[go: up one dir, main page]

Akshara: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added
m Kashmiri moved page Aksara to Akshara over redirect: Misspelled: Either IAST or Anglicisation, but not a crossover. Moving to Anglicised spelling.
Lead section: major rewrite.
Line 1:
{{For|the Javanese script known as '''Aksara''' or '''Hanacaraka'''|Javanese script}}
{{Hinduism}}
'''Akshara''' ({{lang-sa|अक्षर|translit=akṣara|translit-std=[[IAST]]|lit=imperishable, indestructible, fixed, immutable}}) is a term used in the [[Vyākaraṇa|traditional grammar]] of the [[Sanskrit language]] and in the [[Vedanta]] school of [[Indian philosophy]].
'''Aksara''' (also ''akshara'', [[Devanagari]] अक्षर, [[IAST]] ''akṣara'') is a [[Sanskrit]] term translating to "imperishable, indestructible, fixed, immutable" (i.e. from अ, ''[[Privative a|a-]]'' "not" and क्षर्, ''kṣar-'' "melt away, perish").
 
The term is derived from अ, ''[[Privative a|a-]]'' "not" and क्षर्, ''kṣar-'' "melt away, perish". The uniting aspect of theseits usesuse is the mystical view of language, or ''[[shabda]]'', in Hindu tradition, and especially the notion of the ''syllable'' as a kind of immutable (or "atomic") substance of both language and truth, most prominently, the mystical syllable [[Om|Aum]], which is given the name of ''ekākṣara'' (i.e. ''eka-akṣara''), which can be translated as both "the sole imperishable thing" and as "a single syllable".
 
It has two main fields of application, in [[Vyākaraṇa|Sanskrit grammatical tradition]] ([[śikṣā]]) and in [[Vedanta philosophy]].
The uniting aspect of these uses is the mystical view of language, or [[shabda]], in Hindu tradition, and especially the notion of the ''syllable'' as a kind of immutable (or "atomic") substance of both language and truth, most prominently, the mystical syllable [[Om|Aum]], which is given the name of ''ekākṣara'' (i.e. ''eka-akṣara''), which can be translated as both "the sole imperishable thing" and as "a single syllable".
In the explicitly [[monotheistic]] tradition of [[Bhakti yoga]], both ''akṣara'' and ''aum'' become seen as a symbol or [[name of God]].