m.Name of a celebrated jewel (worn by kṛṣṇa- on his wrist[ seekaustubha-],described as yielding daily eight loads of gold and preserving from all dangers;it is said to have been given to satrā-jit- [ quod vide ] by the Sun and transferred by him to his brother prasena-, from whom it was taken by jāmbavat-, and after much contention appropriated by kṛṣṇa-See)
समन्त a. [सम्यक् अन्तः, स यत्र वा] 1 Being on every side, universal. -2 Complete, entire. -न्तः Limit, boundary, term. (समन्तः, समन्तम्, समन्ततः, समन्तात् are used adverbially in the sense of 'from every side', 'all around', 'on all sides', 'wholly', 'completely'; ततो$श्मसहिता धाराः संवृण्वन्त्यः समन्ततः Mb.3.143.19; लेलिह्यंसे ग्रसमानः समन्तात् Bg.11.3.). -Comp. -दुग्धा the plant called स्नुही q. v. (Mar. निवडुंग). -पञ्चकम् N. of the district called Kurukṣetra or of a place near it; Ve.6. -पर्यायिन् a. allembracing. -प्रासादिक a. affording help on all sides. -भद्रः a Buddha or the Buddha. -भद्रकः a variety of a long blanket; Kau. A.2.11. -भुज् m. fire.
सामन्त a. 1 Bordering, hounding, neighbouring. -2 Universal. -तः 1 A neighbour; राष्ट्रेषु रक्षाधिकृतान् सामन्तां- श्चैव चोदितान् Ms.9.272. -2 A neighbouring king. -3 A feudatory or tributary prince; सामन्तमौलिमणिरञ्जितपाद- पीठम् V.3.19; R.5.28;6.33. -4 A prince with a revenue of 3 lacs Karṣa; सामन्तः स नृपः प्रोक्तो यावल्लक्षत्रयावधि Śukra.1.83. -5 A leader, general. -तम् Neighbourhood. -Comp -चक्रम् a circle of neighbouring princes. -प्रत्ययः the evidence of near neighbours; सामन्तप्रत्ययो ज्ञेयः सीमासेतुविनिर्णयः Ms.8.262. -वासिन् a neighbour; ग्रामाः सामन्तवासिनः Ms.8.258.
सीमन्तः [सीम्नो$न्तः शकं˚] 1 A boundary-line, landmark. -2 The parting line of the hair; the hair parted on each side of the head so as to leave a line; सीमन्तः केशवेशे, सीमान्तो$न्यः Sk. (Mar. भांग); सीमन्ते च त्वदुपगमजं यत्र नीपं वधूनाम् Me.67; Śi.8.69; Mv.5.44. -3 A landmark. -4 See सीमन्तोन्नयनम् below; Y.1.11. -Comp. -उन्नयनम् 'parting of the hair', one of the twelve Saṁskāras or purificatory rites observed by women in the fourth, sixth or eighth month of their pregnancy.
स्यमन्तकः A kind of valuable gem (said to yield daily eight loads of gold and to preserve from all kinds of dangers and portents); Bhāg.1.56. (For some account, see the word सत्राजित्).
हेमन्तः न्तम् One of the six seasons, cold or winter season (comprising the months मार्गशीर्ष and पौष); नव- प्रवालोद्गमसस्यरम्यः प्रफुल्ललोध्रः परिपक्वशालिः । विलीनपद्मः प्रपत- त्तुषारो हेमन्तकालः समुपागतः प्रिये ॥ Ṛs.4.1. -Comp. -नाथः the wood-apple tree.
V. a. (having their ends together), contiguous, neighbouring; com plete, entire: -m, ad. together with (in., RV.1); (á)-m, V. ad. (also °ree;-in C.) on all sides, around; completely, entirely; ab. (C.) from or on all sides, in all directions, all round; around (g.); completely; -tas, ad. id.
m. parting of the hair (V., C.); ceremony of parting the hair (= -½unnayana; C.): -ka, a. (i-kâ) having a parting (as a sign of pregnancy); -drisvan, a. having seen the limit, thoroughly versed in anything; -mani, m. crest-jewel.
