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Commentary on the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda

Links for this book.

List of Abbreviations
The Colophon of the Bhagavadgita
The First Chapter: Visada Yoga, The Yoga of the Dejection of the Spirit
The Second Chapter Begins: Sankhya Yoga
The Second Chapter Continues: How to Live in the World
The Second Chapter Concludes: The Establishment of the Soul in Universality
The Third Chapter Begins: The Relation Between Sankhya and Yoga
The Third Chapter Concludes: The Knower of Reality
The Fourth Chapter Begins: The Avataras of God
The Fourth Chapter Continues: The Performance of Action as a Sacrifice
The Fourth Chapter Concludes: Methods of Worship and of Self-Control
The Fifth Chapter Begins: Knowledge and Action are One
The Fifth Chapter Continues: The Characteristics of a Perfected Person
The Fifth Chapter Concludes: The Characteristics of the Sage Who is Established in Brahman
The Sixth Chapter Begins: The Characteristics of a Sannyasi and a Yogi
The Sixth Chapter Continues: Requirements for the Practice of Meditation
The Sixth Chapter Continues: Meditation on the Ishta Devata
The Sixth Chapter Concludes: God's Great Promise to Us
A Summary of the First Six Chapters
The Seventh Chapter Begins: Transcending the Sankhya
The Seventh Chapter Continues: The Glory of God and His Creation
The Seventh Chapter Continues: The Gospel of Universal Religion
The Seventh Chapter Concludes: Worshipping Deities
The Eighth Chapter Begins: The Different Facets of the Supreme Being
The Eighth Chapter Continues: The Thought at the Time of Death
The Eighth Chapter Continues: Types of Liberation
The Eighth Chapter Concludes: The Journey of the Soul After Death
The Ninth Chapter Begins: The Kingly Knowledge and the Greatness of God
The Ninth Chapter Concludes: Undivided Devotion to God
A Summary of the First Nine Chapters
The Tenth Chapter Begins: The Glories of God
The Tenth Chapter Concludes: God's Special Manifestations
The Eleventh Chapter Begins: Introduction to the Visvarupa Darshana
The Eleventh Chapter Continues: The Visvarupa Darshana
The Eleventh Chapter Continues: The Visvarupa Darshana Continues
The Eleventh Chapter Concludes: Whole-souled Devotion to God
The Twelfth Chapter Begins: The Best of Yogins
The Twelfth Chapter Concludes: The Supreme Devotee of God
The Thirteenth Chapter Begins: Consciousness and Matter
The Thirteenth Chapter Continues: The Field and the Knower of the Field
The Thirteenth Chapter Concludes: Understanding Purusha and Prakriti
The Fourteenth Chapter: Rising Above the Three Gunas
The Fifteenth Chapter Begins: The World as an Inverted Tree
The Fifteenth Chapter Concludes: The Greatest Secret Revealed
The Sixteenth Chapter Begins: Divine and Undivine Qualities
The Sixteenth Chapter Concludes: What is Proper and What is Improper in Our Life
The Seventeenth Chapter Begins: The Threefold Character of Faith
The Seventeenth Chapter Concludes: The Meaning of Om Tat Sat
The Eighteenth Chapter Begins: Renunciation, and Types of Action
The Eighteenth Chapter Continues: Types of Understanding, Determination and Happiness
The Eighteenth Chapter Continues: Knowing One's Duty
The Eighteenth Chapter Concludes: The Bhagavadgita Concludes
Appendix: Sri Krishna—The Guru of All Gurus

Discourse 40: The Thirteenth Chapter Concludes – Understanding Purusha and Prakriti

In the Thirteenth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita, we have covered the theme which touched upon the kṣetra and the kṣetrajña , individually as well as cosmically, and the relationship between the individual and the cosmic. We also went through the list of virtues, qualities that characterise a spiritual seeker— amānitvam, adambhitvam , etc. Then there was a grand description of the Supreme Brahman— anādimat paraṃ brahma (13.12): The Supreme Absolute pervades all things, existing everywhere, and also existing as the heart and the soul and the self of everybody.

Iti kṣetraṁ tathā jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ coktaṁ samāsataḥ (13.18): “So now I have told you everything that is required to be known: the object which is the kṣetra , the pure Universal Subject that is the jneya , paramatman , Brahman, and the knowledge— amanitvam , adabhitvam , etc. Briefly I have told you of kṣetra , jnana , and jneya . After knowing this thoroughly and establishing oneself in the practice of these great truths delineated in the verses mentioned, one gets established in Me.” Madbhakta etad vijñāya madbhāvāyopapadyate : “One becomes fit for entry into Me after having known this in Truth—known it not merely as scriptural knowledge, not as linguistic or verbal knowledge, but knowledge that has become part and parcel of one's own being.”

This great knowledge, which is the subject of the first sixteen or seventeen verses, is the quintessence of every kind of wisdom; and the life of a person has to be a manifestation of this wisdom. This knowledge is not something that is understood by the intellect. It is something that has become an insight into the nature of truth, and the whole personality scintillates with the radiance of this knowledge.

Here, in the context of spiritual experience, knowing and being are one and the same, whereas in ordinary secular knowledge, in the arts and the sciences, being is different from knowing. A professor of philosophy has his knowledge in the books and in the college, but his personal life has no connection with this knowledge. His being is different from the knowledge that he has got; but here, that is not the case. The being of a person is identical with the knowledge of that person, so that one can say the person himself or herself is knowledge. After having known this in this fashion, one becomes fit for entry into God's Being: madbhakta etad vijñāya madbhāvāyopapadyate .

The verse that follows is controversial. Prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva viddhyanādī ubhāvapi, vikārāṁś ca guṇāṁś caiva viddhi prakṛtisambhavān (13.19). The literal translation of this verse is: Know that prakriti and purusha are beginningless, and their modifications and their qualities originate, manifest, from prakriti .

The doctrine of the classical Sankhya says that prakriti and purusha are beginningless and infinite in their nature. They cannot merge into each other. The doctrine of the Bhagavadgita does not regard prakriti and purusha as totally independent contending parties; and that they are aspects of the Supreme Purusha, or Purushottama, will be told to us in the Fifteenth Chapter. While commenting on the meaning of this verse, Sankaracharya does not seem to be very eager to say anything specific to clear our doubts. He simply says that prakriti and purusha should be there always to limit the operation of God; otherwise, there will be an infinite operation of God. He does not feel that there is any meaning in an infinite operation because creation would be perpetually going on and never come to an end, inasmuch as God is infinite; therefore, there would be only creation for ever and ever. There would be no cessation for action proceeding from that which is there always. But creation is a limited manifestation. We cannot say that the world is infinite, or even that the universe is infinite. “The limitation required for the manifestation of a universe calls for the limiting principles of prakriti and purusha .” Saying this much, Sankaracharya keeps quiet.

Regarding this commentary, I feel that there is some difficulty in entirely accepting what Sankaracharya says, because it implies that God does not properly understand what creation is; therefore He requires a police guard to restrain Him so that He may not go on creating infinitely. That meaning does not seem to be applicable, and it is not satisfying. Others feel that the point made out here that prakriti and purusha are beginningless should be taken in the sense of the infinity of God's powers. In the West, there was a philosopher called Spinoza. Just as the transcending principle is referred to as Purushottama in the Fifteenth Chapter of the Gita, Spinoza uses the word 'substance' to designate the Absolute Reality; and the qualities of this substance are like the two wings of a bird. Space and time, extension and duration, are regarded as the operative media of this Supreme Substance. If we are to take the verses that come in the Fifteenth Chapter literally, it is possible to consider purusha as akshara and prakriti as kshara , and Purushottama transcends both kshara and akshara . I am not going into that subject now. It comes in the Fifteenth Chapter.

The only way we can escape unnecessary entanglement in the jumble of words explaining this verse is by understanding prakriti and purusha to be two properties, as it were, of the Supreme Being. On the one hand, the spatial extension of the Supreme Being is prakriti ; on the other hand, it is omniscience acting, which is purusha . There seems to be a sound explanation because the Vedanta doctrine also holds that the process of creation begins with Ishvara and becomes more and more perspicacious from Hiranyagarbha and Virat onwards. That is, the infinite Brahman limits itself in a particular manner, not by force of the operation of something external, but by its own deliberate will. It wills, and that will is called Ishvara. This will is a delimitation imposed by itself on itself. That is, it contemplates the particular type of universe that is to be manifested.

Infinity does not contemplate infinity. It contemplates a limited manifestation, because the characteristic of limitation in creation arises on account of the fact that the universe to be created has some relevance to the jivas who are going to inhabit that universe—the jivas who lay in a sleeping condition in the previous cycle at the time of dissolution—and the universe is created merely as a field for experience by these endless number of jivas who were withdrawn into prakriti at the time of dissolution of the previous cycle. When they germinate into action at the commencement of the new creation, they have to be provided with an atmosphere commensurate with their potencies. That is to say, an individual who can have the experience of the manifestation of his or her or its potencies on earth, or in the world, cannot be taken to heaven because there the experience will not be possible; or those who are to experience their potencies in a realm like heaven should not be brought to the earth, inasmuch as the nature of the world is exactly in a state of harmony with the inhabitants thereof, and not with the inhabitants of other realms. In this light, creation does not seem to be an unnecessary action of God. It is a very necessary manifestation of a big field of experience where it is possible for the jivas inhabiting that universe to fructify their karmas and enjoy or suffer as the consequences their deeds.

Hence, this delimitation of Brahman in the form of Ishvara as a Central Will is a Universal delimitation. It is not a limitation exercised by a prakriti outside, unless of course we call this will itself as prakriti . The consciousness that is of Ishvara may be regarded as the Supreme Purusha of the Sankhya, and the objective principle which is the will contemplating a possible universe may be considered as prakriti —in which case, prakriti and purusha are not two different wings, but are something like the soul and the body. We cannot distinguish between the soul and the body. The soul contemplates the body and manifests itself in accordance with its own potential desire, and we cannot say that the body is compelling the soul to act in a particular manner. The question of compulsion does not arise, because the body is manifest exactly according to the needs of the soul as manifest in the sukshma sarira .

Prakriti and purusha may be said to be anadi , or beginningless, if we are to go according to the original doctrine of the Bhagavadgita, which does not expect us to think of purusha and prakriti as two different things but as potencies, powers, or manners of working of God Himself—Ishvara, Purushottama. On the one hand, prakriti is extension, space-time; and on the other hand, there is purusha , or consciousness. Consciousness and extension constitute the principle of the immanence of God in the universe. I am going a little ahead of the ordinary commentaries on this verse, which are very brief—not to contradict them, but to elucidate them a little more. My intuitive insight, as it were, makes me feel that prakriti and purusha can be beginningless in the same sense as God is beginningless, because of the fact that they are powers of God: vikārāñś ca guṇāṁś caiva viddhi prakṛtisaṁbhavān.

Kārya kāraṇa kartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate (13.20): Prakriti is the cause of the origin of the causal chain. The cause-and-effect relationship is operative only in the realm of prakriti, whereas pain and pleasure are experienced by purusha : purushah sukha-duhkhanam bhoktrtve hetur uchyate . The contact of purusha with prakriti is the reason behind the experience of pleasure and pain. Experience is not possible unless there is consciousness, and consciousness is available only in the purusha . Purusha is inactive consciousness, whereas prakriti is blind activity. They somehow get juxtaposed, and it appears as if there is conscious activity. When we walk, when we do anything, it appears that we are consciously acting. Actually, there is no conscious action. Action is always unconscious because it is connected with the movement of the gunas of prakriti , who have no self-consciousness. But the purusha does not act; it is conscious. So there is a peculiar jumble—a juxtaposition of the consciousness that does not act with the prakriti, which acts but does not know—and this results in the appearance of conscious activity. For instance, we seem to be doing something consciously. This 'seeming to be doing consciously' is due to a mix-up of the purusha and prakriti principles in us—our body being the prakriti , and our Atman being the purusha .

Puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi bhuṅkte prakṛtijān guṇān, kāraṇaṁ guṇasaṅgo'sya sadasadyonijanmasu (13.21): Purusha located, or lodged, in the prakriti appears to enjoy the qualities of prakriti . When water moves, the sun that is reflected in it also appears to move. When the water is stable, the reflection of the sun in it appears to be stable; and if the water is turbid, the reflection appears to be turbid. But really, the sun, which is the cause of this reflection in the water, is not affected in any way whatsoever. The sun does not shake, and does not get turbid. Similarly, this contact of consciousness with matter— purusha with prakriti —makes it appear that there is enjoyment, and that there is an agency in action. Purusha does not enjoy, because it itself is bliss; but the sorrow that is the fate of the purusha seems to be the outcome of its contact with prakriti .

Here again, we have to bring the analogy of the Sankhya that a pure crystal appears to be coloured, or disfigured, by the colour of the object that is brought near it. Thus, one enjoys and one suffers. Really, consciousness does not enjoy and does not suffer. But the movements of prakriti in this manner or that manner—as sattva or rajas or tamas —makes the consciousness, the purusha , feel as if it is transparent and happy when it is in contact with the sattva of prakriti ; it is disturbed, agitated, angry and passionate when it appears to be reflecting through the rajoguna of prakriti ; and it is very slothful, lethargic and static when it is in contact with the tamasic quality of prakriti .

Puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi bhuṅkte prakṛtijān guṇān, kāraṇaṁ guṇasaṅgo'sya : The reason for this so-called enjoyment and suffering of the purusha is its contact with the gunas of prakriti — sattva , rajas , tamas . And, as I mentioned, the threefold contact brings about a threefold experience: pleasurable, unpleasurable or static. Because of repeated contact and getting habituated to this kind of contact with sattva , rajas and tamas , the purusha —as it were, indescribably though—forgets its original universality, and develops a tendency to get involved in the fulfilment of its own limited desires, the limitation being caused by the rajoguna prakriti with which it also comes in contact. Just as a lion cub that is lost may end up in a flock of sheep, and may bleat like a sheep though it is actually a lion, the universal Purusha bleats like an individual on account of its contact with the distracting qualities of rajas and tamas , and it is born in various species. Kāraṇaṁ guṇasaṅgo'sya sadasadyonijanmasu : It can be born as celestials in heaven, it can be born as gandharvas , yakshas , kinnaras , it can be born as human beings, and it can be born as animals or even as plants, trees and stone. But there is a Universal Witness behind all this drama that is taking place. What is that Witness?

Upadraṣṭānumantā ca bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ, paramātmeti cāpyukto dehesmin puruṣaḥ paraḥ (13.22): In spite of all this drama of involvement—the joy and sorrow of birth in various species of yonis— there is hope. Just as the witness in waking consciousness is unaffected even by the suffering and enjoyment in dream, there is a Supreme Witness who remains unaffected by our experiences in waking consciousness. We have all kinds of experiences in the dream world: birth and death, joy and sorrow, and every kind of thing conceivable in this world. Notwithstanding the fact of this drama that is taking place in the dream world, the consciousness of waking seems to be there as an upadraṣṭa —as a witness thereof. Though it does not seem to be operative in the light of the mind's involvement in the dream world, actually the fact that there is a witnessing consciousness transcending the dream world can be known when we wake up from dream and find ourselves totally unaffected by the events of the dream world. This will happen to us when we attain liberation in Paramatma—the Supreme Purusha, the transcendent witness of all these dream-like experiences of the struggle of life through the contact of the gunas of prakriti .

Ya evaṁ vetti puruṣaṁ (13.23): Whoever knows this Supreme Purusha in this manner as described in this chapter, together with the dramatic performances of prakriti , prakṛtiṁ ca guṇaiḥ saha : let him live in any manner he likes. He is a liberated person. Sarvathā vartamāno'pi na sa bhūyo'bhijāyate : Because of knowing this, that person will not be reborn. Again I have to emphasise, knowing does not mean reading the Gita and intellectually comprehending the linguistic meaning or the dictionary meaning of the word, but imbibing the spirit of the teaching, and making it part and parcel of our very blood and veins. Such a person who has this knowledge which is identical with being can behave in any way— sarvathā vartamānopi —but there will be no rebirth, because no karma accrues to that person.

Now there is a reference, as a kind of diversion, as it were, to the methods of practice. How are we to come in contact with this Supreme Being? Varieties of sadhana are mentioned in different places in the Bhagavadgita, and some of the diversities of sadhana are stated in the Fourth Chapter: daivam evāpare yajñaṁ yoginaḥ paryupāsate, brahmāgnāvapare yajñaṁ yajñenaivopajuvhati (4.25), etc. Here also there is a brief statement of the varieties of spiritual practice, or sadhana .

Some people try to behold the Supreme Being by meditation, pure and simple. Dhyānenātmani paśyanti kecid ātmānam ātmanā (13.24): By intense concentration on the pure Self, some people try to behold the Self in the self. That is, they behold the Universal Self in their own self, and they behold their own self in the Universal Self. Similar to that is this statement: yo māṁ paśyati sarvatra sarvaṁ ca mayi paśyati (6.30). Ᾱtmānam ātmanā janati : By the self, the Self is known. The higher Self is known through the lower self. The lower self merges itself in the higher Self. It is in that manner that the Self is known through the self, by the self, by intense meditation on the nature of the higher Self.

Dhyānenātmani paśyanti kecid ātmānam ātmanā, anye sāṅkhyena yogena : There are others who contemplate on the categories of the manifestation of the world as delineated in the Sankhya; that is also a way of sadhana . The twenty-four categories of creation mentioned in the Sankhya doctrine reveal the fact that our individuality is also constituted of the same universal categories and, therefore, we do not stand independently as persons by ourselves. Thus, our personality-consciousness and ego-consciousness automatically vanish even by contemplation on the twenty-four tattvas of the Sankhya. Hence, some attain the state of perfection by the Sankhya category also, and by the methods of yoga practice as described to us in the Sutras of Patanjali or any other yoga, such as mantra yoga, dhyana yoga, laya yoga, japa yoga, kundalini yoga. There are all kinds of yogas. As yoga is mentioned together with Sankhya, we may appreciate that the yoga referred to here is almost similar to the ashtanga yoga of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and to samapatti, or samadhi, which is based on the Sankhya categories themselves. Karmayogena cāpare : There are some, like Raja Janaka, who attained perfection through action, because actually they do not perform any action.

Brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma havir brahmāgnau brahmaṇā hutam, brahmaiva tena gantavyaṁ brahmakarmasamādhinā (4.24): The performer of the action, the deed that is performed, and the process of the action are all like the waters of the ocean rumbling within themselves and, therefore, nobody does any action. Even when a person is intensely active, actually no action is taking place; that is the nature of the supreme karma yogin . By that karma yoga, which is also a method of contemplation and dhyana , one can attain God.

Anye tvevam ajānantaḥ śrutvānyebhya upāsate (13.25): There are others who cannot do these things. They cannot meditate; they cannot contemplate the Self by the self; they cannot meditate on the categories of Sankhya; they cannot engage themselves in the ashtanga yoga of Patanjali; they cannot do karma yoga. What should they do? The compassionate Lord says: “They also reach Me, who merely listen to My glories and the glories of this knowledge in satsanga.” Anye tvevam ajānantaḥ śrutvānyebhya upāsate : Not knowing the difficult techniques of practice that have been mentioned, they can attain perfection by only hearing— srutva . Satsanga is a very potent method of self-purification. If the satsanga is properly conducted and we are honest in our participation in that satsanga , that satsanga itself will be sufficient not only for purification of the self, but it will even act as a supreme meditation itself. We will be in ecstasy at that time. As Tulsidas says, “ Binu satsanga viveka na hoi” : Without satsanga , discrimination does not dawn. Anye tvevam ajānantaḥ śrutvānyebhya upāsate : By merely hearing the glories through satsanga , people also attain perfection. Te'pi cātitarantyeva mṛtyuṁ śrutiparāyaṇāḥ . Therefore, all of you will attain moksha. You will not be reborn, because at least you have heard what is being said. God is very compassionate. He will not harass you with hard disciplines. Listen, hear, and absorb this knowledge that you have heard into yourself. You will cross over the realm of death— mrtyum atitaranti .

Yāvat sañjāyate kiṁcit sattvaṁ sthāvarajaṅgamam, kṣetrakṣetrajñasaṁyogāt tad viddhi bharatarṣabha (13.26): All the manifestation, living or non-living, is due to a combination of kṣetra and kṣetrajña , a manifold type of contact of purusha with prakriti in various degrees of ascent and descent. In the higher realms of celestials where existence is transparent, the contact of purusha with prakriti is rarefied. Existence becomes more and more gross as the rajasic and tamasic qualities of prakriti become more predominant. Sattva is supposed to be predominant in the heavenly regions; rajasic qualities are predominant in the human realm, and tamas is predominant in the nether regions. But whatever be the contact through sattva or rajas or tamas —experiences either in heaven, in this mortal world or in the lower realm—every experience is a result of the contact of purusha with prakriti in various ways. Kṣetrakṣetrajñasaṁyogāt tad viddhi bharatarṣabha : Anything that is born has significance as an individual only because both purusha and prakriti are set together in some proportion.

Samaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṁ parameśvaram, vinaśyatsvavinaśyantaṁ yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati (13.27): Again we are brought back to the transcendent existence of an equally distributed consciousness—not a little purusha coming in contact with prakriti , but something transcending the contact of purusha with prakriti . Upadrashta , anumanta and paramatma were mentioned earlier, and something similar is repeated in this verse. Samaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṁ : That Being is equally present in all as the Self of all. It is the Self of the ant and the elephant and the human being and the god. The distinction among them is due to the appearance of their subtle bodies and gross bodies, but the life that is behind the subtle and gross bodies is common—as sunlight is common and appears to be coloured or distorted according to the nature of the glasses that we put on. Samaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṁ parameśvaram : The Supreme Lord exists in an equilibrated fashion everywhere.

Vinaśyatsvavinaśyantaṁ : Deathless in the midst of dying individuals. People die, everything perishes, and all things get destroyed. Yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati : But in the midst of this destruction taking place perennially, perpetually, right from creation—in the midst of this flux and destruction and movement—there is an unmoving Eternity. Whoever knows that, really knows the truth. We should not get involved in the fluxation of prakriti , but should withdraw our consciousness to that transcendent element which witnesses this drama of prakriti : vinaśyatsvavinaśyantaṁ yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati .

Samaṁ paśyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam īśvaram, na hinastyātmanātmānaṁ tato yāti parāṁ gatim (13.28): Mostly we kill the Self with the self— hinastyātmanātmānaṁ . A kind of atma hatya is going on when the Self is forgotten and only objects are remembered. Only external things are in that person's memory; the Self is completely obliterated from experience. That state of affairs—where the consciousness of the Self being there is completely obscured by intense concentration on objects outside—is called spiritual suicide; it is killing the Self with the self. That is, we do not know that we are existing at all as the Self. We know that there is a world outside, we are busy with things outside, but we are not busy with our Self. But having known the equally distributed consciousness of the Paramatman, equally distributed Eternity—knowing this, seeing this, beholding it, and contemplating it, one will not be subject to this otherwise common experience of Self-destruction; and knowing this, one attains to the Supreme State, yāti parāṁ gatim .

Now the Lord refers once again to the kartrtva and akartrtva aspects of the human individual in relation to prakriti's modes— sattva , rajas and tamas .

Prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ, yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāraṁ sa paśyati (13.29): One will automatically know, without any difficulty at all in knowing this fact, that one is not the doer of any action, provided that one clearly sees that all activity is an activity of the three gunas of prakriti , and that the consciousness of activity is different from activity itself. We have somehow or the other mixed up consciousness and motion (movement) together. By a mixing up of these two elements by a process called tadatmiya adhyasa —which means the superimposition of one thing on the other in the reverse order, or vice versa—consciousness is made to appear as active, and activity is made to appear as conscious. So we 'consciously do something'.

The whole point is, 'consciously doing something' is a misnomer. Consciousness cannot do anything, and doing cannot be conscious. So, if this knowledge arises in a person that activity is only the movement of prakriti with its three gunas , and the consciousness thereof is totally independent of the gunas, they will not ever feel that they are the doer of action. That is, their consciousness will always be in a state of witness, or detachment, from the process of action. But our body and our consciousness are so intimate that we cannot distinguish one from the other. That is why we feel that we are doing things, while really there is no such thing.

When a red-hot iron rod is placed before us, we do not see the iron rod; we see only fire, though the fire and the iron rod are two different things. And when we touch it, what are we touching? Are we touching the fire, or are we touching the iron rod? We may say that the iron rod burns. The iron rod does not burn; it is the fire that burns. Yet the two have been superimposed on each other in such a way that the rod looks like fire, and the fire appears to have the shape of a lengthy rod. The fire does not have the shape of the rod, and the rod has no heat; but yet, we mix up two aspects and say that the long rod is hot. In a similar manner, we make a mistake in our own selves by imagining this body is conscious.

The body cannot be conscious. Consciousness is different from the body; therefore, when there is bodily action—which is nothing but the action of prakriti , because the body is made up of prakriti's three gunas —we begin to imagine, “I am doing something. And because I feel that I am doing something, I also expect a result to follow from that action, and I must enjoy the result of that action. I am doing the action and, therefore, the fruit of that action should come to me.” Hence, karma phala comes as a recompense for the feeling that one is doing. But one who knows that prakriti alone does things, and activity is a part of prakriti's nature, and the knower of that is different from the activity—such a person remains as akarta , a non-doer. Prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ, yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāraṁ sa paśyati .

Yadā bhūtapṛthagbhāvam ekastham anupaśyati, tata eva ca vistāraṁ brahma sampadyate tadā (13.30): We have attained the Supreme Brahman the moment we are able to see with our own eyes the interconnection of the varieties of creation in front of us and their rootedness in a single sea of force which is Brahman. That is to say, we see only wood in all the trees, we see only water in all the ripples and waves, we see only gold in all the ornaments; and, in a similar manner, we see only Brahman in all the names and forms. Yadā bhūtapṛthagbhāvam ekastham anupaśyati means that one is able to see the variety of creation as rooted in the One. There may be millions and millions of varieties of living beings or inanimate things, but this multiform creation will not affect us in any way because they are the various limbs of the one root that is universally spread out everywhere. If we can visualise things in this manner, we have attained Brahman at once. Yadā bhūtapṛthagbhāvam ekastham anupaśyati, tata eva ca vistāraṁ brahma sampadyate tadā : The cosmic all-pervading Brahman is realised at once by entertaining this vision of everything diverse being rooted in one Universal Existence.

Anāditvān nirguṇatvāt paramātmāyam avyayaḥ, śarīrastho'pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate (13.31): This Brahman, the Universal Atman, has no beginning. Anāditvān : It has no qualities of any kind as we know qualities here. Nirguṇatvāt paramātmāyam avyayaḥ : It is imperishable because it is indestructible. Such Paramatman, the Supreme Self, though existing in this body as the deepest self in us, does not involve itself in any contamination of the gunas of prakriti . Na karoti na lipyate : He neither does anything, nor is He contaminated by the fruits of action.

The kutastha chaitanya , or the witness consciousness in us, is the true self in us. That remains uncontaminated by anything that takes place, just as space inside a vessel cannot become affected by things that we pour into the vessel. If we pour something fragrant into the vessel, the space inside it does not become fragrant; or if we put something bitter into the vessel, the space inside it does not become bitter. It is the content that has the quality; space itself has no quality. In a similar manner, the content—which is the physical, the astral and the causal bodies—has the characteristics of action and the enjoyment of the fruits of action; but the witness, which is the light of the sun in the sky, as it were, is untarnished by anything that may happen to this body in all these three phases.

Though this kutastha chaitanya , this Atman, is responsible for all the activities through this body, it is not in any way contaminated by the activities carried on through the sariras — anandamaya , vijnanamaya , manomaya , pranamaya and annamaya . The physical sheath, the subtle astral sheath and the causal sheath are involved in movement, action and the desire for the fruit of action. Their activity is impossible unless the light of the kutastha , the Atman, is shed on them. In the same manner, nothing in this world can live or act unless the sun shines in the sky. We are alive today because the sun is in the sky. No plant, no living being can survive if the sun in the sky does not blaze forth heat energy. Yet the sun is not in any way responsible for what is happening in the world. Though without it nothing can happen, it is not responsible for anything that is happening. In a similar manner, just because the kutastha, the Self inside, is responsible for the movement of the three bodies in us, it is not connected vitally in any way. It stands above the turmoil of the action of the three bodies, just as the sun transcends all the events taking place in the world. Anāditvān nirguṇatvāt paramātmāyam avyayaḥ, śarīrastho'pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate .

Yathā sarvagataṁ saukṣmyād ākāśaṁ nopalipyate (13.32): Just as space is not contaminated by anything that may be inside it, the all-pervading Being, which is the Supreme Atman, is not in any way affected either by what the body does or by what happens in external society, because it is so subtle. The subtlest reality is consciousness, and all things that are external to it, of which it is conscious, are gross. Everything in the world is gross; therefore, consciousness—which is the subtlest of being—cannot actually get involved in anything in this world, the two being dissimilar in nature. The subtle cannot enter into the gross, and the gross cannot affect the subtle. Because of the subtlety of the Supreme Being and its all-pervading nature— sarvatrāvasthita —it is not affected by anything that takes place in creation, either by evolution or involution. Yathā sarvagataṁ saukṣmyād ākāśaṁ nopalipyate, sarvatrāvasthito dehe tathātmā nopalipyate .

Yathā prakāśayatyekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ, kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata (13.33): As the sun in the sky illumines the whole world, so does this kṣetrajña purusha, this Atman pervading all things, illumine all bodies. Self-consciousness and the desire to survive are implanted in all species in creation by the operation of this all-pervading Universal Consciousness. Consciousness is eternal. That is why there is an instinct in everyone not to die. It is the consciousness inside that is actually responsible for our fear of death, and for our desire to lengthen our life as much as possible. It is an empirical, externalised, distorted form of the eternity of the Self. We do not want to perish, because the deepest Self in us cannot perish. But because we have mixed up the eternity in us with the three koshas , including the physical body, we make the mistake of perpetuating this body and wanting to exist as individuals for all time to come. Actually, this instinct for survival and the longing to exist always arise not from the body, but from the Atman inside, which is invisible to us. Its very existence is obliterated from our activity and perception, which is conditioned by the sense organs which always move in an externalised direction. The mind and senses cannot know that there is an Atman at all and, therefore, we are caught up. Yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ, kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata .

The Thirteenth Chapter is very important. Just as the Third Chapter sums up the principles of karma yoga, the Sixth Chapter sums up the principles of raja yoga, and the Eleventh Chapter sums up the principles of bhakti yoga, the Thirteenth Chapter sums up the principles of jnana yoga. Hence, we must read at least these four chapters. To know what karma yoga is, we should read the Third Chapter; to know what bhakti yoga is, we should read the Eleventh Chapter; to know what raja yoga is, we should read the Sixth Chapter; and to know what jnana yoga is, we should read the Thirteenth Chapter.

Whoever understands this teaching given in the Thirteenth Chapter will not return to this world. Kṣetrakṣetrajñayor evam antaraṁ jñānacakṣuṣā, bhūtaprakṛtimokṣaṁ ca ye vidur yānti te param (13.34): Those who are able to distinguish between kṣetrajña and kṣetra , between purusha and prakriti , between the Self and its object, and between consciousness and matter shall attain the Supreme Abode. If this distinction is clear before us, we will be totally unattached to everything in this world, and we will not be reborn into this world of prakriti , this world of the three gunas . We will attain the Supreme Abode— param . With this we conclude the great, glorious Thirteenth Chapter.

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Bhagavad Gita

Prakarana Grantha
Adi Shankaracharya

13.20 prakrtim purusam

Gita chapter 13 – verse 20 « ».

प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव विद्ध्यनादी उभावपि । विकारांश्च गुणांश्चैव विद्धि प्रकृतिसम्भवान् ॥ १३-२०॥

prakṛtiṃ puruṣaṃ caiva viddhyanādī ubhāvapi vikārāṃśca guṇāṃścaiva viddhi prakṛtisambhavān 13-20

Know you that Matter (PRAKRITI) and Spirit (PURUSHA) are both beginningless; and know you also that all modifications and qualities are born of PRAKRITI.

prakṛtiṃ = material nature; puruṣaṃ = the living entities; ca = also; eva = certainly; viddhi = you must know; anādi = without beginning; ubhau = both; api = also; vikārān = transformations; ca = also; guṇān = the three modes of nature; ca = also; eva = certainly; viddhi = know; prakṛti = material nature; sambhavān = produced of.;

Earlier Krishna had described the World-of-Matter (Prakriti) as falling under two groups, the Higher and the Lower. Both these are explained in this chapter as the KNOWER and the FIELD. During the discussion of the Higher and the Lower Prakritis, it was said that they together constitute the source of Creation. Continuing the same thought in this chapter, in a fresh phraseology as the “Field” and its “Knower,” it is repeated that they together constitute the womb-of-all-beings.

Matter (Prakriti) and Spirit (Purusha) are both beginningless. Matter and Spirit are the two aspects of Ishwara, the Lord. As the Lord is Eternal, it is but natural that His nature — Matter and Spirit — should also be Eternal, meaning beginningless. It is these two, in their inter-play, that project Creation, continue to preserve it, and dissolve the Universe created by them. Thus, the play of Matter and Spirit is the cause of samsara and the Substratum for both of them is the Lord, the Light of lights.

Subjectively, when the creative power in me, ordered by my vasanas (avidya), comes to play in the field of its expression, dynamised by its “Knower,” it projects a world of experience, which I maintain and destroy according to the nature, the condition and qualities governing the Matter-Spirit factors in me.

All forms and qualities are born of Matter. All forms and emanations (vikaras) which have been explained (XIII-6 and 7) already and all qualities (gunas) such as those which express themselves as pleasure, pain, delusion and such other mental states, spring from Matter (Prakriti). In short, ‘Matter’ is that out of which all forms and qualities come into existence. All changes and modifications belong to the realm of ‘Matter’ and the Atman is the Changeless Substratum (Kutasthah), in the presence of which, all these changes take place.

WHAT THEN ARE THESE FORMS AND QUALITIES WHICH ARE DESCRIBED HERE AS BORN OF PRAKRITI?

Viddhi, know; ubhau, both; prakrtim Nature; and also the purusam, individual soul;-these two; Nature and the soul. the aspects of God-to be api, verily; anadi, without beginning. Those two that have no beginning (adi), are anadi. Since the godhood of God is eternal, therefore it is logical that even His aspects also should have eternality. For God’s god-hood consists verily in having the two aspects. Those two aspects through which God becomes the cause of creation, continuance and dissolution of the Universe, and which are beginningless, are the sources of mundane existence. Some interpret the phrase anadi in the tatpurusa [Tatpurusa: Name of a class of compounds in which the first member determines the sense of the other members, or in which the last member is defined or qualified by the first, without losing its original independence.-V.S.A.] sense of na adi, not primeval (not cause). (According to them) thereby indeed is established the causality of God. Again, if Nature and soul themselves be eternal, the mundane existence would surely be their creation, and the causality of the mundane existence would not be God’s. That is wrong because, there being nothing to rule over before the emergence of Nature and soul, there will arise the contingency of God ceasing to be God! And if the mundane state be uncaused [Uncaused, i.e. not caused by Nature and soul, but by God independently of those two aspects.] there arises the contingency of the absence of Liberation, [If God were. Himself the sole cause of mundane existence, independently of His two aspects, then it would be endless because there would be nothing to prevent liberated souls from being put under bondage again.] the scriptures becoming useless, and the absence of bondage and freedom. On the other hand, all these become justifiable if God and the two aspects be eternal. How? Viddhi, know; the vikaran, modifications that will be spoken of-the intellect etc., the body and the organs; ca eva, as also; gunan, the qualities (sattva etc.)-manifest in the form of the mental states of happiness, sorrow and attachment; as prakriti-sambhavan, born of Nature. Nature, Maya, is the power of God, which is the cause of the modifications and which consists of the three qualities. Those modifications and qualities, which have that Nature as their source,-know those modifications and qualities as ‘born of Nature’, as transformations of Nature. Which again, are those modifications and qualities born of Nature?

The Bhagavad Gita with the commentary of Sri Sankaracharya – Translated by Alladi Mahadeva Sastry

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Srimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 – Verse 20 – 13.20 prakrtim purusam – All Bhagavad Gita (Geeta) Verses in Sanskrit, English, Transliteration, Word Meaning, Translation, Audio, Shankara Bhashya, Adi Sankaracharya Commentary and Links to Videos by Swami Chinmayananda and others – 13-20

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1 According to Sāṃkhya-Yoga ontology, the female of the two fundamental principles (the other being the male, puruṣa) which constitute reality. Invisible and unconscious, prakṛti in its unmanifest form (also known as pradhāna) is the ultimate cause of all material existence. The evolution of the universe occurs when the perfect equilibrium of the three guṇas, which are synonymous with the unmanifest prakṛti, is disturbed by the proximity of puruṣa. This results in prakṛti manifesting itself in the form of evolutes, which develop to constitute the material universe and all that it contains, including the physical and mental attributes of human beings—the 25 tattvas of classical Sāṃkhya. At the cosmological level, the process is never-ending: the tattvas will be reabsorbed into unmanifest prakṛti, only to evolve again in a continuous cycle. For the individual, bondage is the delusion that it is the inherently passive puruṣa which is acting and experiencing the results of action (karma), when in fact, it is prakṛti, through the guṇas, which is the sole cause of action. In a theistic modification of this (in, for example, the Bhagavadgītā), prakṛti and its evolutes are said to comprise God's lower nature, while sentient beings (puruṣas) constitute his higher nature. An even more radical redefinition occurs in Śākta traditions, where śakti, the Goddess, and prakṛti are considered to be identical, a single active consciousness, in which puruṣa is subsumed.

2 In Vedic śrauta ritual, a basic paradigm or model (prakṛti) which is modified to produce a series of more complicated sacrifices. Three types of sacrifice are considered to be prakṛtis in this sense: the darśapūrṇamāsa, the paśubandha, and the agniṣṭoma.

From: prakṛti in A Dictionary of Hinduism »

Subjects: Religion

Patanjali’s Words: Prakriti, the Seen

Sutra 2.18: prakāśa-kriyā-sthiti-śīlam bhūta-indriya-ātmakaṃ bhoga-apavarga-arthaṃ dṛśyam

The seen is of the nature of the gunas : illumination, activity and inertia; and consists of the elements and sense organs, whose purpose is to provide both experiences and liberation to the Purusha (Swami Satchidananda translation). The seen consists of the five elements and sense organs and has the qualities of translucence, activity, and inertia. Its purpose is to provide experiences and liberation (Rev. Jaganath translation).

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

prakāśa = translucence; illumination, light, splendor, brightness, pure consciousness, visible, clear, manifest, open, public, expanded, universally noted, before the eyes of all, appearance, display, manifestation, diffusion, laughter, it is the principle by which everything else is known, the principle of self-revelation from pra = before, forward + kāśa = from kaś = to shine, appear

Prakasa is an innate quality of the Divine or Absolute Truth. The word is also used to describe a quality of sattva .

kriyā = activity; doing, performing, work (See 2.1)

sthiti = inertia; remaining inert, standing from sthā = to stand, to stand firmly, station one’s self, stand upon, to take up a position on, to stay, remain, continue in any condition or action, to remain occupied or engaged in, be intent on, make a practice of, keep on, persevere in any act, to continue to be or exist, endure, to be, exist, be present, be obtainable or at hand, to be with or at the disposal of, belong to, abide by, be near to, be on the side of, adhere or submit to, acquiesce in, serve, obey, stop, halt, wait, tarry, linger, hesitate, to behave or conduct oneself, to be directed to or fixed in, to be founded or rest or depend on, to rely on, confide in, resort to, arise from, to remain unnoticed, be left alone, to affirm, settle, determine, direct or turn towards

śīlam = qualities; character, nature, natural or acquired way of acting, conduct, disposition, form, shape, beauty. Or, good behavior, right discipline, morality, self-restraint, giving of one’s self, desisting from all sinful acts from śīl = serve, act

In Buddhism sila is one of the six ideals, obligations, precepts, or virtues ( paramita ). These virtues guide and assist the seeker on the path to perfection. They have three stages and are six in number: ideals for the worldly life; ideals for the mental life; and ideals for the spiritual life.

dana = charity and love
sila = good behavior
ksanti = patience
virya = zeal
dhyana = meditation
prajna = insight

These guidelines help regulate the behavior of monks, nuns, and lay persons. They constitute the preconditions for progress on the path. As morality, sila is part of the eightfold path: right speech, right action, right livelihood.

bhūta = the five elements; earth, water, fire, air, space, constituents of the manifest universe

indriya = sense organs; power; derived from the Vedic god named Indra, it means agreeable to Indra. from Indra = ruler, chief, mighty, powerful

Indra is the Vedic god of the atmosphere and sky as well as of rain, who rules over the deities in the mid-region of heaven and fights against and conquers demons and the forces of darkness with his thunderbolt. He rides an elephant, a symbol of strength and the ability to remove obstacles. He holds his hands in gestures of protection and the granting of boons. Sometimes, he is depicted with eyes all over his body.

