SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 22 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

The Vedangas are Hindu auxiliary disciplines that originated in ancient times and are linked to the study of the Vedas. These are _________ in number.

(a)seven
(b)five
(c)six
(d)four

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The Vedangas are six: Shiksha (phonetics), Kalpa (ritual procedure), Vyakarana (grammar), Nirukta (etymology), Chhanda (metre) and Jyotisha (astronomy).

The name means limb of the Veda. Each discipline exists so that the Vedic text can be pronounced, parsed and applied correctly — they are tools for handling scripture, not scripture themselves.

Counting the limbs gives option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
seven — Seven belongs to other well-known sets in Indian tradition, such as the saptarishi. The Vedanga list closes at six.
(b)
five — Five matches no standard enumeration of the Vedangas. It is the pure filler option in this set.
(d)
four — Four is the number of Vedas — Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. Confusing the count of texts with the count of auxiliary disciplines is exactly what this option is for.

Concept

Vedic literature is layered. The four Samhitas sit at the centre, with the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads built around them.

The Vedangas stand outside that body as the technical disciplines needed to handle it. Shiksha protects the sound, Chhanda the metre, Vyakarana the grammar and Nirukta the meaning of obsolete words.

Kalpa sets out ritual procedure and Jyotisha fixes the timing of rites. So the six are crafts of transmission and use, not doctrine.

The stem already tells you these are auxiliary disciplines linked to the study of the Vedas. All the item then wants is the count, which is fixed at six.

Key facts

The six Vedangas are Shiksha, Kalpa, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Chhanda and Jyotisha.
Vedanga means limb of the Veda, marking these as auxiliary disciplines rather than parts of the Samhitas.
There are four Vedas: Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva.
The six orthodox schools of philosophy — Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta — are a different set of six.

Study next

The structure of Vedic literature: Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and UpanishadWhat each Vedanga covers and the texts associated with itThe six orthodox darshanas and the ideas that separate them

Common traps

Answering four because the count of the Vedas is the number that surfaces first.
Mixing the six Vedangas with the six schools of Indian philosophy, which share a count and nothing else.

Ancient India arrives as small definitional counts and stages.

The third stage of the Ashrama system was the item on 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.22, and which name was not a Varna on 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.1.

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