‘Season,’ is a term repeatedly mentioned from the Rigveda onwards. Three seasons of the year are often alluded to, but the names are not usually specified. In one passage of the Rigveda spring (vasanta), summer (grīsma), and autumn (sarad) are given. The Rigveda knows also the rainy season (prā-vrs) and the winter (hitnā, hemanta). A more usual division (not found in the Rigveda is into five seasons,vasanta, grīsma, varsā, sarad, hemanta-śiśira; but occasionally the five are otherwise divided, varsā-śarad being made one season. Sometimes six seasons are reckoned, hemanta and śiśira being divided, so that the six seasons can be made parallel to the twelve months of the year. A still more artificial arrangement makes the seasons seven, possibly by reckoning the intercalary month as a season, as Weber and Zimmer hold, or more probably because of the predilection for the number seven, as Roth suggests. Occasionally the word rtu is applied to the months. The last season, according to the Satapatha Brāhmana, is hemanta. The growth of the division of the seasons from three to five is rightly explained by Zimmer as indicating the advance of the Vedic Indians towards the east. It is not Rigvedic, but dominates the later Samhitās. Traces of an earlier division of the year into winter and summer do not appear clearly in the Rigveda, where the appropriate words himā and samā are merely general appellations of the year, and where śarad is commoner than either as a designation of the year, because it denotes the harvest, a time of overwhelming importance to a young agricultural people. The division of the year in one passage of the Atharvaveda into two periods of six months is merely formal, and in no way an indication of old tradition.
Denotes in the Atharvaveda and later the sesamum plant, and particularly its grains, from which a rich oil (Taila) was extracted. It is often mentioned in connexion with Māsa, ‘kidney bean.’ The Taittirīya Samhitā attributes the bean and the sesamum to the winter (hemanta) and the cool (śiśira) seasons. The stalk of the sesamum plant (tila-piñjī, til-piñja) was used for fuel, and the seed was boiled in the form of porridge (tilaudana) for food.
‘Ten,’ forms the basis of the numerical system of the Vedic Indians, as it does of the Aryan people generally. But it is characteristic of India that there should be found at a very early period long series of names for very high numerals, whereas the Aryan knowledge did not go beyond 1,000. In the Vājasaneyi Samhitā the list is 1 ; 10; 100; 1,000 ; ιο,οοο {ayuta) \ ιοο,οοο (ηiyuta); ι,οοο,οοο(prayuta); 10,000,000 {arbuda); 100,000,000 (ηyarbuda)', 1,000,000,000 (samudra); 10,000,000,000 (madhya); ιοο,οοο,οοο,οοο (aηta); 1,000,000,000,000 {parārdha). In the Kāthaka Samhitā the list is the same, but ηiyuta and prayuta exchange places, and after ηyarbuda a new figure (badva) intervenes, thus increasing samudra to ιο,οοο,οοο,οοο, and so on. The Taittirīya Samhitā has in two places exactly the same list as the Vājasaneyi Samhitā. The Maitrāyanī Samhitā has the list ayuta, prayuta, then ayuta again, arbuda, ηyarbuda, samudra, madhya, aηta, parārdha. The Pañcavimśa Brāhmana has the Vājasaneyi list up to ηyarbuda inclusive, then follow ηikharvaka, badva, aksita, and apparently go = ι,οοο,οοο,οοο,οοο. The Jaiminīya Upanisad Brāhmana list replaces nikharvaka by nikharva, badva by padma, and ends with aksitir vyomāntah. The śāñkhāyana śrauta Sūtra con¬tinues the series after nyarbuda with nikharvāda, samudra, salila, antya, ananta (=10 billions).But beyond ayuta none of these numbers has any vitality. Badva, indeed, occurs in the Aitareya Brāhmana, but it cannot there have any precise numerical sense j and later on the names of these high numerals are very much confused. An arithmetical progression of some interest is found in the Pañcavimśa Brāhmana, where occurs a list of sacrificial gifts in which each successive figure doubles the amount of the preceding one. It begins with dvādaśa-mānam hiranyam, * gold to the value of 12 ’ (the unit being uncertain, but probably the Krsnala18), followed by ‘to the value of 24, 48, 96, 192, 384, 768, 1,536, 3072/ then dve astāvimśati-śata-māne, which must mean 2 x 128 X 24 (the last unit being not a single māna, but a number of 24 mānas) = 6,144, then 12,288, 24,576, 49,152, 98,304, 196,608, 393,216. With these large numbers may be compared the minute theoretical subdivision of time found in the śatapatha Brāhmana, where a day is divided into 15 muhūrtas—1 muhūrta =15 ksipras, 1 ksipra =15 etarhis, I etarhi = 15 idānis, 1 idāni =15 prānas. The śāñkhāyana śrauta Sūtra15 has a decimal division of the day into 15 muhūrtas—• i muhūrta = 10 nimesas, 1 nimesa = 10 dhvamsis. Few fractions are mentioned in Vedic literature. Ardha, pāda, śapha, and kalā denote J, J, TV respectively, but only the first two are common. Trtīya denotes the third part.16 In the Rigveda Indra and Visnu are said to have divided ι,οοο by 3, though how they did so is uncertain. Tri-pād denotes 4 three-fourths.’ There is no clear evidence that the Indians of the Vedic period had any knowledge of numerical figures, though it is perfectly possible.