Over time, his position as the great god weakened and he was only king of the lesser gods and the lord of heaven. He loves to drink soma , the intoxicating nectar of immortality of which he drinks enormous amounts. Stimulated by its exhilarating qualities, he goes forth to fight against his foes, and to perform his other duties. He was worshiped and loved, especially in Vedic times for his generous nature as the bestower of rain and the cause of fertility, yet was also feared as the ruler of storm and the sender of lightning and thunder.

That the word for the senses is related to the name of this deity suggests an understanding of the senses as powerful. They can be used for good but should be treated as potential gateways into troubles. Like Indra, the senses can create disturbing storms, become intoxicated with overuse, misuse, or abuse, or they can be powerful allies in perceiving and learning the lessons that life provides.

In Buddhism, indriya also refers to twenty-two psychological and physical faculties.

ātmakaṃ = consists; consisting or composed of, belonging to, having the nature or character of, loving one’s self, desire for the Self, desirous of emancipation, loving the supreme spirit, possessed of, self-conceit from ātma = self + ka = a possessive suffix, or from kam = to desire

Traditionally, kama , pleasure, is one of the four accepted values or goals of life, which is regulated by dharma and eventually superseded by the highest desire: moksha , liberation.

Patanjali’s S utras presents prakriti in a materially-based way, as gross and subtle elements. Using this model, prakriti is described by most commentators much like the way scientists describe matter — as the building blocks of objects, devoid of life. This approach captures much of the nature of prakriti , but could there be another dimension? Let’s break it down.

Look at the list of definitions for atmakam , or what prakriti consists of. Going deeper into that list we find words that have undertones of what appear to be emotions, all stemming from the root, kam (to desire). Kam is the root of kama , as in the Kama Sutra . That is why the translation for atmakam includes desire for the Self or liberation , and loving the supreme Spirit .

The notion of prakriti having an element of love may seem a bit odd. But it may not seem odd once we add the second sentence of this sutra which presents the purpose of prakriti . We can see a picture of prakriti emerging that reveals a profound understanding of Nature. If the purpose of the seen ( prakriti ) is to give us experiences that bring liberation, why couldn’t the relationship between Seer and seen be regarded as love, a quality innate in any healthy relationship?

Need further indications of this understanding of prakriti? Look to sutra 4.2 which, along with sutra 4.3, describes the nature of prakriti’s manifestations. The acts of creation result from an abundance, an overflowing , of prakriti . Here, we have a picture of prakriti as if it is intent on flowing and filling the universe. Why? To provide experiences and liberation for the individual.

There’s still more that supports this intimate relationship between Purusha and prakriti . For this, we’ll look to Sankhya philosophy upon which much of the Sutras rest.

Prakriti has been described as a woman dancing to get the attention of the Purusha . But once Purusha’s attention fully turns to prakriti’s dance, she vanishes. Isn’t this just a metaphorical way of saying that prakriti gives us experiences that lead to liberation? Kaivalya is Patanjali’s term to describe enlightenment. Kaivalya means independence , liberation , isolation . It is the vanishing of prakriti as the only reality, allowing the Seer, the Purusha , to stand apart —to be experienced — in its true nature as citi shakti, the power of pure consciousness (see 4.34).

The message here is profound: this universe, with all its tumult, unexpected hardships, and confounding human behaviors, is a benevolent place. The universe is on our side. Teachings and practices such as those in the Yoga Sutras help us to see this truth by peeling away the layers of ignorance that obscure our True Nature and the true nature of the universe we live in. (See 2.21 to expand on the subject matter of this sutra .) Also see the comments on bhoga and on artham that follows.

bhoga = experiences; enjoyment, any winding or curve, feasting, feeding on, use, application, fruition, sexual enjoyment, enjoyment of the earth or of a country, perception of pleasure or pain, utility, advantage, delight, any object of enjoyment, property, wealth, revenue (see 2.13)

Look at the list of definitions for bhoga . Note that most of them express some sort of joy or delight. Especially pertinent is enjoyment of the earth . Could it be that we are to understand that nature is not an enemy to be overcome, but a gift to be enjoyed and that it is the perfect arena — challenges as well as pleasures — for spiritual growth and enlightenment?

apavarga = liberation; emancipation, completion, end, final beatitude, gift, donation; from apa = away, off + varga = a division, class, set, multitude of similar things, group, company, family, everything comprehended under any department or head, everything included under a category, province or sphere of, from vrj = twist, bend, turn, crooked,

arthaṃ = purpose (See 1.28, 1.32, 1.42, 1.43, 2.2, 2.18, 2.21, 2.22, 3.3, 3.17, 3.36, 4.23, 4.24, 4.32, 4.34)

This sutra affirms that the purpose of the seen is to provide experiences and liberation for the individual. The entire universe is a university that exists for the benefit of our liberation. Yet, what about the countless manifestations of the seen that no human ever sees. Science tells us, for example, that two thirds of all living beings exist in the ocean, still undiscovered. Why would the seen express in ways and in beings that no human has or may never see?

The answer may be that this sutra can have an another, expanded meaning. Reflect on this alternate translation, using the same original Sanskrit as the source:

The seen consists of the elements and sense organs and has the qualities of illumination, activity, and inertia. Its purpose is delight and freedom.

The three words: bhoga , apavarga , and artha form a compound in the original Sanskrit: delight, freedom, and purpose or experience. This leaves room for the discovery of layers of meaning.

The seen exists for the Seer, but the Seer is not just the Self of all beings. It is the essential Self of all objects in the universe. The Seer delights in the seen and this delight exists in a free-flowing state of freedom. This description of delight is maybe the best way we can understand or describe what is essentially beyond the grasp of the mind. The Seer delights in the seen and it is a state of complete freedom. Freedom from what?

The categorizations, motives, and emotions the human mind projects onto creation. When the Seer and seen get mixed together, their true essences are obscured by an overlay of our notions, philosophies, aspirations, fears, and desires. From the unenlightened mind’s limited perspective, neither the Seer nor seen is free to exist according to its essential nature. From the perspective of the Seer, freedom is the unrestrained delight in the “show” put on by the seen. The delight is innate in the witnessing of the play of the universe: the drama, comedy, romance, adventure, and horror. The seen exists for the delight of the Seer. The Seer and seen, in Patanjali’s Yoga, coexist eternally together. And freedom is a hallmark of that relationship.

When we say that the Seer delights , it’s a human-centric way of expressing the state of harmony of purpose. This is what has been experienced and revealed to the great sages and saints and is waiting for us to discover for ourselves.

My master was once asked to describe enlightenment. He said: You’re in the light. You feel light. And you take delight in everything. The fully enlightened being is someone who has become an embodiment of the dance of delight of the Seer and seen. It sounds like love, doesn’t it? This truth is not limited to Yoga. It is found in all faith traditions. Here’s an example from Psalm 148 (an excerpt from the Berean Study Bible ):

Praise the Lord from the earth, All great sea creatures and ocean depths, Lightning and hail, snow and clouds, Powerful wind fulfilling His word, Mountains and all hills, Fruit trees and all cedars, Wild animals and all cattle, Crawling creatures and flying birds, Kings of the earth and all peoples, Princes and all rulers of the earth, Young men and maidens, Old and young together.

Let them praise the name of the Lord.

dṛśyam = the seen; the seeable, what is to be seen

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At last, we are ready to complete our prakriyā . Using everything we've learned in the previous lessons, we can now fully derive the word nayati . And with the help of three new rules, we can derive all eighteen of the forms of nī in kartari prayoga with laṭ-lakāra .

Here are the basic steps we will follow:

Choose a dhātu from the Dhātupāṭha .

Choose the right lakāra .

Determine whether the root uses parasmaipada or ātmanepada endings.

Replace the lakāra with the appropriate tiṅ ending.

Add a vikaraṇa as needed.

Apply guṇa changes as needed.

Apply sandhi rules.

Our first prakriyā

We wish to express the idea of leading someone. We want to express this for some third-party agent and express a sense of the present tense.

Based on these meaning conditions, we select a root. We start with the dhātu ṇīñ as given in the Dhātupāṭha :

णीञ् प्रापणे। १.१०४९ ṇīñ prāpaṇe ( 1.1049 ) nī in the sense of obtaining or leading

We then apply rules to remove the it letters and obtain natva of the initial ṇ :

ṇīñ 1.3.1 bhūvādayo dhātavaḥ
ṇī 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
nī 6.1.65 ṇo naḥ

We can then add la̐ṭ to denote the present tense:

nī la̐ṭ 3.2.123 vartamāne laṭ

This is then replaced with the appropriate ending, according to our semantic conditions:

nī l 1.3.2 upadeśe'janunāsika it 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
nī tip 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī ti 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ

Then we introduce the appropriate vikaraṇa :

nī śap ti 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a ti 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ

Finally, we apply the necessary sound changes:

ne a ti 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
nayati 6.1.78 eco'yavāyāvaḥ

Here is our complete prakriyā from start to finish:

A more experienced grammarian will skip the low-level steps and use something like this:

nī ti 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī śap ti 3.1.68 kartari śap

Some miscellaneous rules

Here are a few miscellaneous rules that we will refer to further below. First, a simple one:

लोपो व्योर्वलि। ६.१.६६ lopo vyorvali ( 6.1.66 ) lopaḥ v-yoḥ vali The letters v and y are replaced with lopa when followed by a val sound (i.e. any consonant except y ).

Next, a rule that depends on several terms from anuvṛtti :

ekaḥ pūrvaparayoḥ (“A single replaces the previous and following”)

apadāntāt (“non-word-final”)

para-rūpam (“the form of the second”)

aci (“when a vowel follows”)

अतो गुणे। ६.१.९७ ato guṇe ( 6.1.97 ) ataḥ guṇe [Non-word-final] a and a following guṇa [vowel] are both replaced with the guṇa (i.e. the a is deleted).

Then rule 7.1.3, which replaces the jh in jhi and jha . Rule 7.1.3 uses pratyayādīnām (“of the beginning of a pratyaya ”) by anuvṛtti :

झोऽन्तः। ७.१.३ jho'ntaḥ ( 7.1.3 ) jhaḥ antaḥ The [initial] jh [of a pratyaya ] is replaced with ant .

Why does Pāṇini use jh in the first place? It is because some verbs will use replacements other than ant . But for now, that's a minor point.

Finally, we have two rules that inherit sārvadhātuke (“when a sārvadhātuka follows”) by anuvṛtti and aṅgasya (“of an aṅga ”) from an adhikāra rule. Rule 7.2.81 also inherits ataḥ (“after a ”) by anuvṛtti :

आतो ङितः। ७.२.८१ āto ṅitaḥ ( 7.2.81 ) ātaḥ ṅitaḥ [After a ], the ā [of a following] ṅit [ sārvadhātuka is replaced with iy ].

अतो दीर्घो यञि। ७.३.१०१ ato dīrgho yañi ( 7.3.101 ) ataḥ dīrghaḥ yañi The final a of an aṅga is replaced with dīrgha (long) when followed by a yañ sound.

For the specific usages of these two rules, see the prakriyā s further below.

nī and la̐ṭ ( parasmaipada )

Now let's derive the other eight forms of nī in laṭ with parasmaipada endings.

nayataḥ is like nayati , with some extra sandhi rules from the asiddha section:

nī tas 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī śap tas 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a tas 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
ne a tas 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
nay a tas 6.1.78 eco'yavāyāvaḥ
nayata ru̐ 8.2.66 sasajuṣo ruḥ
nayataḥ 8.3.15 kharavasānayorvisarjanīyaḥ

nayanti is like nayati , but there are some extra rules to modify jhi . Rule 6.1.97 ( ato guṇe ) deletes the extra a . Note the rules from the asiddha section, which apply then revert a sandhi change:

nī jhi 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī śap jhi 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a jhi 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
nī a anti 7.1.3 jho'ntaḥ
ne a anti 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
nay a anti 6.1.78 eco'yavāyāvaḥ
nay anti 6.1.97 ato guṇe
nay aṃti 8.3.24 naścāpadāntasya jhali
nayanti 8.4.58 anusvārasya yayi parasavarṇaḥ

nayasi is like nayati , nayathaḥ like nayataḥ , and nayatha like nayati again. Then we come to nayāmi , which lengthens the vowel of the aṅga :

nī mip 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī mi 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
nī śap mi 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a mi 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
ne a mi 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
nay a mi 6.1.78 eco'yavāyāvaḥ
nayāmi 7.3.101 ato dīrgho yañi

nayāvaḥ is like nayāmi , with some extra sandhi rules from the asiddha section:

nī vas 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī śap vas 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a vas 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
ne a vas 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
ne ā vas 7.3.101 ato dīrgho yañi
nay ā vas 6.1.78 eco'yavāyāvaḥ
nay ā va ru̐ 8.2.66 sasajuṣo ruḥ
nayāvaḥ 8.3.15 kharavasānayorvisarjanīyaḥ

And nayāmaḥ is like nayāvaḥ .

nī and la̐ṭ ( ātmanepada )

The prakriyā s with ātmanepada endings are similar:

nī ta 1.3.72 svaritañitaḥ kartrabhiprāye kriyāphale 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī te 3.4.79 ṭita ātmanepadānāṃ ṭere
nī śap te 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a te 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
ne a te 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
nayate 6.1.78 eco'yavāyāvaḥ

For nayete , the rules 7.2.81 ( āto ṅitaḥ ) and 6.1.66 ( lopo vyorvali ) apply to change āte to ite :

nī ātām 1.3.72 svaritañitaḥ kartrabhiprāye kriyāphale 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī āte 3.4.79 ṭita ātmanepadānāṃ ṭere
nī śap āte 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a āte 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
nī a iy te 7.2.81 āto ṅitaḥ
nī a i te 6.1.66 lopo vyorvali
ne a i te 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
nay a i te 6.1.78 eco'yavāyāvaḥ
nayete 6.1.87 ādguṇaḥ

nayante is like nayanti , but with an ātmanepada ending instead. For nayase , we replace the ending with 3.4.80 ( thāsasse ) then continue as normal:

nī thās 1.3.72 svaritañitaḥ kartrabhiprāye kriyāphale 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī se 3.4.80 thāsasse
nī śap se 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a se 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
ne a se 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
nayase 6.1.87 ādguṇaḥ

nayethe is like nayete , and nayadhve is like nayate . naye is a little trickier and requires the application of rule 6.1.97 ( ato guṇe ):

nī iṭ 1.3.72 svaritañitaḥ kartrabhiprāye kriyāphale 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī i 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
nī e 3.4.79 ṭita ātmanepadānāṃ ṭere
nī śap e 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a e 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
ne a e 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
nay a e 6.1.78 eco'yavāyāvaḥ
naye 6.1.97 ato guṇe

nayāvahe is like nayāvaḥ but without the asiddha rules:

nī vahi 3.4.78 tiptasjhisipthasthamibvasmastātāṃjhathāsāthāṃdhvamiḍvahimahiṅ
nī vahe 3.4.79 ṭita ātmanepadānāṃ ṭere
nī śap vahe 3.4.113 tiṅśitsārvadhātukam 3.1.68 kartari śap
nī a vahe 1.3.3 halantyam 1.3.8 laśakvataddhite 1.3.9 tasya lopaḥ
ne a vahe 7.3.84 sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ
ne ā vahe 7.3.101 ato dīrgho yañi
nayāvahe 6.1.78 eco'yavāyāvaḥ

And nayāmahe is like nayāvahe .

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Andrey Safronov. Ishvara, Prakriti and Sanskrit Grammar

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2 Department of Biotechnology, Sinhgad College of Engineering, University of Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India

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3 Centre for Clinical Research, Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

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Kapaettu Satyamoorthy

Marthanda varma sankaran valiathan, associated data, background:.

Constitutional type of an individual or prakriti is the basic clinical denominator in Ayurveda, which defines physical, physiological, and psychological traits of an individual and is the template for individualized diet, lifestyle counseling, and treatment. The large number of phenotype description by prakriti determination is based on the knowledge and experience of the assessor, and hence subject to inherent variations and interpretations.

In this study we have attempted to relate dominant prakriti attribute to body mass index (BMI) of individuals by assessing an acceptable tool to provide the quantitative measure to the currently qualitative ayurvedic prakriti determination.

Materials and Methods:

The study is cross sectional, multicentered, and prakriti assessment of a total of 3416 subjects was undertaken. Healthy male, nonsmoking, nonalcoholic volunteers between the age group of 20-30 were screened for their prakriti after obtaining written consent to participate in the study. The prakriti was determined on the phenotype description of ayurvedic texts and simultaneously by the use of a computer-aided prakriti assessment tool. Kappa statistical analysis was employed to validate the prakriti assessment and Chi-square, Cramer's V test to determine the relatedness in the dominant prakriti to various attributes.

We found 80% concordance between ayurvedic physician and software in predicting the prakriti of an individual. The kappa value of 0.77 showed moderate agreement in prakriti assessment. We observed a significant correlations of dominant prakriti to place of birth and BMI with Chi-square, P < 0.01 (Cramer's V -value of 0.156 and 0.368, respectively).

Conclusion:

The present study attempts to integrate knowledge of traditional ayurvedic concepts with the contemporary science. We have demonstrated analysis of prakriti classification and its association with BMI and place of birth with the implications to one of the ways for human classification.

INTRODUCTION

The interplay and architecture of genetic, epigenetic, and environment-induced changes in the DNA sequences contribute to large phenotypic variations.[ 1 ] The post-human genome era, embarked on several major international projects and subsequently their databases such as Human Genome Project, Genome Wide Association Studies, human ENCODE consortium, dbSNPs, dbCNVs, HapMap have all contributed significantly to the understanding of the position, degree, nature, and structure of DNA and its contributions to number of phenotypes as well as diseases. The variation in anatomical, physiological, immunological, psychological, disease susceptibility, disease prognosis, and response to treatment, forms the basic principles of personalized medicine. These variations are diverse and efforts are being made to classify humans based on geographical origin, ethnicity, race, and other factors.[ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Ayurveda, Unani (Graeco-Arabic medicinal system), Sasang constitution (Korean medicinal system), and Chinese medicinal system are well known branches of traditional knowledge, which intend to classify individuals based on body temperament by deciphering specific phenotypic characters for health management.[ 5 , 6 , 7 ] Ayurveda, an Indian traditional system of medicine considers every individual as unique and the treatment is based on the defined constitution types. A basic feature of the theory and practice of Ayurveda is the classification of human beings into three doshas ( vata , pitta , and kapha ) and their mixed constitutional types called prakriti . The prakriti or the Ayurvedic constitutional type of an individual is fixed at conception and is articulated through physical, psychological, immunological, and behavioral traits as described elaborately in original ayurvedic texts written by Charaka and Susruta.[ 8 , 9 , 10 ] Further, prakriti also influences the manifestation and course of diseases in an individual and importantly, an individual's response to treatment.[ 11 , 12 , 13 ] Therefore the determination of constitution type or prakriti of a subject or patient is very important in the practice of Ayurveda.

Several biochemical, genetic, and molecular studies have been performed to relate various features of an individual to prakriti . Initial study by Patwardhan et al . demonstrated a correlation between HLA-DRB1 types with the specific prakriti .[ 14 ] Subsequently, Prasher et al . reported biochemical profiles, hematological parameters, and gene expression patterns among vata , pitta , and kapha subjects relating them to inflammatory or cardiovascular diseases.[ 15 ] Frequency of association among CYP2C19 genotypes in a prakriti specific fashion was also reported.[ 16 ] Similarly expression of EGLN1 gene and the association of rs479200 (C/T) and rs480902 (T/C) in high-altitude adaptation in relation to prakriti was reported.[ 17 ] Prakriti determination is traditionally a qualitative, subjective exercise carried out by vaidya . Since it is experience and skill based, inter-observer variations will be inherent. A quantitative tool, such as software, could eliminate much of the subjectivity such that it could be reiteratively tested, modified, and adopted to provide similar prakriti determination. Therefore, considering the immense potential, an interdisciplinary approach to interrogate Ayurvedic principles in the context of contemporary medicine is essential.[ 12 , 18 ]

Traditionally, the prakriti assessment is carried out by the ayurvedic physician on the basis of his knowledge and experience and is therefore subject to inter-observer variations. The quantitative approach to the qualitative assessment of prakriti for the practice of personalized medicine both by ayurvedic physician and contemporary science is essential and attempts are made based on the use of psychometric scaling; however, these lack the physiological and anatomical features in scaling different prakriti types .[ 19 ] In order to define traditional prakriti features and clinical phenotypes on the basis of current knowledge and to develop a uniformly acceptable tool, which will provide a quantitative element to the qualitative determination of prakriti , we have evaluated 3416 normal healthy volunteers using prakriti traits as per traditional texts as well as computer-aided prakriti description tool. We have described our attempt to correlate distribution of prakriti among population and also show a dominant prakriti association with body mass index (BMI).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study design.

