m.Name of the plant Diospyros glutinosa (commonly called Gava, a plant the fruit of which yields a substance like turpentine used to cover the bottom of boats)
mf(ā-)n. (fr. Intensive oflas-) eagerly longing for, ardently desirous of, delighting or absorbed in, devoted or totally given up to (locative case or compound) etc. ( lālasatā-tā-f.)
m. and f(ā-). longing or ardent desire, fond attachment or devotion to (locative case) ( also "regret, sorrow;asking, soliciting;the longing of a pregnant woman;dalliance")
The ‘unknown sickness,’ is mentioned in the Rigveda,Atharvaveda,and Kāthaka Samhitā. It is referred to in connection with Rājayaksma. Grohmann thinks that the two are different forms of disease, hypertrophy and atrophy, the purpose of the spell in the Rigveda being thus the removal of all disease. From the Atharvaveda he deduces its identity with Balāsa. Zimmer, however, points out that this conclusion is unjustified, leaving the disease unidentified, which seems to accord with its name.
Appears to mean ‘ weed ’ in the Atharvaveda, and to form part of three other words, denoting, according to Sāyana, grass-creepers (sasya-vallī)—viz., Alasālā, Silañjālā, and Nīlā- galasāla. Whitney, however, does not think that the words can be given any determinate sense.
Is mentioned with Turvaśa and Yadu in the Rigveda apparently as a powerful protector. The name occurs also in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa and the Taittirīya Araṇyaka, where he is styled Rājani and called a leper (kilāsa).
Is,from the Rigveda onwards, a common word for ‘pot’ or ‘jar,’ probably either formed of a gourd or clay (unburnt or baked) as we know that both kinds of pot were in use. The wooden Soma tub (drona-kalaśa) is frequently referred to in the ritual. See also Kośa
Is the name of a disease, ‘ white leprosy,’ in the Atharvaveda and the Vājasaneyi Samhitā, etc. It resulted in the appearance of grey (palita) and white (sukla, śveta) spots all over the skin. Haug gave the same sense to alasa in the Aitareya Brāhmana, but this is doubtful. The fem. Kilāsī is taken by Max Muller to mean a ‘spotted deer’ in one passage of the Rigveda.
Is the name in the Rigveda for the ‘bucket ’ used in drawing water by means of a rope from a well (Avata). In the ritual it denotes a large vessel to hold Soma, as opposed to Kalaśa.
Designates some substance mentioned in a hymn of the Atharvaveda as of use in healing. The commentator Sāyana reads Cīpadru, and explains the word as a kind of tree. This interpretation is supported by the fact that the Kauśika Sūtra refers to the employment of splinters of Palāśa wood in the ritual application of this hymn. Whitney suggests that the form of the word should be Cīpudu.
Is the name of a healing plant mentioned in the hymns of the Atharvaveda. It was used as an amulet against the diseases, or symptoms of disease, Takman, Balāsa, Aśarīka, Viśarīka, Prstyāmaya, fevers and rheumatic pains, Viskandha and Samskandha, Jambha, and so on. But it is also regarded as a specific against all diseases, and as the best of healing powers. It is said to be produced from the juices (rasa) of ploughing (,krsi), but this need only mean that it grew in cultivated land, not that it was itself cultivated. What plant the name designates is quite uncertain, for it disappears in the later literature. Caland® takes it in the Kauśika Sūtra to be the Termiηalia arjuηeya.
‘Whose remedy is Jalāsa,’ is an epithet of Rudra in the Rigveda and the Atharvaveda. The word Jālāsa occurs in a hymn of the Atharvaveda, where it denotes a remedy, perhaps, for a tumour or boil. The commentator this passage and the Kauśika Sūtra regard Jālāsa as
onmeaning ‘urine,’ which seems a probable interpretation. But Geldner thinks that rain-water, conceived as urine, is meant; and the Naighantuka identifies jalāsa and udaka ‘water.’
