Editing Ṛta (section)

==Etymology==
[[Vedic Sanskrit|Vedic]] {{IAST|ṛtá}} and its [[Avestan]] equivalent ''{{lang|ae|[[asha|aṣ̌a]]}}'' both derive from [[Proto-Indo-Iranian]] [[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-Iranian/Hr̥tás|''*Hr̥tás'']] "truth",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asa-means-truth-in-avestan |title=AṦA (Asha "Truth") – Encyclopaedia Iranica |publisher=Iranicaonline.org |access-date=2013-02-21}}</ref> which in turn continues [[PIE|Proto-Indo-European]] ''*{{PIE|h<sub>2</sub>r-tós}}'' "properly joined, right, true", from a presumed root ''*{{PIE|h<sub>2</sub>er-}}'', making it a distant cognate of [[Latin]] ''ordo'' and thus [[English language|English]] ''order.''
The derivative noun ''ṛta'' is defined as "fixed or settled order, rule, divine law or truth".<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Monier-Williams|1899|p=223b}}</ref> 

As Mahony (1998) notes the term can be translated as "that which has moved in a fitting manner".  Although this meaning is not actually cited by authoritative Sanskrit dictionaries it is a regular derivation from the verbal root ṛ, "to move" with ta, the suffix which forms the past participle, so it can be regarded as the putative origin of the word.  More abstractly, it is translated as "universal law" or "cosmic order", or simply as "truth".<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Mahony|1998|p=3}}</ref> The latter meaning dominates in the [[Avestan language|Avestan]] cognate to ''Ṛta'', ''[[Asha|aṣ̌a]]''.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Oldenberg|1894|p=30}}. Cf. also {{harvcoltxt|Thieme|1960|p=308}}</ref>

The proper [[Sanskrit]] pronunciation of the word is ṛta, the ṛ being a vocalic r, like that in pert or dirt, when pronounced with a rhotic r, e.g. as in American, followed by a short a.  The most common pronunciation of speakers of modern Indian languages is "rita", with short i and short a, due to the loss of the vocalic r by the successor languages to Sanskrit, the prakrits and modern [[Indo-Aryan languages]].

The term appears in Vedic texts and in post-Vedic texts, both as Ṛta and derivatives of the term. For example, in the 2nd-century BCE text ''[[Mahābhāṣya]]'' of [[Patanjali]], he explains ''Ṛtaka'' to be the grammatically correct form of name for a son, where then the name would mean "truthling".<ref>{{cite book|author=Hartmut Scharfe|title=Handbook of Oriental Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7s19sZFRxCUC&pg=PA53|year=2002|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-12556-6|page=53}}</ref>