The study was carried out over a period of 2 years at three different centers, Bangalore (Centre1), Pune (Centre2), and Udupi (Centre3) in India. The study protocol was approved by concerned institutional ethical committee and samples were screened after obtaining written informed consent, from all the participants. Healthy male nonsmoking, nonalcoholic subjects of age group between 20 and 30 years were screened for their prakriti . Healthy status of individual, according to the Ayurveda, is based on proper functioning of sensory organs, digestion, excretion process, and comfortable sleep. We excluded participants with diabetes, hypertension, and chronic systemic diseases and also with recent history of acute ailments such as fever. Female subjects were not included in this preliminary study to minimize confounding variations. Each subject was analyzed in a two-step prakriti determination process. First, the subject was interviewed with AyuSoft prakriti software by trained ayurvedic physician lasting about 45 min. Next, the same subject was interviewed and examined by senior ayurvedic physician ( vaidya ) who was blinded to the AyuSoft result. The senior vaidya with more than 25 years of experience assessed the prakriti of individuals by interview and physical examination. Ayurvedic physician used and filled questionnaires for each individual and prakriti assessment of each individual by vaidya was determined over a period of about 45 min.

Assessment of prakriti by ayurvedic physician

Ayurvedic physician's assessment was based on parameters listed in three primary ayurvedic texts, Charaka Samhita, Susruta Samhita, and Ashtanga Sangraha. All the parameters are expressions of one or the other prakriti as shown in the form of table in supplementary file 1 [ Supplementary File1 ].[ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ] Traditional ayurvedic method of prakriti determination involves a wide range of methods employed by the ayurvedic physician: through physical examination, which involves visual, tactile, olfactory, and auditory assessments; inference based on information collected, by indirect means including asking questions and conclusions drawn based on available data, knowledge, and experience.[ 22 ] The parameters include visual assessment of morphological features such as skin color, hair color and consistency, soft tissue to bony tissue proportions; tactile features such as dryness/oiliness of skin, body temperature; analytical features such as radial pulse ( naadi ); interrogative subjective physical findings such as physical strength, endurance, appetite, sleep and dream patterns, bowel habit, interrogative subjective and intellectual-emotional attributes such as memory, retention, anger response, restlessness/composure [ Supplementary File 1 ]. Final conclusion drawn by the ayurvedic physician is based on the assessment of the entire range of these parameters, coupled with direct interaction with the subject. In supplementary file 2 , all the parameters considered for the prakriti analysis are mentioned in detail [ Supplementary File 2 ].

Supplementary File 1

Supplementary file 2, assessment of prakriti by computer-aided tool – ayusoft.

AyuSoft software was purchased from Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), India. Prakriti assessment by AyuSoft was performed using weightage configuration. There are 85 questions related to the anatomy, physiology, and psychology. Weightage ranging from 1 to 10 is provided for every question to predict the dosha (manifestation of each trait in a given prakriti ). Traits related to physical or anatomical features have been assigned higher weightage cut-off as it remains stable throughout the life. In contrast, physiological and psychological factors vary with respect to the habitat and hence lesser weightage was assigned. The prakriti can be determined for all age groups and the weightage configuration can be modulated accordingly within the software by clinicians and thus aids in the assessment of prakriti . All questionnaires define the character of the dosha dominance and report cumulative dominance in percentage within anatomical, physiological, and psychological parameters ( www.ayusoft.cdac.in ). The Ayurvedic physician who carried out AyuSoft interview was a qualified ayurvedic physician (BAMS graduate) with a minimum of 2 years of experience. Height was measured to the nearest 0.1 cm using wall-mounted stadiometer by asking the subjects to stand straight without footwear. Weight was measured with minimum clothes using a calibrated electronic scale to the nearest 0.1 kg. Height and weight of individuals was measured by the junior ayurvedic physician who was also operating the AyuSoft.

Statistical analysis

The data were collected from all the three centers and prakriti details, BMI and place of birth were tabulated using Microsoft Excel 2007. The BMI was calculated using Quetelet's Index, where BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meter squared.[ 24 ] Kappa value was determined to see the consistency of the results among the ayurvedic physician and AyuSoft. The graphs generated from various analyses were plotted and the significance of the analysis was computed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 11.5) and GraphPad Prism v5.01. The relatedness parameter in the test was computed with Cramer's test using freely available tool at ‘ http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/newcs.html ’.

Evaluation of AyuSoft

We compared the outcome of two different methods such as outcome of AyuSoft and ayurvedic physician for assessing the prakriti . It was important to validate a consistent tool for prakriti evaluation before any elaborate study to use prakriti as indicator of phenotypes. A total of 3416 subjects were screened for their prakriti . Kappa statistics revealed a substantial agreement with the Kappa value of 0.778 ( P <0.001), between ayurvedic physician and AyuSoft [ Table 1 ]. The data suggests fair agreement of 70-80% concordance by combining all the analysis between the two methods [ Figure 1A ]. A total of 1311 subjects showed a predominant prakriti of equal to or greater than 60%, out of which 971 subjects were analyzed in this study as they have met our inclusion criteria. The inter-observer agreement for the 1311 subjects showed higher kappa value of 0.85 ( P < 0.001) [ Table 1 ]. Further, sensitivity and specificity for the AyuSoft's prakriti prediction was evaluated for 1311 subjects. For kapha prakriti , 84.29% sensitivity and high specificity of 98.57% was observed. In the case of pitta prakriti, sensitivity and specificity was found to be higher (95.95% and 92.35%, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of vata prakriti was found to be 97.83% and 98.02%, respectively. The probability of agreeing on pitta prakriti by both vaidya and AyuSoft was found to be low, which could be due to the sample size analyzed of pitta prakriti . In contrast, assessment of “not pitta ” prakriti by AyuSoft was highly correlated. The 971 concordant subjects who showed a single dominant prakriti were of the age group between, 20 and 30 years [ Figure 2 ].

Implementation of kappa statistics for the screened and selected subjects in assessment of prakriti by vaidya and Ayusoft

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Concordance in the determination of prakriti from three different subject recruitment centers. Prakriti was simultaneously determined by a senior ayurvedic physician and Ayusoft; and analysis of concordance-discordance of the two was plotted. (a) Concordance and discordance in prakriti analysis by a senior ayurvedic physician and Ayusoft in Centers 1, 2, and 3, respectively. (b) Overall concordance and discordance. No significant difference in determination of prakriti among the centers as determined by chi-square test

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Age distribution in the samples greater than 60% for a single dominant prakriti. Subjects with single dominant prakriti (971) were chosen from 3416 individuals who were enrolled into the study. Age distribution of these individuals is shown, which was also used for computation of BMI

Prakriti distribution

As the subjects included in the study were from three centers of different geographical climatic regions, their distribution of the three constitutional types and regions are shown in Figure 3A . The distribution of selected dominant prakriti samples was higher in proportion for kapha and vata at 41% and lower prevalence of pitta prakriti at 18% [ Figure 3B ]. In the subjects screened at Centre1, all three constitutions showed variations with vata (41.4%), pitta (26.0%), and kapha (32.4%), respectively. At Centre2, vata subjects represented at higher percentage with 58.8% followed by kapha (32.5%) and pitta (8.5%), respectively. In contrast to Centre2, results from Centre3 showed subjects with kapha prakriti were at 57.6% followed by vata (22.2%) and pitta (20%), respectively [ Figure 3C ]. The results obtained from screening by ayurvedic physician and AyuSoft also allowed us to identify second dominant prakriti and these are summarized in Figure 4 . Of the total subjects included in the study, 32.2% were of kapha-pitta (KP) prakriti while the second highest was observed of vata-kapha (VK) prakriti (26.5%). Pitta-kapha (PK) and vata-pitta (VP) prakriti were 12% and 14.6%, respectively. A lower incidence of the prakriti type was observed in kapha-vata (KV) and pitta-vata (PV) with a distribution of 8.6% and 6.2%, respectively [ Figure 4A ]. It was interesting to note that, out of 3416 volunteers screened, there were no individuals who scored a nil or beyond 90% for any given prakriti . In addition, four subjects had all the three prakriti in equal proportion ( sama prakriti ). The minimum percentage of prakriti scored in the screened subjects was of 5% for vata , 8% for pitta , and 5% for kapha . Similarly, maximum percentage of the prakriti observed was 86% for vata , 86% for pitta , and 87% for kapha traits, respectively. The distribution of the second dominant prakriti in the selected subjects across three centre's was also studied [ Figure 4 ]. The KP prakriti was highest in Centre3 (17.1%), while it was 8.4% in Centre2 and 6.7% in Centre1. On the contrary, Centre1 showed highest KV constituent subjects (3.7%) followed by Centre2 with 3% and Centre3 with 1.9%. The PK subjects were also found to be higher in Centre3 with 5.3% followed by Centre2 with 4.8% and Centre1 with 1.9%, respectively. On the contrary, the PV constituent subjects were higher in Centre1 with 3.7% followed by Centre3 with 1.3% and Centre2 with 1.1%. VK combination was found to be highest with 13.6% in Centre2 followed by 7.2% in Centre1 and 5.7% in Centre3. In addition to VK, the VP constituent subjects were found in higher percentage in Centre2 with 6.9% followed by Centre1 with 6.1% and Centre3 with 1.6% [ Figure 4B ]. These results suggest importance of geographical locations in prakriti distribution of population is a common occurrence with distinct phenotypes.

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Distribution of three constitutional type of prakriti across three centers. The subjects with prakriti greater than 60% for kapha, pitta , and vata were analyzed for each center and shown. (a) Place of birth of selected subjects is represented as small dots and centre with large dots on the Indian map. (b) Overall distribution of predominance equal to or greater than 60% kapha, pitta , and vata prakriti . (c) Prakriti distribution across three different centers is shown

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Distribution of second dominant dosha within the selected subjects. Letters K, P, and V denotes kapha, pitta , and vata , respectively. Combinations of the constitutional types indicate the second dominant prakriti in the subject. The dominant prakriti is always indicated first in each group. For example, in group KP, kapha is dominant prakriti. (a) Distribution of KP, KV, PK, PV, VK, and VP in all centers. (b) Distribution of KP, KV, PK, PV, VK, and VP across three centers

Association of geographical climatic region and prakriti

All selected individual's place of birth was categorized into three geographical climatic regions namely, arid and semiarid, tropical wet and dry, and last tropical wet, based on the topography-climate-vegetation profile of a given geographical area. According to Ayurveda, place of birth ( desha ), human body and substances interact continuously and share many properties as they are ultimately derived from the same five classical elements.[ 25 ] The concept of place of birth and body types are explained in supplementary files 3 and 4 [Supplementary Files 3 and 4 ]. In Tropical wet climate (coastal regions), 49.6% of the subjects possess kapha prakriti as opposed to 21.6% with pitta and 28.8% with vata prakriti . In addition, subjects representing regions with moderate climate (Tropical wet and dry) showed dominant prakriti type of kapha with 43.3% as against to pitta (23.1%) and vata (33.5%), respectively. In contrast, the regions with arid and semi arid climate (dry climatic region) showed vata as the dominant prakriti in individuals with 52.3% compared with pitta (15.3%) and kapha (32.3%) prakriti , respectively [ Figure 5 ]. A statistical test to measure the relatedness was performed that yielded the Cramer's V-value of 0.156, which signifies relatedness with lower significance.

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Association between place of birth and prakriti determination. Number of individual observed in each region categorized as tropical wet (Coastal), tropical dry and wet (Moderate), and arid and semi-arid (Dry) Arid and Semi-arid region constitute 52.3% of vata dominant prakriti and tropical wet (Coastal) region is with 49.6% of kapha prakriti and shows slight relatedness Cramer's V-value nearer to 0 ( V =0.156) in distribution and marked with “*”

Supplementary File 3

Supplementary file 4, prakriti and body mass index.

In the present study, an attempt was made to establish the association between the prakriti and BMI. BMI was broadly classified into three categories. The subjects with BMI less than 20, between 20 and 25, and greater than 25 were denoted as low, moderate, and high BMI, respectively. In the selected 971 subjects for a predominant prakriti , BMI of less than 20 was found in vata prakriti (71% of the subjects; Chi-square P < 0.0001) followed by pitta (19%) and kapha (10%) prakriti , respectively. The moderate BMI (20-25) was dominant in kapha prakriti (47%) followed by vata (32%) and pitta (21%), respectively. BMI greater than 25 was predominantly found in kapha constituent individuals with 79% incidence as opposed to vata (11%) and pitta (44%) prakriti , respectively [ Figure 6 ]. The impact of the second dosha was also analyzed in relation to BMI; with subjects belonging to kapha constituents and vata prakriti as their second dosha showed lower BMI as opposed to subjects with pitta as their second dosha . A similar trend was also observed in vata constituent subjects who showed higher BMI with kapha as their second prakriti . A statistical test to measure the relatedness using the Cramer's test yielded a value of 0.368 indicating significant relatedness in our observations.

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Influence of prakriti on the Body Mass Index (BMI) in selected subjects. BMI was measured for 971 subjects who have shown greater than 60% for a single dominant prakriti . Significant correlation (Cramer's V-value = 0.368) of vata and kapha prakriti in low and high BMI, respectively, is represented with an “*”

Incidence of different blood group with prakriti

The incidences of each of the blood groups in the three extreme constitutional types were computed and are shown in Table 2 . The distribution of A+ blood group was highest among the kapha prakriti subjects (23.3%) followed by vata (20.4%) and pitta prakriti (16.7%), respectively. The scenario with B+ was different with the higher prevalence in pitta (29%) followed by vata (28.2%) and kapha prakriti respectively (25.6%). The same trend was observed in O+ blood group with the higher incidence in pitta (41.3%) followed by vata (39.3%) and kapha (35.2%) prakriti . In the case of AB+ blood group, the higher prevalence was seen in kapha individuals (10%) followed by pitta (8.0%) and vata (7.1%), respectively. The distribution of blood groups was O (37.6%), followed by B (30.7%), A (22.5%), and AB (9.2%). The analysis based on the Rh factor showed higher proportion of Rh+ than the Rh- and there was no significant distribution of Rh factor among prakriti. Our results are in agreement with national average distribution of blood groups.[ 26 , 27 ] None of these showed statistically significant variations among the various prakriti tested.

Distribution of blood groups (in percentage) was represented among dominant prakriti

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Prakriti assessment is critical to the practice of Ayurveda, which prompted several researchers and ayurvedic practitioners to develop various methodologies. These include pulse detection, psychometric scaling, development of questionnaires and software such as AyuSoft. Prakriti assessment through pulse detection is widely practiced by ayurvedic physicians, which requires experience and knowledge of prakriti prediction. Study on the prakriti assessment using pulse detection by Kurande et al .[ 28 ] showed a moderate qualitative agreement among senior ayurvedic physicians. Recently, Shilpa et al .[ 19 ] developed systematic questionnaire for the manifestation of prakriti and reported it as satisfactory validity tool in predicting prakriti . However, this approach was limited to the psychological traits alone. Several published reports on the prakriti scaling were based on the systematic questionnaires followed by inter-rater variability analysis and lacked quantitative approach. In this manuscript, we have quantitatively analyzed prakriti by using software together with traditional ayurvedic concepts and have shown a moderate level of reliability. The prakriti determination in Ayurveda is very important in the context of practice of traditional medicine and for its application in diagnostics, disease management, and prognostication of a disease or a condition. Recent works on prakriti phenotype-genotype correlation based on HLA gene polymorphism, CYP2CP polymorphism and EGLN1 polymorphism provided a scientific evidence for the human variations based on the prakriti concept.[ 14 , 16 , 17 ] In these studies, the assessment of prakriti was qualitative and based on questionnaires developed by ayurvedic physicians, which were further validated by two or more ayurvedic physicians. This kind of approach results in significant inter-rater variability in quantitative estimation of doshas , ultimately in the assessment of prakriti .[ 29 ] Prasher et al .[ 15 ] screened a total of 850 unrelated normal individuals based on subjective assessment through definitive questionnaires and found 80% of concordance in the inter-rater prakriti determination. Bhalerao et al .[ 34 ] developed a set of questionnaires with multiple choice options and have shown concordance of 90% between two clinicians for the assessment of prakriti in a very small population ( n = 30).

In the present study, we have compared qualitative and quantitative assessment of prakriti by employing ancient knowledge of Ayurveda and a logical tool, AyuSoft. AyuSoft is a software designed by C-DAC, Pune and is being used for prakriti assessment by several researchers.[ 30 ] Here we have screened a total of 3416 subjects in three centers in south India (Bangalore, Pune, and Udupi). The prakriti was first determined by AyuSoft followed by a senior ayurvedic physician for each individual. Comparison between the AyuSoft and ayurvedic physician revealed a fair agreement of 80% concordance [ Figure 1B ]. Further, sensitivity and specificity of AyuSoft's prediction of prakriti was found to correlate with >60% dominant of a given prakriti .

The prakriti determined at the time of conception depend on various factors involving metaphysical ( aatma, purvajanma-krita karma ), psychological ( sattvaja ), protophysical (five classical elements), hereditary ( matraja, pitraja ), maternal diet, lifestyle, doshik dominance in the maternal reproductive tract, place of birth, time of birth, age of parents, socio-economic condition, and idiosyncrasy.[ 9 , 31 , 32 ] In the present study, we observed higher proportion of the population screened showed kapha and vata prakriti at 41% and lower prevalence of pitta prakriti at 18% [ Figure 3B ]. Several research groups have attributed human genetic differences to geographical location and also showed its implications to the modern medicine.[ 2 , 32 ] To understand this difference in the prakriti distribution, we examined the impact of geographical location ( desha ) of the birth place of dominant prakriti individuals. Research work carried out by Aggarval et al . has shown the link between the EGLN1 gene polymorphism specific prakriti and high altitude adaptation, thus providing an evidence for genomic association of prakriti with geographical location. In the Ayurvedic texts, it is indicated that five classical elements (air, earth, ether, fire, and water) combine in different proportions to form the entire range of naturally formed substances including lands, flora, and human doshas-dhatus-malas .[ 25 ] Each desha will have one or the other element dominating in it, and as such each desha has a natural affinity to the corresponding dosha and consequently, to the corresponding prakriti . For example, water ( Jala Mahabhuta ) is dominant in wet lands ( anoopa desha ) and kapha dosha , suggesting that wet lands will show a high incidence of kapha prakriti . Supplementary file 5 contains table showing impact of geographical location and prakriti [ Supplementary File 5 ]. The above trend is also evident in our present study wherein the topical wet coastal region shows a higher prevalence of individuals with kapha prakriti (43.3%); while in the dry regions, vata prakriti was more dominant (52.3%). Hence, our results in general, conform to the ayurvedic texts.

Supplementary File 5

We analyzed distribution of BMI across three types of prakriti in selected individuals ( N = 971). It has been reported in the traditional texts that kapha prakriti subjects have slower metabolic rates with plump ( upachita ) or well built ( paripurna sarvanga ) features. Vata prakriti individuals show features of weight loss ( apachita ), small structure ( alpa shareera ), poor eating habits ( laghu ahara ), and erratic food intake ( chapal ahara ). Accordingly, when we compared the BMI with specific prakriti types, we found that majority of the individuals with BMI greater than 25 segregated to kapha prakriti (79%). Similarly, 71% of vata prakriti subjects with low and inconsistent food intake were from low BMI group. A previous study has mapped differences in lipid profile among specific prakriti and our study appears to support the findings.[ 15 ] Similar trend was observed by Bhalerao et al ., where VP prakriti has lesser BMI as compared with KP prakriti .[ 34 ] In case of Sasang constitution, Jang et al .[ 35 ] reported that Tae-eumin (TE) type were significantly associated with abdominal obesity and considered it as a risk factor for these phenotypes. In this study, BMI was calculated and higher BMI (25.8 ± 2.8) in case of TE were found, which are similar to our results. Using a similar approach, we have observed immune variation in dominant prakriti individuals, selected, based on the same methodology. We have reported a higher level of expression of CD14 markers in pitta and CD25 and CD56 in kapha prakriti , the later correlates with higher immune response observed in individuals with kapha prakriti.[ 36 ] These observations are consistent with what is described in ayurvedic texts.