Is the name of a kind of bean (Phaseolus radiatus) in the Atharvaveda and later. It is still one of the most valuable of similar plants in India. The seeds were pounded (piṣṭa) according to the Atharvaveda.These beans ripened in the winter (hemanta). In the ritual the human head for the sacrifice is bought for twenty-one Māṣas: it does not appear that the word here means a weight of metal as it is often does later. A taboo on beans is found in the Yajurveda Saṃhitās.
Denotes a 'month' a period of time repeatedly mentioned in the Rigveda and lateṛ The Characteristic days (or rather nights) of the month were those of new moon, Amā-vasya, 'home-staying (night),' and 'of the full moon,' Paurṇa-māsi. Two hymns of the Atharvveda celebrate these days respectively. A personification of the phases of the moon is seen in the four names Sinīvālī the day before new moon; Kuhū also called Guṅgū, the new moon day;Anumati, the day before full moon; and Rākā, the day of new mooṇ The importance of the new and full moon days respectively. One special day in the month, the Ekāṣṭakā, or eighth day after full moon, was importanṭ In the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa there stated to be in the year twelve such, mentioned between the twelve days of full moon and twelve days of new moon. But one Ekāṣṭakā is referred to in the Yajurveda Saṃhitas and elsewhere as of quite special importance. This was, in the accordant opinion of most comentators, the eighth day after the full moon of Magha. It marked the end of the year, or the begining of the new year. Though the Kauṣītaki Brāmaṇa places places the winter solstice in the new moon of Māgha, the latter date probably means the new moon preceding full moon in Māgha, not the new moon following full moon; but it is perhaps possible to account adequately for the importance of the Ekāstakā as being the first Aṣṭakā after the beginning of the new year. It is not certain exactly how the month was reckoned, whether from the day after new moon to new moon—the system known as amānta, or from the day after full moon to full moon—the pūr- nimānta system, which later, at any rate, was followed in North India, while the other system prevailed in the south. Jacobi argues that the year began in the full moon of Phālguna, and that only by the full moon’s conjunction with the Nakṣatra could the month be known. Oldenberg12 points to the fact that the new moon is far more distinctively an epoch than the full moon; that the Greek, Roman, and Jewish years began with the new moon; and that the Vedic evidence is the division of the month into the former (j>ūrva) and latter (apara) halves, the first being the bright (śukla), the second the dark (krsna) period. Thibaut considers that to assume the existence of the pīirnimānta system for the Veda is unnecessary, though possible. Weber assumes that it occurs in the Kausītaki Brāhmaṇa as held by the scholiasts. But it would probably be a mistake to press that passage, or to assume that the amānta system was rigidly accepted in the Veda: it seems at least as probable that the month was vaguely regarded as beginning with the new moon day, so that new moon preceded full moon, which was in the middle, not the end or. the beginning of the month. That a month regularly had 30 days is established by the conclusive evidence of numerous passages in which the year is given 12 months and 360 days. This month is known from the earliest records, being both referred to directly and alluded to. It is the regular month of the Brāhmaṇas, and must be regarded as the month which the Vedic Indian recognized. No other month is mentioned as such in• the Brāhmaṇa literature ; it is only in the Sūtras that months of different length occur. The Sāmaveda Sūtras10 refer to (i) years with 324 days—i.e., periodic years with 12 months of 27 days each; (2) years with 351 days—i.e., periodic years with 12 months of 27 days each, plus another month of 27 days; (3) years with 354 days—i.e., 6 months of 30 days, and 6 with 29 days, in other words, lunar synodic years; (4) years with 360 days, or ordinary civil (sāvana) years; (5) years with 378 days, which, as Thibaut clearly shows, are third years, in which, after two years of 360 days each, 18 days were added to bring about correspondence between the civil year and the solar year of 366 days. But even the Sāmasūtras do not mention the year of 366 days, which is first known to the Jyotiṣa and to Garga. That the Vedic period was acquainted with the year of 354 days cannot be affirmed with certainty. Zimmer, indeed, thinks that it is proved by the fact that pregnancy is estimated at ten months, or sometimes a year. But Weber may be right in holding that the month is the periodic month of 27 days, for the period is otherwise too long if a year is taken. On the other hand, the period of ten months quite