What is "shakha"

n. (context Hinduism English) a term used to refer either to a school of the Vedas, or to the traditional texts followed by a school.

A shakha ( Sanskrit , "branch" or "limb"), is a Hindu theological school that specializes in learning certain Vedic texts, or else the traditional texts followed by such a school. An individual follower of a particular school or recension is called a . The term is also used in Hindu philosophy to refer to an adherent of a particular orthodox system.

A related term , ("conduct of life" or "behavior") is also used to refer to such a Vedic school: "although the words and are sometimes used synonymously, yet properly applies to the sect or collection of persons united in one school, and to the traditional text followed, as in the phrase , ("he recites a particular version of the Veda")". The schools have different points of view, described as "difference of (Vedic) school" (). Each school would learn a specific Vedic (one of the "four Vedas" properly so-called), as well as its associated Brahmana, Aranyakas, Shrautasutras, Grhyasutras and Upanishads.

In traditional Hindu society affiliation with a specific school is an important aspect of class identity. By the end of the Rig Vedic period the term had come to be applied to all members of the priestly class, but there were subdivisions within this order based both on caste and on the shakha (branch) with which they were affiliated. A who changed school would be called "a traitor to his śākhā" ().