We found AyuSoft being useful in quantitatively expressing the dosha dominance and this is one of the outcomes of the study. The major implications based on the design is that how such a large dipartite human variations can be cohesively partitioned regardless of region (within sampled areas in India), place of birth, and then taking one phenotype (i.e. BMI) for a prakriti for example. In this preliminary study, we show examples of advantages that can be derived from traditional knowledge for the practice of personalized medicine. We also show what features cannot be used (e.g. blood groups). Larger implications of this study can only be extrapolated after a concerted study. This large study was an attempt to find correlations between some of the features described in traditional texts and to draw an analogy to contemporary knowledge by using acceptable methodologies. This was also an attempt to understand how the personalized medicine was traditionally practiced. We believe that our systematic interrogation and findings may bring awareness to the researchers and the validity of science behind the traditional medicine. Some of the aspects that we have studied such as desha , prakriti and BMI relates to what is already mentioned in Ayurvedic literature, which may create a strong base for the practical use of Ayurveda literature. Our study may provide a foundation for undertaking further research, implementation of various aspects of Ayurveda, and gain new perspective about human variations.

The present study exemplifies the association of BMI and place of birth of individuals with their constitution type or prakriti , which is in conformity with textual references in Ayurveda. For example, individuals with kapha prakriti show higher BMI as opposed to vata prakriti . In addition, we have also shown that prakriti assessment performed intuitively by the ayurvedic physician has a good correlation with Ayusoft measurements, thereby providing an effective and quantitative instrument to assess the prakriti of individuals. This study suggests the importance of interrogating the ancient concepts and procedures of Ayurveda by the tools of contemporary science, which may yield new knowledge of value in the practice of medicine.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (PSA to GOI) under the program “A Science Initiative in Ayurveda”. The authors thank Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for providing INSPIRE fellowship to HR. The authors thank Dr. S.M Sathye and Dr. Vilas Nanal, senior ayurvedic physicians for their cooperation and support. The authors gratefully acknowledge cooperation of all the volunteers who have participated in this study.

Source of Support: Nil,

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Bharatiya Samskrtika Parampara (भारतीयसांस्कृतिकपरम्परा)

Bharatiya Samskrtika Parampara (Samskrit : भारतीयसांस्कृतिकपरम्परा) or Bharat's Traditional Literary series of works include all major components of Bharatiya texts coming from a vast repository of Samskrit literature preserved through oral tradition as well as those in the form of manuscripts and other written formats. Samskrit literature can be classified under two headings viz., Vedas and Vaidika Sahitya consisting of ancient literature and Laukika Sahitya including the more recent classical samskrit works. The Vedas and Vaidika Sahitya is a collection of the authoritative texts of Sanatana Dharma , while Laukika Sahitya embodies the later developments in classical Sanskrit literature. [1]

1 Vedas and Vaidika Sahitya
2 Laukika Sahitya
3.1 The Samhitas
3.2 The Brahmanas
3.3 The Aranyakas
3.4 The Upanishads
4.1 The Shad Vedangas
4.2 The Upavedas
4.3.1 Number of Smritis
4.4 The Nitishastra (Dandaniti)
4.5.1 The Eighteen Mahapuranas
4.5.2 Upapuranas
4.5.3 Puranas Vs Sthala Puranas
4.6.1 Ramayana and Mahabharata
4.6.2 Ramayana
4.6.3 The Mahabharata
4.6.4 पञ्चमवेदः ॥ Panchamaveda
4.7 Darshana Shastras
4.8.1 The Vaishnava Agamas
4.8.2 The Saiva Agamas
4.8.3 The Sakta Agamas
5 Sampradayas
6.1 The Kavyas
6.2 The Natakas
6.3 The Alankaras
6.4 The Subhashitas
7 Verses and Meanings
8 References

Vedas and Vaidika Sahitya

A whole body of texts are included under this heading: [1] [2] [3]

Shrutis also called Amnaya (आम्नाय) and Trayi (त्रयी) (Include Vedas , Vedabhashyas, Brahmanas , Aranyakas , and Upanishads example : Rigveda, Yajus samhita, Taittriya Brahmana, Brhdaranyaka, Chandogya Upanishad)
Smritis (Include Vaidika Vangmaya such as Vedangas , Smritis or Dharmashastras, Puranas, Itihasa which are exclusive of the core Vaidika texts)
Agamas (Example : Shaiva and Vaishnava Agamas)
Darsanas (Astika Darshanas, example : Samkhya , Nyaya darshana) [1]

Although the word Smrti is used in general to denote the non-Shruti literature, it is often used to refer to the Dharmashastras, which describe the code of conduct for everyone. [1] In the scope of the present project, word Smrti is used to represent the whole of the non-Shruti literature as well as specifically refer to Dharmashastras (Smrti granthas like Manusmrti, Yajnavalkya smrti).

Laukika Sahitya

The classical literary writings include different types of writings classified variously : [1]

Mahakavyas (Poetry, example : Kalidasa Mahakavi's Raghuvamsha)
Rupakas or Natakas (Drama, example : Mricchakatika, Pratimanataka)
Alankara shastragranthas (Example : Kavyaprakasha, Dhvanyaloka)
Gadya kavyas (Prose, example : Kadambari)
Charitraka kavyas (Historical presentations, example : Rajatarangini)
Champu kavyas (Mix of prose and poetry, example : Champu Ramayana)
Katha kavyas (Stories, example : Brhatkatha, Kathasaritsagara)
Nitikavyas (Didactic poetry, example : Panchatantra and Hitopadesha)

In Dharmawiki project, articles pertaining to the Vedas and Vaidika Vangmaya are discussed while information pertaining to Laukika Sahitya is beyond the scope of this project (except for a few references) at present. A flowchart of the classification of Vaidika and Laukika Sahitya has been attempted with the sources of the material as given in the article.

The Shrutis

The Vaidika texts were memorized and transmitted orally, from one generation to next, hence preserved over thousands of years. There are two classifications of Hindu texts: Shruti – that which is heard, and Smriti – that which is remembered. The supremacy of Vedas has been emphasized in Manusmrti as follows

बिभर्ति सर्वभूतानि वेदशास्त्रं सनातनम् । तस्मादेतत्परं मन्ये यज्जन्तोरस्य साधनम् । । १२.९९ (Manu. Smrt. 12.99) [4]

bibharti sarvabhūtāni vedaśāstraṃ sanātanam । tasmādetatparaṃ manye yajjantorasya sādhanam । । 12.99 । ।

Meaning: The eternal Veda shastra upholds or protects all beings (by being their flawless guideline). Those endeavoring for the welfare of all beings, regard Vedas as their supreme authoritative instrument in achieving it.

The Vedas are the foundational authority for the people who follow Sanatana Dharma and these four vedas are classified as Shruti texts. [5] [6]

The Four Vedas are:

Rigveda (ऋग्वेदः)
Yajurveda (यजुर्वेदः)
Samaveda (सामवेदः)
Atharvaveda (अथर्ववेदः)

The Vedas (include Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishads for each Veda) called Shrutis, are passed on to generations of students and are memorized by hearing the mantras from the guru (guru-shishya parampara). Rishis have received the Vedas through revelation and hence Vedas are considered to be apauruṣeya , or entirely superhuman, without any author.

Veda Vargeekarana or classification of the Vedas is extensive, for example Rig veda is divided in Astaka and Mandala Kramas. The Yajur Veda is divided into two parts - The Shukla and the Krishna. The Krishna or the Taittirya shaka is the older book and the Sukla or the Vajasaneya is a later revelation to sage Yajnavalkya from Surya. The Rig-Veda is divided into twenty one shakas, the Yajur Veda into one hundred and nine shakas, the Sama Veda into one thousand shakas and the Atharva Veda into fifty shakas. In all, the Veda is thus divided into one thousand one hundred and eighty shakas or recensions. [5]

Each Veda has been sub-classified in textual content again into four major text types [5] :

The Samhitas that comprise of mantras and benedictions.
The Brahmanas that contain explanation of Mantras and rituals
The Aranyakas that are mystical texts which give philosophical interpretation of the rituals. These are intended for the Vanaprasthas or hermits, who prepare themselves for taking Sanyasa
The Upanishads that discuss meditation, philosophy and adhyatmik knowledge.

The subject matter of the whole Veda is divided into Karma-Kanda (कर्म खण्ड), Upasana-Kanda (उपासना खण्ड) and Jnana-Kanda (ज्ञान खण्ड). The Karma-Kanda or ritualistic section deals with various yajnas and associated kriyas. The Upasana-Kanda or worship-section deals with various kinds of worship or meditation. The Jnana-Kanda or knowledge-section deals with the knowledge of Brahman. The Samhitas and the Brahmanas constitute Karma-Kanda; the Aranyakas Upasana-Kanda; and the Upanishads Jnana-Kanda. [1] [5]

Main Components of Shrutis

The Samhitas

The brahmanas.

While not many variations in the names and number of Brahmanas are seen for Rigveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda, however, Samaveda associated with the highest number of Brahmanas, is opined to have some differences in number and names of Brahmanas, by scholars.

According to Swami Sivananda, six brahmanas : the Tandya or Panchavimsa, the Shadvimsa, the Chhandogya, the Adbhuta, the Arsheya and the Upanishad Brahmanas belong to the Sama Veda . [5]

According to Dr. Gopal Reddy in Sanskruta Sahitya Charitra nine Brahmanas are mentioned Tandya, Shadvimsha, Samavidhana, Arsheya, Devataradhya, Upanishad, Samhitopanishad, Vamsha, and Jaiminiya Brahmanas. [1]

According to Shri. Shriram Adhikari (Vedic Heritage Portal), eight Brahmanas for Samaveda are available as given in the above list except that he lists Chandogya-Upanishad brahmana and instead of Upanishad brahmana and Jaiminiya brahmana is missing. [9] Dr Shashi Tiwari lists two Brahmanas in addition to the 9 listed by Dr. Gopal Reddy, as JaiminiyaArsheya Brahmana and Jaiminiyopanishad Brahmana making it a total of 11 Brahmanas available for Samaveda. [10]

The Aranyakas

Aranyakas are said to be those texts to be studied by people in their vanaprastha ashrama, living a life of seclusion in the forests. Subject material of Aranyakas consists of the partly modified versions of yajnas and vratas apart from the adhyatmik matters. These tattvas and theosophical matters are extensively elaborated in the Upanishads. Karma and Jnana margas appear to be balanced in the Aranyakas. Upasana (meditation), Brahmavidya along with the Pranavidya (Knowledge of Breath), details of origin of sristi, meditation on Pranava are described elaborately so that the residents of the forest can practice them in the quiet solitude of the forests. The number of Aranyakas was once said to be 130, but now many are lost. [1] [11]

The different brahmanas and Aranyakas associated with different veda shakas are listed in the table below. [1] [5] [12]

The Upanishads

The Upanishads are the concluding portions of the Aranyakas, and thus last portions of the Vedas, the mukhya upanishads being essentially difficult to be separated from their Aranyakas. The teaching based on them is called Vedanta . For example, Aiteraya Upanishad is the parishista of Aiteraya Brahmana of Rigveda. [1] [8]

Etymologically the name Upanishad has been variously interpreted. The form of teaching was that of the dialogues transmitted orally, hence they are also included in Shrutis. Significant feature is that no authorship has been recorded and Upanishads are regarded as revelations to seers. Upanishads have been regarded as one among the Prasthana Trayi, the other two included are Brahmasutras and Bhavagad Gita.

The concepts of Brahman (Ultimate Reality) and Ātman (Soul, Self) are central ideas in all the Upanishads , and "Know your Ātman" their thematic focus. [13] The Upanishads are the very foundation of the siddhantas and tattvas of Sanatana Dharma applicable to man in every walk of life philosophical thought and its diverse traditions. Of all the texts included in Vaidika Vangmaya, Upanishads have been widely studied by many people of the world, and in the present day the theosophical ideas and vidyas that have been discussed in the Upanishads have made a great impression on mankind. Thus Upanishads throw light on Brahmavidya, aid in destroying the Avidya of Mumukshus (persons interested in attaining Moksha) causing attainment of Moksha or Brahmaloka by removing the three kinds of Dukha (pain). [1]

There are as many Upanishads to each Veda as there are Sakhas, branches or recensions, i.e., 21, 109, 1000 and 50 respectively to the four Vedas, the Rig-Veda the Yajur Veda , the Sama Veda and the Atharva-Veda . [5]

More than 200 Upanishads are known, of which the first dozen or so are the oldest and most important and are referred to as the principal or main ( mukhya ) Upanishads from the Vedantic point of view. The mukhya Upanishads are found mostly in the concluding part of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas and were, for centuries, memorized by each generation and passed down verbally. Muktikopanishad and Narayanopanishad lists 108 Upanishads and of them Dasa-Upanishads are

ईश-केन-कठ-प्रश्न-मुण्ड-माण्डूक्य-तित्तिरः । ऐतरेयं च छान्दोग्यं बृहदारण्यकं तथा ॥ īśa-kēna-kaṭha-praśna-muṇḍa-māṇḍūkya-tittiraḥ । ēētarēyaṁ ca chāndōgyaṁ br̥hadāraṇyakaṁ tathā ॥

Isavasyopanishad
Kenopanishad
Kathopanishad
Prasnopanishad
Mundakopanishad
Mandukyopanishad
Taittriya Upanishad
Aitareya Upanishad
Chandogya Upanishad
Brhadaranyaka Upanishad

Besides these Shvetashvatara, Kaushitaki and Maitrayaniya Upanishads are also listed as older ones. Shri Adi Shankaracharya has given bhashyam (commentary) for these ten principal Upanishads and has mentioned about Kaushitaki and Shvetasvatara Upanishads in his writings, though he did not write the bhasyam for these two Upanishads. These 13 Upanishads are based on the ancient vedic sources and advocate the tattava of Vedanta. The many other Upanishads that are currently available have arisen based on the particular sampradayas, thus we find mainly Shaiva, Vaishnava, Yoga and Shakteya Upanishads. The older Upanishads describe the places starting from Kuru, Panchala upto Videha indicating their place of origin. It is to be noted that in place of the many Vaidika devatas we find mention more of Brahman or Parabrahman (nirakara), showing the unity of divinity. Ancient (prachina) Upanishads mention Prkruti, Purusha and Brahma while the more recent (arvachina) Upanishads mention the deities Vishnu or Shiva and so forth. [1]

The word Smrti is used in two senses. In a broad sense, is applied to all ancient non-Vedic works such as Panini's grammar, to the Shrauta, Grhya and dharma sutras, to Mahabharata, to Manu, Yajnavalkya and others. In a narrow sense, smrti and dharmashastras are synonyms as quoted by Manu (2.10). The word Smrti, however, occurs in Taittriya Aranyaka (1.2). [14] with respect to Dharma, is also referred by Gautama (Dharmasutras 1.2) and Vasishta (Dharmasutras 1.4) who cite Smrtis as the sources of dharma. [15]

Smrti literature includes that 'which is remembered', covering all the texts other than the Vedas. [5] [2] According to Dr. Gopal Reddy they broadly include the following [1]

Shad Vedangas (Shiksha, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Chandas, Kalpa, Jyotisha)
Veda-Upangas (Puranas, Itihasa, Dharmashastras or Smrti granthas, Mimamsa and Nyaya shastras). Some scholars consider all the Shad Darshanas as Veda Upangas. [16]
Upavedas (Ayurveda, Dhanurveda, Gandharvaveda, Arthashastra)
Nitishastra (Dandaniti shastra)

A clear cut definition is not given as what all constitute the Smrti texts. There is a difference in the way the texts are classified by different scholars. Pratisakhyas, Anukramanikas and the more recent Nibandhas are also included under this broad category of Smrtis.

The Shad Vedangas

Vedangas are six topics, the study of which are required for the complete understanding of the Vedas. Each of these subjects are given by different seers, developed for the understanding of a student. The Six Angas are as follows :

Shiksha is a knowledge of phonetics. Shiksha deals with pronunciation and accent. The text of the Vedas are arranged in various forms or Pathas (पाठ-s). The Padapatha (पदपाठः) gives each word its separate form. The Kramapatha (क्रमपाठः) connects the word in pairs. [5] Pratisakhyas are the angas of Shiksha granthas.
Chandas is the knowledge of meters. This auxiliary discipline lays its focus on the metrical construction of vedic mantras and poetic meters, including those based on the number of syllables per mantra and those based on the duration of pronunciation of syllables in a mantra.
Vyakarana is the knowledge of construction of words or grammar. This auxiliary discipline has focused on the rules of grammar and siddhiprakriya (सिद्धिप्रक्रिया | the process of deriving a word), so as to establish the exact form of words and sentences to properly express ideas.
Nirukta gives the vyutpatti-artha (व्युत्पत्ति-अर्थ | etymology), explaining words, particularly those which are archaic and have a different ancient vedic usage with uncommon meaning. This auxiliary discipline has focused on developing a Nighantu which is a dictionary that has a collection of vedic usages. These words are analysed to establish the proper meaning of the words according to the context used in vedas.
Jyotish deals with astronomy and astrology. It deals with the movements of the heavenly bodies, planets, etc., and their influence in human affairs. [5] This auxiliary Vedic discipline focused on time keeping.
Shrauta Sutras describe the procedures of Shrauta yajnas as per the veda shaka. Example : Haviryajnas, Somayajnas
Grhya Sutras describe the procedures of Grhya yajnas pertaining to veda shakas. Example : Pakayajnas, Panchamahayajnas
Dharma Sutras describe the rules pertaining to the Varna-Ashrama Dharmas (Smarta Karmas). Example : Baudhayana Dharmasutras, Apastamba Dharmasutras
Sulba Sutras describe the mathematical and geometrical aspects of the construction of the vedic altars. Example : Baudhayana and Apastamba Sulbasutras [6]

The Upavedas

According to Vishnupurana there are four Upa-Vedas or subsidiary Vedas, viz., the Ayurveda , the Dhanurveda , the Gandharva Veda and the Artha Shastra forming auxiliaries to the four Vedas [17] . Some scholars consider Sthapatya Veda as the fourth Upaveda instead of Arthashastra [5] [3] . Sthapatya Veda or Shilpa Veda deals with the science of architectural engineering.

The Upavedas supplement the Vedas with more specific applications of Vedic teachings into the cultural field.

The Dharmashastras or Smrti Granthas

In a more specific sense Smrtis are ancient law-codes dealing with the sanatana Varnashrama Dharmas given by seers. They supplement and explain the ritualistic injunctions called Vidhis in the Vedas. The Smriti Shastra is based on the Sruti and stands next in authority to the Sruti. It explains and develops Dharma. Manusmrti explains that Shrutis comprise the Vedas, while Smrtis include the Dharmashastras. [15]

श्रुतिस्तु वेदो विज्ञेयो धर्मशास्त्रं तु वै स्मृतिः । śrutistu vedo vijñeyo dharmaśāstraṁ tu vai smr̥tiḥ । (Manu. Smrt. 2.10) [18]

It lays down the laws which regulate (Hindu) national, social, family and individual obligations. The laws for regulating society from time to time are codified in the Smritis. The Smritis have laid down definite rules and laws to guide the individuals and communities in their daily conduct and to regulate their manners and customs. They contain detailed instructions, according to the conditions of the time, to all classes of men regarding their duties in life. The Hindu learns how one has to spend his whole life from these Smritis. The duties of people in different Varnashramas and all ceremonies are clearly given in these books [5] [19] . The Smritis prescribe certain acts and prohibit some others for a Hindu, according to one's birth and stage of life. The object of the Smritis is to purify the heart of a person and take him/her gradually to the supreme abode of immortality and make him/her perfect and free. These Smritis have varied from time to time. The injunctions and prohibitions of the Smritis are related to the particular social surroundings. As these surroundings and essential conditions of the Hindu society changed from time to time, new Smritis had to be compiled by the seers of different ages and different parts of India. [5]

वर्णादिधर्मस्मरणं यत्र वेदाविरोधकम् । कीर्तनं चार्थशास्त्राणां स्मृतिः सा च प्रकीर्तिता । (Shuk. Niti. 4.3.54)

varṇādidharmasmaraṇaṁ yatra vedāvirodhakam । kīrtanaṁ cārthaśāstrāṇāṁ smr̥tiḥ sā ca prakīrtitā । (Shuk. Niti. 4.3.54)

आर्षं धर्मोपदेशं च वेदशास्त्राविरोधिना । यस्तर्केणानुसंधत्ते स धर्मं वेद नेतरः || १२.१०६ || (Manu. Smrt. 12.106) [4]

ārṣaṁ dharmopadeśaṁ ca vedaśāstrāvirodhinā । yastarkeṇānusaṁdhatte sa dharmaṁ veda netaraḥ || 12.106 || (Manu. Smrt. 12.106)

Number of Smritis

Of such law-givers Manu, Yajnavalkya and Parasara are the most celebrated. Hindu society is founded on, and governed by the laws made by these three great seers. Of the Manu Smriti , Yajnavalkya Smriti and Parasara Smriti, Manu is the oldest law-giver. The Yajnavalkya Smriti follows the same general lines as the Manu Smriti and is next in importance to it. Manu Smriti and Yajnavalkya Smriti are universally accepted at the present time as authoritative works all over India. Yajnavalkya Smriti is chiefly consulted in all matters of Hindu Law and finds application in the Judicial System of the Government of India.