well suits the period of gestation, if birth takes place in the tenth month, so that in this sense the month of 30 days may well be meant. The year of 12 months of 30 days each being admittedly quite unscientific, Zimmer23 is strongly of opinion that it was only used with a recognition of the fact that intercalation took place, and that the year formed part of a greater complex, normally the five year Yuga or cycle. This system is well known from the Jyotiṣa: it consists of 62 months of 29£4 days each = 1,830 days (two of these months being intercalary, one in the middle and one at the end), or 61 months of 30 days, or 60 months of 30^ days, the unit being clearly a solar year of 366 days. It is not an ideal system, since the year is too long; but it is one which cannot be claimed even for the Brāhmaṇa period, during which no decision as to the true length of the year seems to have been arrived at. The references to it seen by Zimmer in the Rigveda are not even reasonably plausible, while the pañcaka yuga, cited by him from the Pañcavimśa Brāhmaṇa, occurs only in a quotation in a commentary, and has no authority for the text itself. On the other hand, there was undoubtedly some attempt to bring the year of 360 days—a synodic lunar year—roughly into connexion with reality. A Sāmasūtra27 treats it as a solar year, stating that the sun perambulates each Naxatra in days, while others again evidently interpolated 18 days every third year, in order to arrive at some equality. But Vedic literature, from the Rigveda downwards,29 teems with the assertion of the difficulty of ascertaining the month. The length is variously given as 30 days, 35 days,31 or 36 days. The last number possibly indicates an intercalation after six years (6x6 = 36, or for ritual purposes 35), but for this we have no special evidence. There are many references to the year having 12 or 13 months. The names of the months are, curiously enough, not at all ancient. The sacrificial texts of the Yajurveda give them in their clearest form where the Agnicayana, ‘building of the fire-altar,’ is described. These names are the following: (1) Madhu, (2) Mādhava (spring months, vāsantikāv rtū); (3) Sukra, (4) Suci (summer months, graismāv rtū); (5) Nabha (or Nabhas), (6) Nabhasya (rainy months, vārsikāv rtū); (7) Iṣa, (8) ūrja (autumn months, śāradāυ rtū); (9) Saha (or Sahas),35 (10) Sahasya (winter months, haimantikāυ rtū); (II) Tapa (or Tapas),35 (12) Tapasya (cool months, śaiśirāv rtū). There are similar lists in the descriptions of the Soma sacrifice and of the horse sacrifice, all of them agreeing in essentials. There are other lists of still more fanciful names, but these have no claim at all to represent actual divisions in popular use. It is doubtful if the list given above is more than a matter of priestly invention. Weber points out that Madhu and Mādhava later appear as names of spring, and that these two are mentioned in the Taittirīya Aranyaka as if actually employed; but the evidence is very inadequate to show that the other names of the months given in the list were in ordinary use. In some of these lists the intercalary month is mentioned. The name given to it in the Vājasaneyi Samhitā is Amhasas- pati, while that given in the Taittirīya and Maitrāyaṇī Sarphitās is Sarpsarpa. The Kāthaka Sarphitā gives it the name of Malimluca, which also occurs elsewhere, along with Samsarpa, in one of the lists of fanciful names. The Atharvaveda describes it as sanisrasa, ‘slipping,’ owing no doubt to its unstable condition. The other method of naming the months is from the Nakçatras. It is only beginning to be used in the Brāhmaṇas, but is found regularly in the Epic and later. The Jyotisa mentions that Māgha and Tapa were identical: this is the fair interpretation of the passage, which also involves the identifica¬tion of Madhu with Caitra, a result corresponding with the view frequently found in the Brāhmanas, that the full moon in Citrā, and not that in Phalgunī, is the beginning of the year. In the śatapatha Brāhmaṇa are found two curious expressions, yava and ayava, for the light and dark halves of the month, which is clearly considered to begin with the light half. Possibly the words are derived, as Eggling thinks, from yu, ‘ ward off,’ with reference to evil spirits. The word Parvan (‘ joint ’ = division of time) probably denotes a half of the month, perhaps already in the Rigveda. More precisely the first half, the time of the waxing light, is called pūrva-paksa, the second, that of the waning light, apara-paka. Either of these might be called a half-month (ardha-ināsa).
Denoting 'cold,' 'cold weather,' is quite common in the Rigveda, but less frequent later. As 'snow' the word appears as a masculine in the Taittirīya Brāhmana, and often later as a neuter. Cf. Hemanta.
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