sakhā

śākh ( prob. artificial; cf. √ ślākh) cl. 1. P. śākhati, to embrace, pervade, Dhātup. v, 12.

śākhā f. ( ifc. f(ā or ī). ) a branch ( lit. and fig. ), RV. &c. &c.

a branch or school of the Veda (each school adhering to its own traditional text and interpretation; in the Caraṇa-vyūha , a work by Śaunaka treating of these various schools, five Śākhā s are enumerated of the Ṛg - veda , viz. those of the Śākala s, Bāṣkala s, Āśvalāyana s, Śāṅkhāyana s, and Māṇḍukāyana s; forty-two or forty-four out of eighty-six of the Yajur-veda , fifteen of which belong to the Vājasaneyin s, including those of the Kāṇva s and Mādhyaṃdina s; twelve out of a thousand said to have once existed of the Sāma-veda and nine of the Atharva - veda ; of all these, however, the Ṛg - veda is said to be now extant in one only, viz. the Śākala-śākhā , the Yajur-veda in five and partially in six, the Sāma-veda in one or perhaps two, and the Atharva - veda in one: although the words caraṇa and śākhā are sometimes used synonymously, yet caraṇa properly applies to the sect or collection of persons united in one school, and śākhā to the traditional text followed, as in the phrase śākhāmadhīte, he recites a particular version of the Veda ), Prāt. ; Mn. ; MBh. &c.

sakh sakhyati (invented to serve as the source of sakhi, q.v. under √ 1. sac).

sakha m. ( ifc. for sakhi cf. Pāṇ. v, 4, 91 ) a friend, companion, R. ; Kālid. &c.