Is a disease repeatedly mentioned in the Atharvaveda, but later not known under this name. It is the subject of five hymns of the Atharvaveda, and is often mentioned elsewhere. Weber first identified it with fever,’ and Grohmann showed that all the symptoms pointed to that ailment. Reference is made to the alternate hot and shivering fits of the patient, to the yellow colour of the jaundice which accompanies the fever, and to its peculiar periodicity. The words used to describe its varieties are aηye-dyuh, ubhaya-dyuh, trtīyaka, vi-trtīya, and sadam-di, the exact sense of most of which terms is somewhat uncertain. It is agreed that the first epithet designates the fever known as quotidiaηus, which recurs each day at the same hour, though the word is curious (lit.‘ on the other—i.e., next, day’). The ubhaya-dyuk (‘ on both days ’) variety appears to mean a disease recurring for two suc¬cessive days, the third being free; this corresponds to the rhythmus quartanus complicatus. But Sāyana considers that it means a fever recurring on the third day, the * tertian.’ The tvtīyaka, however,must be the ‘tertian’ fever, though Zimmer suggests that it may mean a fever which is fatal at the third paroxysm. Grohmann regards the vi-trtīyaka as equivalent to the tertiana duplicata, a common form in southern countries, in which the fever occurs daily, but with a correspondence in point of time or severity of attack on alternate days. Bloomfield suggests that it is identical with the ubhaya-dyuh, variety. The sadam-di type appears to be the kind later known as samtata-jvara (‘ continuous fever ’), in which there are attacks of several days’ duration, with an interval followed by a fresh period of attack. Fever occurred at different seasons, in the autumn (śārada), in the hot weather (graisma), in the rains (vārsika) but was especially prevalent in the first, as is indicated by the epithet viśva-śārada, occurring every autumn.’ The disease is said to arise when Agni enters the waters. From this Weber deduced that it was considered to be the result of a chill supervening on heat, or the influence of heat on marshy land. Grohmann preferred to see in this connexion of the origin of the disease with Agni’s entering the waters an allusion to the fact that fever arises in the rainy season, the time when Agni, as lightning, descends to earth with the rain. Zimmer, who accepts this view, further refers to the prevalence of fever in the Terai, and interprets vanya, an epithet of fever found in the Atharvaveda, as meaning ‘ sprung from the forest,’ pointing out that fever is mentioned as prevalent among the Mūjavants and Mahāvrsas, two mountain tribes of the western Himalaya. There is no trace of fever having been observed to be caused by the bite of the anopheles mosquito, which breeds in stagnant water : this theory has without reason been held to be known to classical Indian medicine. Among the symptoms of Takman, or among complications accompanying it, are mentioned ‘itch’ (Pāman), ‘headache’ (§īrsa-śoka),so ‘cough’ (Kāsikā), and ‘consumption,’ or perhaps some form of itch (Balāsa). It is perhaps significant that the Takman does not appear until the Atharvaveda. It is quite possible that the Vedic Aryans, when first settled in India, did not know the disease, which would take some generations to become endemic and recognized as dangerous. What remedies they used against it is quite uncertain, for the Atharvaveda mentions only spells and the Kustha, which can hardly have been an effective remedy, though still used in later times. Fever must, even in the Atharvan period, have claimed many victims, or it would not be mentioned so prominently.
‘Afflicted with a skin disease/ occurs in the Taittirīya Samhitā and Brāhmana. The disease meant is probably leprosy, the usual name of which is Kilāsa.
Denotes in the Rigveda a wooden trough,’ and more specifically it designates in the plural vessels used for holding Soma. The great wooden reservoir for Soma is called a Drona-kalaśa. The altar was sometimes made in the form of a Drona.