In ancient times the number of Smrtis must have been small.

Gautama mentions only Manu, although he speaks of dharmashastras (9.19).
Vashishta names 5 smrtikaras - Gautama, Prajapati, Manu, Yama and Harita.
Manu speaks of six authors besides himself namely - Atri, son of Utathya, Bhrugu, Vashishta, Vaikhanasa and Saunaka.
Baudhayana names seven besides himself, as the authors of dharma.
Apastamba mentions 10 smritikaras, some of whom are mere names their works are not available.

There are eighteen main Smritis or Dharma Shastras, accepted by many scholars, howevever, as seen in the case of many other texts there are different versions of Smrti granthas. Yajnavalkya Smrti is probably one of the earliest Smrti which enumerated twenty expounders of dharma (including himself and counting Shanka and Likhita as two distinct persons) as seen in the following list [15]

मन्वत्रिविष्णुहारीत याज्ञवल्क्योशनोऽङ्गिराः । यमापस्तम्बसंवर्ताः कात्यायनबृहस्पती । । १.४ । । (Yajn. Smrt. 1.4) [20]

manvatriviṣṇuhārīta yājñavalkyośano'ṅgirāḥ । yamāpastambasaṁvartāḥ kātyāyanabr̥haspatī । । 1.4 । ।

पराशरव्यासशङ्ख लिखिता दक्षगौतमौ । शातातपो वसिष्ठश्च धर्मशास्त्रप्रयोजकाः । । १.५ । । (Yajn. Smrt. 1.5)

parāśaravyāsaśaṅkha likhitā dakṣagautamau । śātātapo vasiṣṭhaśca dharmaśāstraprayojakāḥ । । 1.5 । ।

Vishnu Smrti
Harita Smrti
Yajnavalkya Smrti
Ushanas Smrti
Angira Smrti
Apastamba Smrti
Samvarta Smrti
Katyayana Smrti
Brhaspati Smrti
Parashara Smrti
Vyasa Smrti
Shanka-Likhita Smrti
Daksha Smrti
Gautama Smrti
Shatatapa Smrti
Vasishta Smrti

According to Sri. Chandrasekharendra Mahaswamiji, [21] there are 18 Smrtis given by - Manu, Parasara, Yajnavalkya, Gautama, Harita, Yama, Visnu, Sankha, Likhita, Brhaspati, Daksa, Angiras, Pracetas, Samvarta, Acanas, Atri, Apastamba and Satatapa are the eighteen sages who mastered the Vedas with their superhuman power and derived the Smrtis from them.

According to Dr. Gopal Reddy [1] , the eighteen Smrtikartas are Manu, Yajnavalkya, Atri, Vishnu, Harita, Ushanas, Angira, Yama, Katyayana, Brhaspati, Parasara, Vyasa, Daksha, Gautama, Vasishta, Narada, Bhrgu, and Angirasa.

According to Swami Sivananda [5] , the eighteen Smrtis are those of Manu, Yajnavalkya, Parasara, Vishnu, Daksha, Samvarta, Vyasa, Harita, Satatapa, Vasishtha, Yama, Apastamba, Gautama, Devala, Sankha-Likhita, Usana, Atri and Saunaka.

The laws of Manu are intended for the Satya Yuga, those of Yajnavalkya are for the Treta Yuga; those of Sankha and Likhita are for the Dvapara Yuga; and those of Parasara are for the Kali Yuga. The laws and rules which are based entirely upon our social positions, time and clime, must change with the changes in society and changing conditions of time and clime. Then only the progress of the Hindu society can be ensured. [5]

The Nitishastra (Dandaniti)

In Mahabharata's Shantiparva we find the mention of Dandaniti shastra given to the world by Brahma, which is a text said to comprise of 100,000 adhyayas expounding the purusharthas and achieving them.

दण्डनीत्यां प्रणीतायां सर्वे सिद्ध्यन्त्युपक्रमाः। कौन्तेय सर्वभूतानां तत्र मे नास्ति संशयः॥ 1 (Maha. Shan. Parv. 12.15.29)

daṇḍanītyāṁ praṇītāyāṁ sarve siddhyantyupakramāḥ। kaunteya sarvabhūtānāṁ tatra me nāsti saṁśayaḥ॥ (Maha. Shan. Parv. 12.15.29)

दण्डश्चेन्न भवेल्लोके विनश्येयुरिमाः प्रजाः। जले मत्स्यानिवाभक्ष्यन्दुर्बलान्बलवत्तराः॥ (Maha. Shan. Parv. 12.15.30)

daṇḍaścenna bhavelloke vinaśyeyurimāḥ prajāḥ। jale matsyānivābhakṣyandurbalānbalavattarāḥ॥ (Maha. Shan. Parv. 12.15.30)

चातुर्वर्ण्यप्रमोदाय सुनीतिनयनाय च। दण्डो विधात्रा विहितो धर्मार्थौ भुवि रक्षितुम्॥ (Maha. Shan. Parv. 12.15.35)

cāturvarṇyapramodāya sunītinayanāya ca। daṇḍo vidhātrā vihito dharmārthau bhuvi rakṣitum॥ (Maha. Shan. Parv. 12.15.35)

Summary: In Vaisampayana's instruction of rajaniti to Arjuna, he stresses that with the appropriate application of Dandaniti (दण्डनीतिः) all the beings of all worlds will be alert to conduct themselves appropriately. If not so, all the creatures will perish and just like the big fish eats the small fish, a stronger person will harm a weaker person. Brahma created this system for the happiness of the people of the four varnas and that everyone follows niti for the protection of both dharma and artha (money). [22]

Later on, Shiva, condensed them into a text called "Vaisalaksha (वैशालाक्ष)" with 10,000 adhyayas. Indra further condensed this shastra to a comprehensive text called "Bahudantakashastra (बाहुदन्तक-शास्त्रम्). Sukracharya further condensed it to a 1000 adhyayas and named the text as "Aushanasaniti (औशनसनीतिः) or Shukraniti (शुक्रनीतिः). This story in Mahabharata indicates that the base text is the same Dandanitishastra grantha, which underwent changes over a time period. Dandaniti shastra describes Arthashastra, Rajaniti, Social aspects, Shilpashastra, and even Rasayana shastra. [1]

The Puranas

The Puranas as a class of literature existed from very ancient times. For example, Taittriya Aranyaka (2.10) speaks of 'Brahmanas, Itihasas, Puranas and Narasamshi gathas. Brhadaranyaka, Chandogya Upanishad, Gautama dharmasutras, Skandapurana, Bhagavata purana and other texts also refer to the Puranas. Mahabharata (Vana. Parv. 191.6) speaks of the Purana given by Vayu (Vayupurana). [15] The Puranas were written to bring the the teachings of the Vedas closer to the common man. They contain the essence of the Vedas.

सर्व वेदार्थ साराणि पुराणानि । sarva vēdārtha sārāṇi purāṇāni । (Nara. Pura. 1.9.100)

The Puranas have five characteristics (Pancha-Lakshana) viz., history, cosmology (with various symbolical illustrations of philosophical principles), secondary creation, genealogy of kings and of Manvantaras.

All the Puranas belong to the class of Suhrit-Sammitas (सुहृत्-सम्मित) or Mitra-sammita (मित्र-सम्मित). Vyasa is the compiler of the Puranas from age to age; and for this age, he is Krishnadvaipayana, the son of Parasara.

The aim of the Puranas is to impress on the minds of the masses the teachings of the Vedas and to generate in them devotion to deities and celestial beings, through concrete examples, stories, legends, lives of rishis, rajas, maharajas and great men, allegories and chronicles of great historical events. The seers made use of these to illustrate the eternal principles of religion. The Puranas were meant, not for the scholars, but for the ordinary people who could not understand deep philosophy and who could not study the Vedas.

The Darshanas propound complex and abstract thoughts which cannot be easily grasped. They are meant only for the learned few. Through Puranas, essential teachings are taught in a very easy and interesting way. Even to this day, the Puranas are popular. The Puranas contain the history of remote times. They also give a description of the regions of the universe not visible to the ordinary physical eye. They are very interesting to read and are full of information of all kinds. [5] Early commentators namely, Apararka, Ballalasena and Hemadri profusely quote the Puranas as the sources of dharma. Topics like Shraddha , Vratas, danas, shanti karmas, tirthas, rajadharmas are predominantly seen in the Matsya Purana. So also in the Vishnupurana, varnashramadharmas , panchamahayajnas , samskaras , nitya and naimittika karmas are extensively described. [15]

The Eighteen Mahapuranas

There are eighteen MahaPuranas and an equal number of subsidiary Puranas or Upa-Puranas. Vishnupurana (3.6.20 - 24) details the 18 Mahapuranas as follows [17] :

Brahma Purana
Padma Purana
Vishnu Purana
Siva Purana
Bhagavata Purana
Narada Purana
Markandeya Purana
Agni Purana
Bhavishya Purana
Brahma Vaivarta Purana
Linga Purana
Varaha Purana
Skanda Purana
Vamana Purana
Kurma Purana
Matsya Purana
Garuda (Suparna) Purana
Brahmanda Purana

Padmapurana and Matsyapurana (Adhyaya 53 [23] ) mentions about the division of Sattvic Puranas (six), in praise of Vishnu (mokshaprada) are Vishnu, Narada, Bhagavata, Garuda, Padma and Varaha puranas. Six, in praise of Sarasvati and Brahma (svargaprada) are Rajasic, they include Brahma, Brahmanda, Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavishya, Vamana. Six in praise of Shiva are Tamasic and they include Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Shiva, Skanda, Agni puranas.

The Upa-puranas are similar in content to the 18 mahapuranas and they are written by many different seers.

According to Garuda Purana, Upapuranas include Sanathkumara, Narasimha, Skanda, Shivadharma, Ascharya purana, Narada, Nandi purana, Kapila, Vamana, Ushana, Brahmanda, Varuna, Kalika, Maheshvara, Samba, Parashara, Maricha, Bhargava puranas.

According to Swami Sivananda the Upa-puranas are: Sanat-kumara, Narasimha, Brihan-naradiya, Siva-rahasya, Durvasa, Kapila, Vamana, Bhargava, Varuna, Kalika, Samba, Nandi, Surya, Parasara, Vasishtha, Devi-Bhagavata, Ganesa, Mudgala, and Hamsa. The Ganesa and Mudgala Puranas are sectarian Upapuranas devoted to Ganesha. [5]

Thus, Upapuranas are said to be more recent, having names similar to those in Mahapuranas and deal not only with Shiva and Vishnu but also Surya, Shakti, Ganapati deities. [25]

Puranas Vs Sthala Puranas

Puranas are large ancient texts, included in the Chaturdasha vidyas different from the sthalapuranas which are not classified so. Sthalapuranas narrate the local legends and stories connected with a certain tirtha or temple (the word `Sthala` means `Place` in Samskrit). There are numerous Sthala Puranas, some having legends associated with locals in that place, some with references in samskrit literature. Many such local anecdotes and some of the Samskrit versions also appear in a Mahapurana or an Upapurana. Examples : Story of Bhakta Kannappa associated with Shiva temple in Srisailam (association of a local legend). Srisailam has a puranic references as one of the Jyotirlingas. Gokarna temple has the puranic legend of Shivalinga pratisha done by Ravanasura.

The Itihasas

Referred to as Epics, there are two books under this heading generally accepted by the scholars:

Mahabharata

These two epics embody all that is in the Vedas, but only in a simpler manner. These also belong to the category of Suhrit-Sammitas or the Friendly Treatises, while the Vedas are called the Prabhu-Sammitas or the Commanding Treatises with great authority.

These works explain the great universal truths in the form of historical narratives, stories and dialogues. These are very interesting volumes and are liked by all, from the inquisitive child to the intellectual scholar and have kept the Dharmik traditions alive through the ages of invasion and turmoil in Bharatavarsha. The Itihasas give us beautiful stories of absorbing interest and importance, through which all the fundamental teachings of Sanatana Dharma are impressed on one's mind. The laws of Smritis and the principles of the Vedas are stamped firmly on the minds of the people of Bharatavarsha through the noble and marvellous deeds of their great national heroes. We get a clear idea of Dharmas from these sublime stories. The awe-inspiring Brahman or Purusha expressed in high abstract philosophy of the Upanishads, Vedanta and the Brahma Sutras were brought closer to the educationists, warriors, a businessman, a farmer in the fields in an way intelligible to all of them. Hence, the compassionate seers Valmiki and Vyasa wrote the Itihasas for the benefit of common people. The same philosophy is presented with analogies and parables in a tasteful form to the common run of mankind. [5]

Ramayana and Mahabharata

The two well-known Itihasas (histories) are the epics (Mahakavyas), Ramayana and Mahabharata They are two very popular and useful Sastras of the Hindus. The Ramayana was written by the sage Valmiki, and the Mahabharata by Vyasa. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata speak to us clearly about the ancient India, about her people, her customs, her ways of living, her arts, her civilization and culture, her manufactures etc. [26]

The Ramayana, the Adi-Kavya or the first epic poem, relates the story of Sri Rama, the ideal man. It is the history of the family of the solar race descended from Ishvaku, in which was born Sri Ramachandra, the Avatara of Lord Vishnu, and his three brothers. The ideal characters such as Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata and Sri Hanuman that we find in Ramayana firmly establish Hindu Dharma in our minds. The story of the birth of Rama and his brothers, their education and marriages, the exile of Sri Rama, the carrying off and recovery of Sita, his wife, the destruction of Ravana, the Rakshasa King of Lanka, and the reign of Sri Rama, are described in detail in Ramayana. How a man should behave towards his superiors, equals and inferiors, how a king ought to rule his kingdom, how a man should lead his life in this world, how he can obtain his release, freedom and perfection, may be learnt from this epic.

The Ramayana gives a vivid picture of Bharat's Dharmik life. The lives of Rama, Bharata and Lakshmana provide a model of fraternal affection and mutual seva (सेवा | selfless service). Sri Hanuman stands as an ideal unique Karma Yogin. The life of Sita is regarded as the most perfect example of womanly fidelity, chastity and affection. The Ramayana is written in twenty-four thousand slokas by Sri Valmiki Maharshi. [5] A few instances of topics of dharma dwelt on by Ramayana include : Rajadharma in Balakanda, Adhyaya 7, Ayodhyakanda, Adhyaya 100, [[Ramayana_(रामायणम्)| Aranyakanda ]], Adhyaya 6, 9 and 33, 40, 41. Shraddha in Ayodhyakanda, Adhyaya 77, 103 and 111. Stridharma in Ayodhyakanda, Adhyaya 24, 26-27, 29, 39 etc. Ramayana forms the basis for the creation of volumes of Laukika Sahitya of future ages.(Page no 158 to 160 of Reference [15] )

The Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is the history of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. It gives a description of the great war, the Battle of Kurukshetra, which broke out between the Kauravas and the Pandavas who were cousins and descendants of the lunar race. The Mahabharata is an encyclopaedia of Hindu Dharma. It is also called the fifth Veda. There is really no theme in religion, philosophy, mysticism and polity which this great epic does not touch and expound. It contains very noble moral teachings, useful lessons of all kinds, many beautiful stories and episodes, discourses, sermons, parables and dialogues which set forth the principles of morals and metaphysics. The Mahabharata contains also the immortal discourse of Bhishma on Dharma, which he gave to Yudhishthira, when he was lying on the bed of arrows. The whole Mahabharata forms an encyclopedia of history, morals and religion unsurpassed by any other epic in the world. The Pandavas obtained victory through the grace of Sri Krishna. The Mahabharata is written in one hundred thousand slokas by Sri Krishnadvaipayana Vyasa. Mahabharata draws extensively on the dharmashastras and a few instances are as follows,(Page no 158 to 160 of Reference [15] )

Arachaka (evils of anarchy) - Shantiparva, 40
Ashrama dharmas - Shanti parva, 61, 243 to 246
Achara - Anushasana parva, 104, and Asvamedhika parva, 45
Dana - Vanaparva 186, Shanti parva 235, Anushasana parva 57-99
Prayaschitta - Shanti 34-35, 165
Rajaniti - Sabhaparva 5, Vanaparva 150, Udyogaparva 33 and 34, Shantiparva 65 and 297, Anushasana parva 48 and 49
Varnadharma - Shantiparva 60 and 297
Shraddha - Striparva 26 and 27, Anushasana parva 87 to 95

पञ्चमवेदः ॥ Panchamaveda

Though the general agreement about the number of vedas is four, there are instances in literature about Panchamaveda. However, in the four vedas the language and format of the writings are different from that of the Puranas and Itihasas which are called the Panchamaveda. Skanda Purana and Bhagavata purana [27] [26] mention that Puranas and Itihasa constitute Panchamaveda while Bhavishya purana states that Mahabharata is called Panchamaveda [28]

Darshana Shastras

The ancient Bharat's thought process, the tattvas and siddhantas related to Sanatana Dharma are deeply dealt with in the six views or systems called as Shad Darshanas. Based on the Vedic knowledge, they are all designed to lead man to the One Science, the One Wisdom, which saw One Self as Real (Truth or Satya). They along with the Vedas and other Vaidika vangmaya are however classified as Apara vidya leading one to know the One Self (Atman) through the experience of Self which was called Para vidya. Since these shastras are founded accepting the authority of the Vedas they are called Astika darshanas. They are best understood when seen in relation with each other, thus revealing their Unity rather than when seen in opposition. The six Astika Darshanas or Shad Darshanas are [26]

Samkhya Darshana (साङ्ख्यदर्शनम्)
Yoga Darshana (योगदर्शनम्)
Nyaya Darshana (न्यायदर्शनम्)
Vaiseshika Darshana (वैशेषिकदर्शनम्)
Mimamsa Darshana (मीमांसदर्शनम्)
Vedanta Darshana (वेदान्तदर्शनम्)

Purva Mimamsa is commonly called as Mimamsa, while Uttara Mimamsa is called Vedanta. Each Darshana is associated with a rishi, a preceptor, who gives its principles in the form of Sutras or short terse sentences embedded with a great meaning in them. Thus the shastra shikshana paddhati or the writing format of shastras primarily involve the Sutras for which Bhashyam, a commentary and further on Vritti or Vartikas which are also explanatory notes are written by various authors. The object of all the darshanas is the same - to rescue men from sufferings of three kinds

Adibhautika

The way to rescue propounded by these darshanas is also the same - removal of Avidya, which creates bandhana or bondage to Samsara, consequently union with the Supreme. The names used for Avidya, Ignorance, by different shastras are different but in essence all of them spell out the same situation of the mind. For example

Nyaya calls it as Mithyajnana (मिथ्याज्ञानम्), false knowledge
Sankhya calls it Aviveka (अविवेकः), non-discrimination between Self and Real.
Yoga and Vedanta call it (अविद्या), incorrect knowledge

Each darshana aims at the removal of Ignorance by acquiring and internalizing or experiencing the Jnana, whereupon Ananda (आनन्दः) is enjoyed in the state termed as Moksha. Each of these darshanas establish their concepts by providing pramanas or proofs. Although, there are about ten kinds of pramanas primarily six kinds of them are accepted by the six darshana shastras, called as Shad Pramanas . Brief introduction of the six darshana shastras is given below [26] [29]

Agamas are a special class of literature, which include theological treatises and practical manuals of devata aradhana (worship) which have also been handed down through a succession of teachers from the ancient times. [30] [31] However, Agama shastras are not part of the Vedas (which are also called Nigamas), and do not derive their authority directly from the Vedas neither are they antagonistic to Vedas. They are, in fact, vedic in spirit and character and use the veda mantras while performing the services. The Vedas explicitly do not discuss about pratima aradhana (murti or vigraha worship). Agama texts support the view that Japa, Homa, Dhyana and Archa are the four methods to approach the divine and of these, the Agamas are based on Archa (worship). They describe primarily the procedure and rituals of deity worship, rather lay down the rules for a devata vigraha to be worship-worthy, thus are related to devata vigraha (imagery and iconography) and devalaya nirmana (temple construction). [32]

The icon and its form, the temple and its structure, the rituals and their details, thus get interrelated. [32]

They also give elaborate details about ontology and cosmology, liberation, devotion, meditation, philosophy of Mantras, mystic diagrams, charms and spells, temple-building, image-making, domestic observances, social rules, public festivals, etc. [5]

Agama is essentially a tradition (congregational, worship carried out in full public view) and Tantra is a technique (individualistic, carried out in quiet privacy, with self discipline and intensity), but both have similar ideology. Temple worship includes both Agama and Tantric worship sequences; several of them involving the devotees, while the tantric sequences are conducted by priests in the sanctum sanctorum away from public gaze. Agama worship methods of devatas include the rituals (Tantras), verbal chanting (Mantras) and through symbolic charts (Yantras). All the Agamas deal with 4 padas

Jnana (Knowledge) includes the theological and adhyatmik aspects
Yoga (Meditation) for mental discipline
Kriya (Esoteric Ritual) lays the rules for temple construction and pratishta (consecration of deity)
Charya (Ways of Worship) pertain to observing the achara vidhis (rituals) and festivals

The Agamas are divided into three sections: The Vaishnava, the Saiva and the Sakta. The three chief sects of Hinduism, viz., Vaishnavism, Saivism and Saktism, base their doctrines and dogmas on their respective Agamas. [5] The term Agama is used for the Vaishnava and Shaiva traditions, while those related to Shakti were termed as Tantric.

