to deities and sacrifices.

The Nirukta was one of the six vedangas or compulsory ritual subjects in syllabus of Sanskrit
scholarship in ancient India.

Section-13: Niruktam ( )

The philosophies of Sanathana Dharma, whether Nyaya or Vaiseshika, whether

Sankhya or Yoga or whether Poorva or Uthara Meemamsa, are higly dependent on
the Sanskrit Language. The philosophies assume an eternal connection between
the Sanskrit word and its meaning. This was mentioned in an earlier lesson in this
series where we quoted from the Mahabhashya, the words "siddhe shabdartha
sambhandhe"

The philosophies assert that just as creation is a cycle, the Sanskrit words are also
created in cycles so that their meanings are essentially eternal. This is the reason
why no origin or root for sanskrit can ever be found.

How does the language of Sanskrit utilize this concept in its day to day use? The
language is wholly derived from some fundamental root syllables which denote
basic concepts like the five elements, movement, energy, space etc.. The five
elements are collectively termed as >pancha maha boothaha and individually as

prithivi, aapaha, analaha, vaayu, akaashaha

standing for the earth, water, fire, air and the ether respectively. The vedanga
which deals with the subject matter of root words occurring in the vedas is termed
as Niruktam and is credited (or traced) to the rendition of sage Yaska. Niruktam is
divided into three portions in the first of which root words each signifying a simple
concept are grouped or classified together. For instance, the words

aapaha, udakam, jalam, neeram, vaari etc.,

all of which denote water, are put under a group along with other words not
mentioned above, and the group termed udakanaamaani.

In the second branch of Niruktam, Yaska gives a derivation of these names from
their roots. In the third branch of Niruktam, Yaska proceeds to give the meanings
of some specific mantras from the Vedas.

It will be obvious to our readers that this feature of the Sanskrit language is wholly
unique and is not seen in other languages of the world, whether ancient or modern.

This lends credence to the belief that Sanskrit is the oldest of all the languages of
the world.

At the end of this article, we have appended a figure to highlight this aspect of the
language in which, we trace the names for water in different languages of the
world to their corresponding words in the Sanskrit language.