Course-5 Understanding Disciplines and School Subjects pmd

Emergence of Academic Disciplines in India
I, personally have not come across much work about the formation of acaedemic
disciplines in the context of India. This is a fertile area for research. There is no doubt that
there were good number of disciplines, in its strict sense in India, which were studied in
different educational institutions. The present disciplines which are popular in schools
may be the result of the influence of the western countries, but there are evidences to say
that number of disciplines emerged and in existence in institutions of education in India.
Dear students, give more thought to this area of study, take up studies in depth and deduct
appropriate knowledge.
The origin of disciplines in India can be traced back to ancient times when Vedanga ,
the six auxiliary disciplines of 
Hinduism
developed. (This deduction needs to be supported
with more evidences.) These are:
1.
Shiksha : phonetics, phonology, pronunciation. This auxiliary discipline has
focussed on the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, accent, quantity, stress, melody
and rules of euphonic combination of words during a Vedic recitation
2.
Chandas : prosody. This auxiliary discipline has focussed on the poetic meters,
including those based on fixed number of syllables per verse, and those based
on fixed number of morae per verse.
3.
Vyakarana : grammar and linguistic analysis. This auxiliary discipline has
focussed on the rules of grammar and linguistic analysis to establish the exact
form of words and sentences to properly express ideas.
4.
Nirukta : etymology, explanation of words, particularly those that are archaic
and have ancient uses with unclear meaning. This auxiliary discipline has
focussed on linguistic analysis to help establish the proper meaning of the words,
given the context they are used in.
5.
Kalpa : ritual instructions. This field focussed on standardizing procedures for
Vedic rituals, rites of passage rituals associated with major life events such as
birth, wedding and death in family, as well as discussing the personal conduct
and proper duties of an individual in different stages of his life.
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6.
Jyotisha : Auspicious time for rituals, astrology
[1]
and astronomy. This auxiliary
Vedic discipline focussed on time keeping.
7.
The character of Vedangas has roots in ancient times, and the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad mentions it as an integral part of the Brahmanas layer of the Vedic
texts. Individually, these auxiliary disciplines of study are traceable to the 2nd
millennium BCE, and the 5th-century BCE scholar Yaska quotes the Vedangas.
However, it is unclear when and where a list of six Vedangas were first
conceptualized.
The Vedangas likely developed towards the end of the vedic period, around or after
the middle of the 1st millennium BCE. Though Vedangas developed as ancillary studies
for the Vedas, but its insights into meters, structure of sound and language, grammar,
linguistic analysis and other subjects influenced post-Vedic studies, arts, culture and various
schools of
Hindu philosophy. 
The Kalpa Vedanga studies, for example, gave rise to the
Dharma-sutras, which later expanded into Dharma-shastras.
It has been found that Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent from
1200 BC until the end of the 18th century. Development of Mathematics as a clear discipline
is evident in the works of Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara II, and Varâhamihira.