Denotes a large wild animal which Roth conjectures to be the wild ass. It is mentioned in the Vrsākapi hymn of the Rigveda, twice in the Atharvaveda, and in the list of victims at the Aśvamedha (‘horse sacrifice’) in the Yajurveda Samhitās, in all of which passages the sense of ‘ wild ass ’ is satisfactory. More doubtful is the meaning of the word paraśvā{n) in the Kausītaki Upanisad, where the commentary explains it as ‘serpent.’ It is, of course, quite possible that the word has nothing to do with parasvant Buhler suggests connexion with the Pāli palāsāda, ‘ rhinoceros.’
Denotes the tree Butea froηdosa, later usually called Palāśa. It occurs in the Rigveda in connexion with the Aśvattha, and with that tree as well as the Nyagrodha in the Atharvaveda, which mentions both amulets and the cover of sacrificial dishes as made from its wood. Its use for the making of sacrificial implements like the ladle (juhu), or sacrificial posts, or the small ladle called sruva, is mentioned. The Taittirīya Samhitā ascribes its origin to the loss of a feather by the Gāyatrī when winning the Soma. The tree is also often mentioned elsewhere. Reference too is sometimes made to its bark (parna-valka).
Is the name of a disease mentioned several times in the Atharvaveda and occasionally later. Mahīdhara and Sāyana interpret the term as ‘consumption.’ Zimmer supports this view on the ground that it is mentioned as a kind of Yakçma, makes the bones and joints fall apart (asthi-srainsa, paruh-srainsa), and is caused by love, aversion, and the heart, characteristics which agree with the statements of the later Hindu medicine. It is in keeping with a demon of the character of consumption that Balāsa should appear as an accompaniment of Takman. Grohmann, however, thought that a ‘sore* or ‘swelling’ (in the case of fever caused by dropsy) was meant. Bloomfield considers that the question is still open. Ludwig renders the word by ‘dropsy. As remedies against the disease the salve (Áñjasa) from Trikakud and the Jañgida plant are mentioned.
Is found as the name of a disease, perhaps ‘ tearing pains/ in the Atharvaveda. Zimmer thinks that the pains in the limbs attendant on fever (Takman) are alluded to. Roth sees in the word the name of a demon. The view of Zimmer is supported by the use of viiarīka, ‘rending/ beside Balāsa in another passage.
Disease,' occurs several times in Vedic literature. The specific diseases are dealt with under the separate names, but the Vedic texts also mention innumerable bodily defects. The list of victims at the Puruṣamedha (‘human sacrifice’) includes a ‘dwarf’ (vāmana, kubja), a ‘bald ’ person (khalati), a ‘blind’ man (andha), a ‘deaf’ man (badhira),δ a ‘dumb’ man (;mūka),θ a ‘fat’ man (plvan), a ‘leper’ (sidhmala, kilāsa), a ‘yellow-eyed’ man (hary-aksa), a ‘tawny-eyed’ man [ping- āksa), a ‘cripple’ (pitha-sarpin), a ‘lame’ man (srāma), a ‘sleepless’ man (jāgarana), a ‘sleepy’ man (svapana), one ‘too tall’ (ati-dīrgha), one ‘too short’ (ati-hrasva), one ‘too stout’ (ati-sthūla or aty-aηisala), one ‘too thin’ (ati-krśa), one ‘too white’ (ati-śukla), one ‘too dark’ (ati-kγṣna), one ‘too bald’ (ati-kulva), and one 'too hairy' (ati-lomaśa). In the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā the man with bad nails and the man with brown teeth are mentioned along with sinners like the Didhiçūpati. The śatapatha Brāhmana mentions a white-spotted (śtikla), bald-headed man, with projecting teeth (yiklidha) and reddish-brown eyes.’ Interesting is Zimmer’s suggestion that kirmira found in the Vājasaneyi Samhitā means ‘spotty’ as an intermixture of races, but it is only a conjecture, apparently based on a supposed connexion of the word with kr, ‘mix.’ In the Vājasaneyi Samhitā and the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa various epithets are applied to women, some of which seem to denote disease, and in the Atharvaveda16 the feminine adjectives, ‘ antelope-footed ’ (rśya-padī) and ‘ bulltoothed’ (vrsa-datl), probably refer to bodily defects.