The Vaishnava Agamas

The Vaishnava Agamas are primarily of two kinds: [5]

Pancharatra

The Brahma, Saiva Kaumara, Vasishtha, Kapila, Gautamiya and the Naradiya section of the Santi-Parva of the Mahabharata is the earliest source of information about the Pancharatras.

Vishnu is the Supreme Lord and the Pancharatra Agamas are believed to be revealed by Sri Mahavishnu Himself.

The Saiva Agamas

Less formal than the Vaishnavas, the Shaivas recognize twenty-eight Agamas, of which the chief is Kamika. The Agamas are the basis of Kashmir Saivism which is called the Pratyabhijna system. The latter works of Pratyabhijna system show a distinct leaning to Advaitism. The Southern Saivism, i.e., Saiva Siddhanta and the Kashmir Saivism, regard these Agamas as their authority, besides the Vedas. Shiva is the central deity in the Shaiva Agamas and they hold that the Ishana mukham of Shiva revealed the 28 agamas, while the other four faces of Shiva, namely Tatpurusha, Aghora, Vamadeva and Sadyojata revealed the four vedas. The 28 Agamas are placed in two categories :

Shivabheda Agamas are ten in number
Rudrabheda Agamas are eighteen in number [5] [33]

The Sakta Agamas

There is another group of scriptures known as the Tantras . They belong to the Sakta cult. They glorify Sakti as the World-Mother. They dwell on the Sakti (energy) aspect of God and prescribe numerous courses of ritualistic worship of the Divine Mother in various forms. There are seventy-seven Agamas. These are very much like the Puranas in some respects. The texts are usually in the form of dialogues between Siva and Parvati. In some of these, Siva answers the questions put by Parvati, and in others, Parvati answers, Siva questioning. Mahanirvana, Kularnava, Kulasara, Prapanchasara, Tantraraja, Rudra-Yamala, Brahma-Yamala, Vishnu-Yamala and Todala Tantra are the important works. [5]

Sampradayas

The Vedic vision encompasses all fields of knowledge as everything and everyone is integral part of the Supreme. There are practically innumerable branches of the main three schools (Advaita, Vishistadvaita and Dvaita), called Sampradayas, generally categorized as Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta, and Smarta. These schools have developed independent literature over time after the particular preceptors who started or advocated the concepts. [5]

A Sampradaya is an ideological tradition in which a founder called as Acharya lays down some principles based mostly on the theological and darshanic concepts from Vedas and Vaidika vangmaya. These teachings are transmitted faithfully by his students who in turn became teachers after absorbing those principles and practices to perfection, self-realization and mastery. Any established set of theory and associated practices, forms a particular school of thought of the founder called as a Sampradaya and a traditional lineage of teachers from any Sampradaya is called Parampara. This concept applies at various levels and constitutes the basis of religious Institutions (or Mathas) founded by great Acharyas, and also the heritage of high level family traditions in the Hindu concept. [34]

We see since vedic period, often these two (religious affiliation and family descendence) are highly interconnected as Vedic knowledge makes no difference between son and pupil. Many times we see the student is mentioned in the rishi's lineage. In the case of religious affiliation, a disciple approaches a Sampradaya because he is attracted by the particular teachings, beliefs and practices characteristic to that tradition, and therefore accepts to become integrated into the system.

Sampradayas mostly have a diksha procedure, a formal initiation further to which a strict adherence to the instructions and a specific check-and-balance system ensures that the disciple follows the beliefs of the tradition thereby sustaining it. The current teacher has the right and duty to train the aspirant disciples as required, and will endorse them only when they have demonstrated the appropriate realizations in theory and practice, according to the various levels and positions in the Institution. Such endorsement comes in the form of appointment in various positions as preachers, leaders, and initiating teachers. Sampradayas may be classified based on the deities [34]

SrimahaVishnu : Vaishnava Sampradayas have the greatest number of subsects.
Shiva : Shaivite Sampradaya
Devi : (Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati) called Shakta Sampradaya
Ganesh : Ganapatyas
Skanda : Kaumaras
Suryas : Sauras

These writings are extensive and a few important of them have been discussed as follows [5]

These are highly scholarly compositions in poetry, prose or both. The greatest of poetical Kavyas are those of Kalidas (The Raghuvamsa and Kumarasambhav), Bharavi (The Kiratarjuniya), Magha (The Sisupalavadha), Sri Harsha (The Naishadha). The best prose Kavyas in the whole of Sanskrit literature were written by Bhattabana (The Kadambari and Harshacharita). Among those containing both poetry and prose, the Champu-Ramayana and the Champu-Bharata are most famous.

The Natakas

These are marvellously scholastic dramas embodying the Rasas of Sringara, Vira, Karuna, Adbhuta, Hasya, Bhayanaka, Vibhatsa and Raudra. The best dramas are written by Kalidasa (Sakuntala), Bhavabhuti (Uttara Rama-Charit), and Visakhadatta (Mudrarakshasa).

The Alankaras

The Alankaras are the grand rhetorical texts, that highlight the science of perfection and beauty of ornamental language, and of effective composition with elegance and force, both in poetry and in prose. These are the fundamentals of Sanskrit Sahitya, even superior to the Kavyas and the Natakas. The best Alankara-Granthas are those of Mammata (Kavyaprakasa) and Jagannatha (Rasagangudhara).

The Subhashitas

The Subhashitas are wise sayings, instructions and stories, either in poetry or in prose. Examples are Bhartrihari's three centuries of verses, the Subhashita-Ratna-Bhandagara and Somadeva Bhatta's Katha-Sarit-Sagara or Kshemendra's Brihat-Katha-Manjari. The Panchatantra and the Hitopadesa also belong to this category.

Verses and Meanings

Vishnupurana (3.6.20 - 24) details the 18 Mahapuranas as follows [17]

अष्टादश पुराणानि पुराणज्ञाः प्रचक्षते । ब्राह्मं पाद्मं वैष्णवञ्च शैवं भागवतं तथा ।। २० ।।

aṣṭādaśa purāṇāni purāṇajñāḥ pracakṣatē । brāhmaṁ pādmaṁ vaiṣṇavañca śaivaṁ bhāgavataṁ tathā ।। 20 ।।

अथान्यन्नारदीयञ्च मार्कण्डेयञ्च सप्तमम् । आग्नेयमष्टमञ्चैव भविष्यं नवमं तथा ।। २१ ।।

athānyannāradīyañca mārkaṇḍēyañca saptamam । āgnēyamaṣṭamañcaiva bhaviṣyaṁ navamaṁ tathā ।। 21 ।।

दशमं ब्रह्मवैवर्तं लैङ्गमेकादशं स्मृतम् । वाराहं द्वादशञ्चैव स्कान्दञ्चात्र त्रयोदशम् ।। २२ ।।

daśamaṁ brahmavaivartaṁ laiṅgamēkādaśaṁ smr̥tam । vārāhaṁ dvādaśañcaiva skāndañcātra trayōdaśam ।। 22 ।।

चतुर्दशं वामनञ्च कौर्मं पञ्चदशं स्मृतम् । मात्स्यञ्च गारुड़ञ्चैव ब्रह्माण्डञ्च ततः परम ।। २३ ।।

caturdaśaṁ vāmanañca kaurmaṁ pañcadaśaṁ smr̥tam । mātsyañca gāruḍa़ñcaiva brahmāṇḍañca tataḥ parama ।। 23 ।।

तथा चोपपुराणानि मुनिभिः कथितानि च । महापुराणान्येतानि ह्मष्टादश महामुने ।। २४ ।।

tathā cōpapurāṇāni munibhiḥ kathitāni ca । mahāpurāṇānyētāni hmaṣṭādaśa mahāmunē ।। 24 ।।

↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 Gopal Reddy, Mudiganti and Sujata Reddy, Mudiganti (1997) Sanskrita Saahitya Charitra (Vaidika Vangmayam - Loukika Vangamayam, A critical approach) Hyderabad : P. S. Telugu University
↑ 2.0 2.1 Venkateswara Rao. Potturi (2010) Paaramaathika Padakosam Hyderabad: Msko Books
↑ 3.0 3.1 Shri. Kishore Mishra's Article : Vaidik Vangmay ka Shastriya Swaroop in Vedic Heritage Portal.
↑ 4.0 4.1 Manu Smrti ( Adhyaya 12 )
↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 5.23 5.24 5.25 5.26 Swami Sivananda, All about Hinduism
↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Malladi, Sri. Suryanarayana Sastry (1982) Samskruta Vangmaya Charitra, Volume 1 Vaidika Vangmayam Hyderabad : Andhra Sarasvata Parishad
↑ Introduction to Samhitas in Vedic Heritage Portal
↑ 8.0 8.1 Sharma, Ram Murthy. (1987 2nd edition) Vaidik Sahitya ka Itihas Delhi : Eastern Book Linkers
↑ Adhikari, Shriram Article : Samaved ka parichay evam vaisishtya from Vedic Heritage Portal
↑ Dr. Shashi Tiwari, Sanskrit Department, Delhi University in the Introduction of Brahmanas (Vedic Heritage Portal)
↑ Dr. Shashi Tiwari, Sanskrit Department, Delhi University on Introduction to Aranyakas in Vedic Heritage Portal
↑ 12.0 12.1 Raghunathacharya, S. B. (1985) Arshavijnana Sarvasvamu, Volume 2 : Brahmanalu (Telugu) Tirupati : Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam
↑ Poola, Tirupati Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Bharat's Thought. USA: State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0887061394, pages 35-36
↑ Taittriya Aranyaka ( Prapathaka 1 Anuvaka 2 )
↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 Kane, Pandurang. Vaman. (1930) History of Dharmasastra, Volume One. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
↑ Shri, Satya. (2017) Demystifying Brahminism and Reinventing Hinduism: Vol 1. Chennai: Notion Press
↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Vishnupurana ( Amsha 3 Adhyaya 6 )
↑ Manu Smrti ( Adhyaya 2 )
↑ R. Suresha, (2009) Ph. D Thesis Titled : Learning systems in Ancient Sanskrit - A Critical Study. Mangalore University
↑ Yajnavalkya Smrti ( Adhyaya 1 Acharaadhyaya )
↑ Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swamiji, (2000) Hindu Dharma (Collection of Swamiji's Speeches between 1907 to 1994) Mumbai : Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
↑ Pt. Ramnarayandatt Shastri, Mahabharata by Maharshi Vedavyasa , Volume 5, Shanti Parva. Gorakhpur : Gita Press
↑ Matsya Purana ( Adhyaya 53 )
↑ Garuda Purana ( Acharakanda Adhyaya 223 )
↑ 25.0 25.1 Malladi, Sri. Suryanarayana Sastry (1982) Samskruta Vangmaya Charitra, Volume 2 Laukika Vangmayam Hyderabad : Andhra Sarasvata Parishad
↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Sanatana Dharma : An Advanced Textbook of Hindu Religion and Ethics . (1903) Benares : The Board of Trustees, Central Hindu College
↑ Shrimad Bhagavata Puranam ( Skanda 1 Adhyaya 4 )
↑ Upadhyaya, Baburam. (2012) Bhavishya Mahapurana with Hindi Translation Volume 1 Brahmaparva. Prayag : Hindi Sahitya Sammelan
↑ Sinha, Nandalal (1915) The Sacred Books of the Hindus : The Samkhya Philosophy. (Volume XI). Allahabad : The Panini Office
↑ J. Padmamalini, (2015) Ph. D Thesis Titled : Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy Temple of Appalayagunta An Agamic Study Tirupati : Sri Venkateswara University
↑ S, Veerabhadra.(2016) Ph. D Thesis Titled : Vishnu Iconography in Andhra During the Vijayanagara period. Tirupati : Sri Venkateswara University.
↑ 32.0 32.1 Saligrama Krishna Ramachandra Rao. Agama Shastra and Temple Worship. Extract from : The agama Encyclopaedia 12 Vols.; Revised Edition of Agama Kosa
↑ M. Arunachalam, (1983) The Saivagamas. Madras : Kalakshetra Publications Press.
↑ 34.0 34.1 Parama Karuna Devi, (2009) Puri, The Home of Lord Jagannatha. Puri :Jagannatha Vallabha Research Center
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Sanskrit Essays संस्कृतभाषायां निबन्धाः

Learn about many different Sanskrit essays with translation in Hindi and English. हिंदी और अंग्रेजी में अनुवाद के साथ कई अलग-अलग संस्कृत निबंधों के बारे में जानें। Essays in Sanskrit are called as “संस्कृतभाषायां निबन्धाः”.

An essay is a piece of content which is written from the perception of the writer. Essays can be of different types, long or short, formal or informal, biography or autobiography etc.

These are useful for Sanskrit students and others interested in learning Sanskrit.

Savitribai Phule

Sanskrit Essay on Savitribai Phule, with translation in English, and Hindi. | सावित्रीबाई फुले पर संस्कृत में निबंध। | सावित्रीबाईफुलेमहोदया इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः।

Essay on Internet in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi. | इंटरनेट पर संस्कृत निबंध | अन्तर्जालम् इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Importance of Machines

Essay on Importance of Machines in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi. | यंत्रों का महत्व पर संस्कृत निबंध | यन्त्राणां महत्त्वम् इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Importance of Art

Essay on Importance of Art in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi. | कला का महत्व पर संस्कृत निबंध | कलानां महत्त्वम् इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Republic Day of India

Essay on Republic Day of India in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi translation. | गणतंत्र दिवस पर संस्कृत निबंध | गणतन्त्रदिनम् इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Examination

Essay on Examination in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi with transliteration. | परीक्षा पर संस्कृत निबंध | परीक्षा इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Pandita Ramabai

Essay On Pandita Ramabai in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi with transliteration. | पंडिता रमाबाई पर निबंध | पण्डिता रमाबाईमहोदया इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Essay on Cricket in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi translation. | क्रिकेट पर संस्कृत निबंध | क्रिकेटक्रीडा इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Teachers Day

Essay On Teachers Day in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi with transliteration. | शिक्षक दिवस पर निबंध | शिक्षकदिनम् इति विषये संस्कृते निबन्धः

Sanskrit Proverbs
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नर्सरी निबंध
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संस्कृत निबंध
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Sanskrit Essay Collection - संस्कृत निबंध संग्रह

Sanskrit Essay Collection - संस्कृत निबंध संग्रह संस्कृत के सबसे महत्वपूर्ण निबंधों का संग्रह सभी छात्रों के लिए प्रकाशित किया जा र...

Sanskrit Essay Collection - संस्कृत निबंध संग्रह

सुभाष चंद्र बोस संस्कृत निबंध
महात्मा गांधी संस्कृत निबंध
चन्द्रशेखर आजाद संस्कृत निबंध
पर्यावरण पर संस्कृत में निबंध
पर्यावरण प्रदूषण संस्कृत निबंध
वसंत ऋतु पर संस्कृत निबंध (1)
वसंत ऋतु पर संस्कृत निबंध (2)
वर्षा ऋतू पर संस्कृत निबंध
उद्यान पर संस्कृत निबंध
एकता पर संस्कृत निबंध
विद्या पर संस्कृत निबंध
सदाचार संस्कृत निबंध
समय का महत्व संस्कृत निबंध
कालिदास पर संस्कृत निबंध
पुस्तकालय पर संस्कृत निबंध
मम गृहम संस्कृत निबंध
मम पाठशाला संस्कृत निबंध
मम विद्यालय संस्कृत निबंध
मम दिनचर्या संस्कृत निबंध
माता पर संस्कृत निबंध
हिमालय पर संस्कृत निबंध
अस्माकं देशः भारतवर्ष संस्कृत निबंध
भारत देश पर संस्कृत निबंध
वृक्ष पर संस्कृत निबंध
वृक्षारोपण पर संस्कृत निबंध
आम पर संस्कृत निबंध
आम्रवृक्ष पर संस्कृत निबंध
हाथी पर संस्कृत निबंध
मोर पर संस्कृत निबंध
गाय पर संस्कृत में निबंध
धेनु पर संस्कृत में निबंध
बसंत पंचमी संस्कृत निबंध
सरस्वती पूजा पर संस्कृत निबंध
नया साल पर संस्कृत निबंध
विद्यार्थी जीवन पर संस्कृत निबंध
ग्रामीण जीवन संस्कृत निबंध
संस्कृत भाषायाः महत्वम् निबंध
नर्मदा संस्कृत पर निबंध
गंगा नदी पर संस्कृत निबंध
अनुशासन पर संस्कृत निबंध
व्यायाम पर संस्कृत निबंध
होली पर संस्कृत में निबंध
दीपावली संस्कृत निबंध
विजयादशमी पर संस्कृत में निबंध
स्वतंत्रता दिवस पर संस्कृत निबंध
गणतंत्र दिवस पर संस्कृत निबंध
कम्प्यूटर पर संस्कृत निबंध
भ्रष्टाचार पर संस्कृत निबंध
आदिकवि वाल्मीकि संस्कृत निबंध
नाटककारो भासः संस्कृत निबंध
अब्दुल कलाम पर संस्कृत निबंध
स्वामी विवेकानंद संस्कृत निबंध
गुरु नानक पर संस्कृत निबंध

Sir I need short essay about SARADA DEVI & SHREE RAMAKRISHNA. Please update as soon as possible. Also if you can mailed me.

https://www.hindivyakran.com/2018/02/saraswati-essay-in-sanskrit.html Sharda devi is also known as mata saraswati. You can gat the essay on mata saraswati by following above link.

We are proud of you.नमः संस्कृताय

कृपया आप 'संस्कृतंं भारतस्य राष्ट्रभाषा भवेत'इस पर एक निबंध लिखेे

कृपया आप भास बाणभट्ट भारवि इस पर संस्कृत मे निबंध तीन पेज़ कल सुबह तक Pleas

निबंध संख्या 50 देखें।

Plaess give me sanskrit essays

a essay 0n ladakh in sanskrit

Sir, please give me a sanskrit essay on CAA

okay i will try

These essays are short and Really helpful. Dhanyavadaha

Thanks Rashmi for such a lovely comment.

Please write about mobile phone in sanskrit

Pls give me Sanskrit essay on doctor

I NEED ESSAY ON SHOPPING MALL

I need an essay on advantages of social media

मम प्रिय भाषा मराठी संस्कृत निबंध

I need an essay on importance of mahakavya and types of mahakavya. Urgent Please

This is truly an exceptional effort. Please accept my heartfelt gratitude. Is it possible to have an essay on 'Ayurveda Ke Laabh' in Sanskrit

Thank you @Rakshita for your lovely comment. I will definitely try my best to provide you essay on ayurveda in sanskrit.

Please send paragraph in Sanskrit about ladakh climate season and vegetation

pls write essay on organic farming

In sanskrit on in Hindi?

HI, I want an essay on Subhashitani in sanskrit. Can you please help me.

I need an essay in Sanskrit on Shakuni of Mahabharat. Can you please assist me? My email is [email protected]. Thanks

I need essay on bhadrinath temple uttarkhand and chamundi temple Karnataka in sanskrit language

Plz send essay on Sangati in Sanskrit Language

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गम् धातु के रूप संस्कृत में – Gam Dhatu Roop In Sanskrit गम् धातु के रूप संस्कृत में – Gam Dhatu Roop In Sanskrit यहां पढ़ें गम् धातु रूप के पांचो लकार संस्कृत भाषा में। गम् धातु का अर्थ होता है जा...

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Prakriti, Prakṛti: 42 definitions

Introduction
Image gallery
Natyashastra
Vaishnavism
Ganitashastra
General definition
Tibetan Buddhism
India history
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Introduction:

Prakriti means something in Buddhism , Pali, Hinduism , Sanskrit, Jainism , Prakrit, the history of ancient India, Marathi, Hindi. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

The Sanskrit term Prakṛti can be transliterated into English as Prakrti or Prakriti, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?) .

