m. a saint, sage, seer, ascetic, monk, devotee, hermit (especially one who has taken the vow of silence) etc. etc. (with hṛdayeṣu sthitaḥ-,the internal monitor or conscience )
m. inspired or ecstatic man (V.); sage, seer, ascetic, hermit, sp. one who has taken the vow of silence (C., rarely in Br.); seer in the heart=conscience: pl. the seven sages (=the seven Rishis) orstars of the Great Bear; sg. N.; N. of the mango tree, Arte misia indica, Butea frondosa, Buchanania latifolia, and Agati grandiflora.
Occurs in one hymn of the Rigveda where it seems to denote an ascetic of magic powers with divine afflatus (devesita), the precursor of the strange ascetics of later India* This agrees with the fact that Aitaśa, the Muni, is in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa regarded by his son as deranged, a view not unjustified if the nonsense which passes as the Aitaśapralāpa, ‘ Chatter of Aitaśa,’ was really his. The Rigveda calls Indra the ‘ friend of Munis,’ and the Atharvaveda refers to a ‘ divine Muni ’ (deva muni), by whom a similar ascetic may be meant. In the Upaniṣads6 the Muni is of a more restrained type: he is one who learns the nature of the Brahman, the Absolute, by study, or sacrifice, or penance, or fasting, or faith (:śraddha). It must not of course be thought that there is any absolute distinction between the older Muni and the later: in both cases the man is in a peculiar ecstatic condition, but the ideal of the Upaniṣads is less material than the earlier picture of the Muni, who is more of a ‘ medicine man ’ than a sage. Nor would it be wise to conclude from the comparative rareness of the mention of the Muni in the Vedic texts that he was an infrequent figure in Vedic times: he was probably not approved by the priests who followed the ritual, and whose views were essentially different from the ideals of a Muni, which were superior to earthly considerations, such as the desire for children and Dakṣiṇās.
noun (masculine) Agati Grandiflora (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
a Brāhman of the heighest order (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
a saint (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
an inspired or ecstatic person (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
any one who is moved by inward impulse (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
ascetic (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
Buchanania latifolia (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
Butea Frondosa (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
devotee (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
eagerness (?) (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
enthusiast (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
hermit (esp. one who has taken the vow of silence) (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
impulse (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
monk (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
name of the seven stars of Ursa Maior (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
name of various men (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
Sesbania grandiflora Linn.
sage (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
seer (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
Terminalia Catappa (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
the mango tree (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
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