Shabda

Shabda, from Sanskrit śabda, literally means sound or voice and by extension a word or utterance. In Indian linguistic and philosophical literature, shabda denotes both the sound of speech and the symbolic unit that conveys meaning, as in vowels, syllables, and words. The term is central in discussions of language, cognition, and authority.

In Indian epistemology, shabda-pramana is a valid means of knowledge derived from trustworthy testimony, typically the words of a reliable source or sacred scriptures. Most orthodox schools treat shabda-pramana as a primary source of knowledge, especially when it comes to transcendental or moral truths. The authority of scriptures such as the Vedas is often described as apauruṣeya, meaning not of human author but revealed. Some heterodox systems, such as the Cārvāka school, rejected shabda-pramana in favor of perception and inference.

Within Vedanta and other darśanas, shruti (revelatory scripture) is a major repository of shabda-pramana; pratyakṣa (perception) and anumāna (inference) complement it. Different schools debate the conditions under which spoken or written testimony may be accepted as reliable, including the speaker’s trustworthiness, textual authenticity, and the consistency of the testimony with experience.

In modern usage, shabda remains the common Sanskrit term for a sound or word, and is often used in discussions of linguistics, rhetoric, and Indian philosophy to denote the authority attached to spoken or written utterances.