Is the form in the Taittirīya Samhitā of the name of an animal which in the Maitrāyaṇī and Vājasaneyi Samhitās is written as śayaṇdaka. Some sort of bird is meant according to Roth, but the commentator on the Taittirīya Sarphitā equates the word with Kpkalāsa, ‘chameleon.’
‘Leprous,’ is found in the Vājasaneyi Samhitā and the Taittirlya Brāhmaṇa as a designation of one of the victims at the Puruṣamedha (‘human sacrifice’). Cf. Kilāsa.
Was the famous plant which was used for the preparation of the libation of Soma made at the Vedic sacrifice. Its importance is sufficiently shown by the fact that the whole of the ninth Maṇdala of the Rigveda, and six hymns in other Maṇdalas, are devoted to its praise. Nevertheless, little is actually known of the plant. Its twigs or shoots are described as brown (babhru), ruddy (aruna), or tawny (hari).s Possibly its twigs hang down if the epithet Naicāśākha refers to the plant as Hillebrandt thinks. The shoot is called amśu, while the plant as a whole is called andhas, which also denotes the juice. Parvan is the stem. Kξip, ‘finger,’ is used as a designation of the shoots, which may therefore have resembled fingers in shape; vaksanā and vāna also seem to have the sense of the shoot. There is some slight evidence to suggest that the stem was not round, but angular. The plant grew on the mountains, that of Mūjavant being specially renowned. These notices are inadequate to identify the plant. It has been held to be the Sarcostemma viminalc or the Asclepias acida (Sarcostemma brevistigma). Roth held that the Sarcostemma acidiim more nearly met the requirements of the case. Watt suggested the Afghan grape as the real Soma, and Rice thought a sugar-cane might be meant, while Max Mūller and Rājendralāla Mitra suggested that the juice was used as an ingredient in a kind of beer—i.e., that the Soma plant was a species of hop. Hillebrandt considers that neither hops nor the grape can explain the references to Soma. It is very probable that the plant cannot now be identified. In the Yajurveda the plant is purchased ere it is pressed. Hillebrandt considers that the sale must be assumed for the Rigveda. It grew on a mountain, and could not be obtained by ordinary people: perhaps some special tribe or prince owned it, like the Kīkatas. As it stands, the ritual performance is clearly an acquisition of the Soma from the Gandharvas (represented by a śūdra), a ritual imitation of the action which may have been one of the sources of the drama. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining the real plant from a great distance, several substitutes were allowed in the Brāhmaṇa period. The plant was prepared for use by being pounded with stones or in a mortar. The former was the normal method of pro¬cedure, appearing in the Rigveda as the usual one. The stones are called grāvan or αdn, and were, of course, held in the hands. The plant was laid on boards one beside the other (Adhiṣavana), and, according at least to the later ritual, a hole was dug below, so that the pounding of the plant by means of the stones resulted in a loud noise, doubtless a prophylactic against demoniac influences. The plant was placed on a skin and on the Vedi—-which was no longer done in the later ritual—Dhiṣaṇā in some passages denoting the Vedi. Sometimes the mortar and pestle were used in place of the stones. This use, though Iranian, was apparently not common in Vedic times. Camū denotes the vessel used for the offering to the god, Kalaśa and Camasa those used for the priests to drink from. Sometimes the Camū denotes the mortar and pestle. Perhaps the vessel was so called because of its mortar-like shape. The skin on which the shoots were placed was called Tvac, or twice go (‘cow-hide). Kośa, Sadhastha, Dru, Vana, Droṇa, are all terms used for Soma vessels, while Sruva denotes the ladle.’ Apparently the plant was sometimes steeped in water to increase its yield of juice. It is not possible to describe exactly the details of the process of pressing the Soma as practised in the Rigveda. It was certainly purified by being pressed through a sieve (Pavitra). The Soma was then used unmixed (βukra, śuci) for Indra and Vāyu, but the Kanvas seem to have dropped this usage. The juice is described as brown (babhru)," tawny (hart), or ruddy (aruna), and as having a fragrant smell, at least as a rule. Soma was mixed with milk (Gavāśir), curd or sour milk (Dadhyāśir), or grain (Yavāśir). The admixtures are alluded to with various figurative expressions, as Atka, ‘ armour ’j Vastra or Vāsas, 'garment'; Abhiśrī, 'admixturerūpa, ‘beautyJ; śrl, ‘splendour’; rasa, ‘flavour’; prayas, ‘ dainty ’; and perhaps nabhas, ‘ fragrance.’ The adjective tīvra denotes the ‘ pungent ’ flavour of Soma when so mixed. The Soma shoots, after the juice has been pressed out, are denoted by rjīsa, ‘residue.’ It seems probable that in some cases honey was mixed with Soma: perhaps the kośa madhti-ścut, ' the pail distilling sweetness,’ was used for the mixing. It seems doubtful if Surā was ever so mixed. There were three pressings a day of Soma, as opposed to the two of the Avesta. The evening pressing was specially connected with the Rbhus, the midday with Indra, the morning with Agni, but the ritual shows that many other gods also had their share. The drinker of Soma and the nondrinker are sharply discriminated in the texts. Localities where Soma was consumed were Árjīka, Pastyāvant, śaryaṇāvant, Suṣomā, the territory of the Pañcajanāh or ‘five peoples,’ and so on. The effects of Soma in exhilarating and exciting the drinkers are often alluded to. It is difficult to decide if Soma was ever a popular, as opposed to a hieratic drink. The evidence for its actual popularity is very slight, and not decisive.
‘Disease of the heart,’ is mentioned in the Atharvaveda in connexion with Yakṣma and with Balāsa. Zimmer, who thinks that Balāsa is consumption, connects the name with the later view of the medical Samhitās, that love is one of the causes of the disease. But it would be more natural to see in it a disease affecting the heart.
adya hotāram (commentary continues avṛṇītām imau yajamānau pacantau paktīḥ pacantau purolāśaṃ badhnantāv agnīṣomābhyāṃ chāgam [dviyajamānake]; and avṛṇateme yajamānāḥ pacantaḥ paktīḥ pacantaḥ purolāśaṃ badhnanto 'gnīṣomābhyāṃ chāgam [bahuyajamānake]. The version of the formula [comm. sūktavākapraiṣa: cf. Aś.3.6.16] in the singular does not seem to be mentioned) # śś.5.20.5. Cf. the prec. six.
noun (masculine) a sore or ulcer between the toes (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
name of a small poisonous animal (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
tympanitis (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
[medic.] a kind of kuṣṭha
[medic.] a kind of pāṇḍuroga
[medic.] name of a disease of the teeth/mouth Frequency rank 11921/72933
adjective faint (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
idle (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
inactive (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
indolent (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
lazy (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
tired (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
without energy (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
[medic.] name of a disease of the tonge Frequency rank 4493/72933
adjective bright (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
going out (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
happy (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
issuing (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
merry (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
shining (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
sporting (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
noun (masculine) a particular disease of the place of junction (saṃdhi) of the eye (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
suppuration at the joints (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
white swelling (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
noun (masculine feminine) asking (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
fond attachment or devotion to (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
longing or ardent desire (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
soliciting (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
sorrow (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
the longing of a pregnant woman (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
adjective ardently desirous of (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
delighting or absorbed in (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
eagerly longing for (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
noun (neuter) flashing (of lightning) (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
gleaming (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
play (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
sport (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
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