Shastra

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Śāstra (Sanskrit: शास्त्र, romanized: Śāstra pronounced [ɕaːstrɐ]) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense. The word is generally used as a suffix in the Indian literature context, for technical or specialized knowledge in a defined area of practice. Śāstra has a similar meaning to English -logy, e.g. ecology, psychology, meaning scientific and basic knowledge on a particular subject. Examples in terms of modern neologisms include bhautikaśāstra 'physics', rasaśāstra 'chemistry', jīvaśāstra 'biology', vāstuśāstra 'architectural science', śilpaśāstra 'science of mechanical arts and sculpture', arthaśāstra 'science of politics and economics', nītiśāstra 'compendium of ethics or right policy', and natyasāstra 'art of performing arts.' In Western literature, Śāstra is sometimes spelled as Sastra, reflecting a misunderstanding of the IAST symbol 'ś', which corresponds to the English 'sh'.

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