Alternative spellings of this word include Prakrati .

Images (photo gallery)

In Hinduism

Purana and itihasa (epic history).

Prakṛti (प्रकृति, matter) and Puruṣa (spirit) are two basic factors essential for production of the Prapañca (the visible world which is the scene of manifold action) as man and woman are for the production of progeny. From Puruṣa (male), Prakṛti (female) originated and then they together created the Prapañca.

Before creation Prakṛti lay merged with the Supreme Spirit without separate existence. But when the desire for creation was aroused, this Supreme Spirit divided itself into Prakṛti and Puruṣa. Then the right half becomes 'Puruṣa' and the left half 'Prakṛti'. Even though they are thus two yogīndras ('kings among sages') they see themselves as merged with the eternal One like fire and heat and assert the truth (Sarvaṃ Spirit). It was this basic Prakṛti that took forms as the five goddesses, Durgā, Lakṣmī, Saravatī, Sāvitrī and Rādhā. (9th Skandha, Devī Bhāgavata)

1) Prakṛti (प्रकृति) refers to “cosmic nature” while Puruṣa refers to the “cosmic man or being”, as defined in the Śivapurāṇa 1.16 . Accordingly, “[...] O foremost among sages, ordinary parents bestow hidden treasures to the son who renders special service. Hence a devotee shall worship the phallic emblem in the manner of mother and father ( pitṛ-mātṛ ) for the acquisition of the hidden great bliss. Bharga is Puruṣa (Cosmic man or Being) and Bhargā is Prakṛti (Cosmic Nature). Puruṣa is of hidden latent conception and Prakṛti is of manifest inner conception. Since it is the father who conceives first, the Puruṣa has the primordial conception. The unification of Puruṣa and Prakṛti is the first birth. Its manifestation in the Prakṛti is called the second birth. The creature, dead even as it is born, takes up its birth from the Puruṣa”.

2) Prakṛti (प्रकृति) is another name for Śakti (prime cause, created from the body of Īśvara), according to Śivapurāṇa 2.1.6 , while explaining the time of great dissolution ( mahāpralaya ):—“[...] this Śakti is called by various names. Pradhāna, Prakṛti, Māyā, Guṇavatī, Parā. The mother of Buddhi Tattva (The cosmic Intelligence), Vikṛtivarjitā (without modification). That Śakti is Ambikā, Prakṛti and the goddess of all. She is the prime cause and the mother of the three deities. [...]”.

1a) Prakṛti (प्रकृति).—Matter as opposed to Puruṣa; could be conquered by one's yogabala ; 1 has the three guṇas— satva, rajas and tamas . 2 Eight kinds of; 3 the seven principles leading to pralaya; 4 also known as pradhāna and avyakta ; makes and unmakes the universe; created by the unborn Iśvara; 5 is yoganidrā . 6

1) Bhāgavata-purāṇa I. 8. 18; III. 5. 46; Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa II. 19. 173, 195-7; III. 42. 47; 43. 3.
2) Bhāgavata-purāṇa VII. 1. 7.
3) Ib. VII. 7. 22; XI. 22. 18-24.
4) Ib. XII. 4. 5; Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa IV. 2. 231; 6. 6; 15. 7; 43. 76.
5) Matsya-purāṇa 3. 14; 154. 356; Viṣṇu-purāṇa I. 2. 19.
6) Ib. V. 2. 7; VI. 4. 34-5.

1b) The subjects of a king; Pṛthu treated them with respect; 1 acquiesed in selecting Pūru and also Dyumatsena. 2

1) Bhāgavata-purāṇa IV. 17. 2; Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa III. 49. 17; Matsya-purāṇa 34. 26; 226. 6; 240. 11.
2) Ib. 36. 5; 214. 16.

1c) Seven kinds, which support the monarch. *

* Bhāgavata-purāṇa VI. 14. 17-18.

1d) Usually eight, the eight places of gods, from Brahmā to Piśāca, eight-fold aiśvarya, the eight rūpas, etc. 1 regarded as truth and their opposite as false. 2

1) Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa IV. 3. 27 to 73.
2) Ib. IV. 3. 85.

1e) Seven avyakta , waters, tejas, vāyu, ākāśa, bhūtādi and mahat enter gradually and bring about Pratyāhara; 1 also eight kinds. 2

1) Vāyu-purāṇa 102. 26; 49. 185.
2) Ib. 102. 95.

The Purana (पुराण, purāṇas) refers to Sanskrit literature preserving ancient India’s vast cultural history, including historical legends, religious ceremonies, various arts and sciences. The eighteen mahapuranas total over 400,000 shlokas (metrical couplets) and date to at least several centuries BCE.

Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)

Prakrti = Primeval matter, nature. Mula Prakrti = root matter, primal matter; Mula karana = root cause. Prakrti is the undifferentiated matter; it is inert because the latent qualities Sattva, Rajas and Tamas (Virtue, passion, and darkness) are inert or in abeyance. When Prakrti undergoes transformation, the process is Vikrta and the product is Vikrti, which has three qualities: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. In Sankhya system, all Purusas have one Prakrti; in Trika system, each Purusa has its own Prakrti.

Shaiva (शैव, śaiva) or Shaivism (śaivism) represents a tradition of Hinduism worshiping Shiva as the supreme being. Closely related to Shaktism, Shaiva literature includes a range of scriptures, including Tantras, while the root of this tradition may be traced back to the ancient Vedas.

Ayurveda (science of life)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति, “constitution”).—The constitution of a person is decided by the doṣa predominant at the combination of sperm and ovum (fertilization) which becomes almos fixed for the whole life.

Vātika ( vāta-prakṛti ),
Pittaka ( pitta-prakṛti ),
Kaphaja ( kapha-prakṛti ).

Constitution is also decided on the basis of psychic qualities— sattva , rajas and tamas :

Sāttvika ( sattva-prakṛti ),
Rājasa ( rajas-prakṛti ),
Tāmasa ( tamas-prakṛti ).

Similarly there are also bhūtaprakṛtis (constitution according to predominance of bhūtas ) which can be known from their respective features. To know a person, one should examine his constitution properly. The man should fix his routine according to his constitution in mind. Similarly, the physician should keep the constitution in mind while prescribing medicines (and diet) for a patient.

The latent/unmanifest supreme nature (Prakriti) is the progenitor of all created things. She is self- begotten and connotes the three fundamental or primary virtues of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. She is imaged or embodied in the eightfold categories of Avyakta (unmanifest), Mahān (intellection), Ahamkāra (Egoism) and the Five Tanmātras or elementals (proper sensibles of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell) and is the sole and primary factor in working out the evolution of the universe.

1) Prakṛti (प्रकृति):—1. The nature of an individual or a substance. 2. The physical and psychological features specific to an individual that are produced to the dominant Doṣa prevailing at the time of conception. Prakrti may be classified as Deha Prakrti (physical) and Manasa Prakrti (psychological). Deha Prakrti may be produced due to the dominance of a single Dosa, two Dosas or due to a combination of all the three Dosas.

2) [prakṛtiḥ] The primary and original cause of universe which is having three properties viz. sattva, raja, tama

Āyurveda (आयुर्वेद, ayurveda) is a branch of Indian science dealing with medicine, herbalism, taxology, anatomy, surgery, alchemy and related topics. Traditional practice of Āyurveda in ancient India dates back to at least the first millenium BC. Literature is commonly written in Sanskrit using various poetic metres.

Natyashastra (theatrics and dramaturgy)

1) Prakṛti (प्रकृति) refers to a class of rhythm-type ( chandas ) containing twenty-one syllables in a pāda (‘foot’ or ‘quarter-verse’), according to the Nāṭyaśāstra chapter 15 . There are twenty-six classes of chandas and out of them arise the various syllabic meters ( vṛtta ), composed of four pādas , defining the pattern of alternating light and heavy syllables.

2) Prakṛti (प्रकृति) refers to the “characters” of songs ( dhrūva ) according to the Nāṭyaśāstra 32.400 :—“the characters in a play ( prakṛti ) are of three kinds, viz. superior, inferior and middling”.

3) Prakṛti (प्रकृति) or Gati or Gata refers to a set of three rules used in the playing of drums ( puṣkara ) [with reference to Mṛdaṅga, Paṇava and Dardura] according to the Nāṭyaśāstra chapter 33 .

The following are the three prakṛtis :

Ghana (=Anugata),

Natyashastra (नाट्यशास्त्र, nāṭyaśāstra ) refers to both the ancient Indian tradition ( shastra ) of performing arts, ( natya —theatrics, drama, dance, music), as well as the name of a Sanskrit work dealing with these subjects. It also teaches the rules for composing Dramatic plays ( nataka ), construction and performance of Theater, and Poetic works ( kavya ).

Samkhya (school of philosophy)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति, “material reality”) is a type tuṣṭi (complacence) , classified internal ( ādhyātmika ) according to the Sāṃkhya theory of evolution. Tuṣṭi refers to a category of pratyayasarga (intellectual products), which represents the first of two types of sarga (products) that come into being during tattvapariṇāma (elemental manifestations) , which in turn, evolve out of the two types of pariṇāma (change, modification) .

Prakṛti (प्रकृति, “material”) is the first cause of the manifest material universe—of everything except the puruṣa . Prakṛti accounts for whatever is physical, both mind and matter-cum-energy or force. Since it is the first principle ( tattva ) of the universe, it is called the pradhāna , but, as it is the unconscious and unintelligent principle, it is also called the jaḍa .

It is composed of three essential characteristics ( triguṇas ). These are:

sattva – poise, fineness, lightness, illumination, and joy; r
rajas – dynamism, activity, excitation, and pain;
tamas – inertia, coarseness, heaviness, obstruction, and sloth.

Samkhya (सांख्य, Sāṃkhya) is a dualistic school of Hindu philosophy ( astika ) and is closeley related to the Yoga school. Samkhya philosophy accepts three pramanas (‘proofs’) only as valid means of gaining knowledge. Another important concept is their theory of evolution, revolving around prakriti (matter) and purusha (consciousness).

Vyakarana (Sanskrit grammar)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति).—Original base of a word which is used in language by the addition of affixes. It has two kinds: 1. Roots 2. Nominal stems.

1) Prakṛti (प्रकृति).—Material cause: cf. . तदर्थे विकृतेः प्रकृतौ । प्रकृतिरुपादानकारणं तस्यैव उत्तरमवस्थान्तरं विकृतिः ( tadarthe vikṛteḥ prakṛtau | prakṛtirupādānakāraṇaṃ tasyaiva uttaramavasthāntaraṃ vikṛtiḥ ) Kas.on P.V.1.12;

2) Prakṛti.—Original, as opposed to modified' ( विकृति ( vikṛti ) ); the original base of a word which is used in language by the addition of affixes. There are mentioned three kinds of such original words in grammar, roots ( धातु ( dhātu ) ), noun bases ( प्रातिपदिक ( prātipadika ) ) and affixes ( प्रत्यय ( pratyaya ) ). प्रकृति ( prakṛti ) is defined as शास्त्रप्रक्रियक्रियाव्यवहारे प्रकृतिप्रत्ययविभागकल्पनय शब्दार्थभावनायां प्रत्ययात् प्रथममुपादानकारणामिव या उपादीयते तां प्रकृतिरिति व्यापदिशन्ति ( śāstraprakriyakriyāvyavahāre prakṛtipratyayavibhāgakalpanaya śabdārthabhāvanāyāṃ pratyayāt prathamamupādānakāraṇāmiva yā upādīyate tāṃ prakṛtiriti vyāpadiśanti ) ' in the Sringaraprakasa; cf. अपशब्दो ह्यस्य प्रकृतिः । न चापशब्दः प्रकृतिः ( apaśabdo hyasya prakṛtiḥ | na cāpaśabdaḥ prakṛtiḥ ) ， न ह्यपशब्दा उपदिश्यन्ते न चानुपदिष्टा प्रकृतिरस्ति । ( na hyapaśabdā upadiśyante na cānupadiṣṭā prakṛtirasti | ) M.Bh. on Siva Sutra 2; cf. also कृत्प्रकृतिर्धातुः ( kṛtprakṛtirdhātuḥ ) M.Bh. on P. VI. 2. 139 Vart. 2; पदप्रकृतिः संहिता । पदप्रक्तीनि सर्व-चरणानां पार्षदानि ( padaprakṛtiḥ saṃhitā | padapraktīni sarva-caraṇānāṃ pārṣadāni ) Nir. I.17.

Vyakarana (व्याकरण, vyākaraṇa) refers to Sanskrit grammar and represents one of the six additional sciences (vedanga) to be studied along with the Vedas. Vyakarana concerns itself with the rules of Sanskrit grammar and linguistic analysis in order to establish the correct context of words and sentences.

Chandas (prosody, study of Sanskrit metres)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) is one of the twenty-six varieties of Sanskrit metres ( chandas ) mentioned in the Chandaśśāstra 1.15-19. There are 26 Vedic metres starting with 1 to 26 letters in each pāda . It is a common belief that the classical metres are developed from these 26 metres. Generally a metre has a specific name according to it’s number of syllables ( akṣara ) . But sometimes the same stanza is called by the name of another metre from the point of view of the pādas.

Chandas (छन्दस्) refers to Sanskrit prosody and represents one of the six Vedangas (auxiliary disciplines belonging to the study of the Vedas). The science of prosody (chandas-shastra) focusses on the study of the poetic meters such as the commonly known twenty-six metres mentioned by Pingalas.

Nirukta (Sanskrit etymology)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति, “matter”).—( a ) “Pra” means “principal” and “Kṛti” means “creation”. Therefore, the word is meant ot convey the meaning “one that is principal factor for creation”. ( b ) “Pra” means “sāttvic”, “Kṛ” means “rājasic” and “ta” means “tāmasic” and the word “Prakṛti” thus conveys the power of the three guṇas. ( c ) “Pra” means “before” and “Kṛti” means creation and so Prakṛti means that which existed before creation.

Nirukta (निरुक्त) or “etymology” refers to the linguistic analysis of the Sanskrit language. This branch studies the interpretation of common and ancient words and explains them in their proper context. Nirukta is one of the six additional sciences ( vedanga ) to be studied along with the Vedas.

Vaishnavism (Vaishava dharma)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) refers to “material nature”. ( cf . Glossary page from Śrīmad-Bhagavad-Gītā ).

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) refers to:—Predominated potencies; predominated principle; external energy; material nature. ( cf . Glossary page from Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta ).

Vaishnava (वैष्णव, vaiṣṇava) or vaishnavism (vaiṣṇavism) represents a tradition of Hinduism worshipping Vishnu as the supreme Lord. Similar to the Shaktism and Shaivism traditions, Vaishnavism also developed as an individual movement, famous for its exposition of the dashavatara (‘ten avatars of Vishnu’).

Kavya (poetry)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) refers to the “natural state (of embodied creatures)”, according to Kālidāsa’s Raghuvaṃśa verse 8.88-90.—Accordingly: “The wise say that death is the natural state ( prakṛti ) of embodied creatures and life is a change in that state. If a being remains breathing even for a moment it is surely fortunate. The foolish man regards the loss of his dear one as a dart shot into his heart. Another man looks on the same as a dart that has been pulled out, for it is a door to beatitude. When we are taught that our own body and soul unite and then separate, tell me which wise person should be tormented by separation from the external objects of the senses?”.

Kavya (काव्य, kavya) refers to Sanskrit poetry, a popular ancient Indian tradition of literature. There have been many Sanskrit poets over the ages, hailing from ancient India and beyond. This topic includes mahakavya , or ‘epic poetry’ and natya , or ‘dramatic poetry’.

Ganitashastra (Mathematics and Algebra)

1) Prakṛti (प्रकृति) represents the number 21 (twenty-one) in the “word-numeral system” ( bhūtasaṃkhyā ), which was used in Sanskrit texts dealing with astronomy, mathematics, metrics, as well as in the dates of inscriptions and manuscripts in ancient Indian literature.—A system of expressing numbers by means of words arranged as in the place-value notation was developed and perfected in India in the early centuries of the Christian era. In this system the numerals [e.g., 21— prakṛti ] are expressed by names of things, beings or concepts, which, naturally or in accordance with the teaching of the Śāstras, connote numbers.

2) Prakṛti (प्रकृति) or “multiplier” refers to the “coefficient”, according to the principles of Bījagaṇita (“algebra” or ‘science of calculation’) , according to Gaṇita-śāstra, ancient Indian mathematics and astronomy.—In Hindu algebra there is no systemmatic use of any special term for the coefficient. Ordinarily, the power of the unknown is mentioned when the reference is to the coefficient of that power. [...] However, occasional use of a technical term is also met with. Brahmagupta once calls the coefficient saṃkhyā (number) and on several other occasions guṇaka , or guṇakāra (multiplier). Pṛthūdakasvāmī (860) in his commentary on Brahmagupta’s Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta calls it aṅka (number) or prakṛti (multiplier). These terms reappear in the works of Siddhāntaśekhara by Śrīpati (1039) and the Bījagaṇita by Bhāskara II (1150). The former also used rūpa for the same purpose

3) prakṛti (प्रकृति) or “origin” refers to the “coefficient (of the square of the unknown)” in Vargaprakṛti (“square-nature”) , according to the principles of Bījagaṇita.—The indeterminate quadratic equation [ Nx 2 ± c = y 2 ], is called by the Hindus vargaprakṛti or kṛtiprakṛti , meaning the “square-nature”. [...] According to Kṛṣṇa (1580) in his commentary on the Bījagaṇita of Bhāskara II: “That in which the varga (square) is the prakṛti (nature) is called the vargaprakṛti ; for the square of yāvat , etc., is the prakṛti (origin) of this (branch of) mathematics. because this (branch of) mathematics has originated from the number which is the prakṛti of the square of yāvat , etc., so it is called the vargaprakṛti . In this case the number which is the multiplier of the square yāvat , etc., is denoted by the term prakṛti . (In other words) it is the coefficient of the square of the unknown”.

Ganitashastra (शिल्पशास्त्र, gaṇitaśāstra ) refers to the ancient Indian science of mathematics, algebra, number theory, arithmetic, etc. Closely allied with astronomy, both were commonly taught and studied in universities, even since the 1st millennium BCE. Ganita-shastra also includes ritualistic math-books such as the Shulba-sutras.

Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) refers to the “natural (condition)” (of planets), according to the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (chapter 16) (“On the planets— graha-bhaktiyoga ”) , an encyclopedic Sanskrit work written by Varāhamihira mainly focusing on the science of ancient Indian astronomy astronomy (Jyotiṣa).—Accordingly, “If at the time of reappearance, a planet should appear bright, of large disc and in his natural condition ( prakṛti-sthita ), not crossed by thunderbolts, meteoric falls or dust-storms and not suffer in conjunction with other planets or if he should be in his house or in his Uccakṣetra or if he should be within sight of a benefic planet, he will bring prosperity to the persons and objects presided over by him. [...]”.

Jyotisha (ज्योतिष, jyotiṣa or jyotish ) refers to ‘astronomy’ or “Vedic astrology” and represents the fifth of the six Vedangas (additional sciences to be studied along with the Vedas). Jyotisha concerns itself with the study and prediction of the movements of celestial bodies, in order to calculate the auspicious time for rituals and ceremonies.

General definition (in Hinduism)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति, “nature”) is the basic nature of intelligence by which the Universe exists and functions It is described in Bhagavad Gita as the "primal motive force". It is the essential constituent of the universe and is at the basis of all the activity of the creation.

It is composed of the three gunas which are tendencies or modes of operation, known as

sattva (creation),
rajas (preservation),
and tamas , (destruction)

Prakruti also means nature. Nature can be described as environment. It can also be used to denote the 'feminine' in sense of the 'male' being the purusha. Prakriti also means health in Marathi.

In the 9th century Hayaśīrṣa-pañcarātra, Lakṣmī is called Prakṛti ( Bhagavat-sandarbha 104). Prakṛti can mean cit-śakti ( Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta 1.2.59). Prakṛti can also mean kāraṇa (“cause”).

Prakṛti (प्रकृति):—According to Yoga and Saṃkhya doctrine, each physical phenomenon is constituted of “a primal matter, called prakṛti or pradhāna . This primal matter contains three qualities or strands ( guṇa ): goodness ( sattva ), energy ( rajas ), and darkness ( tamas )”. According to this worldview, “the three qualities are distributed in different proportions within the various constituents of the universe”.

In Buddhism

Mahayana (major branch of buddhism).

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) refers to “living beings”, according to the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: the eighth chapter of the Mahāsaṃnipāta (a collection of Mahāyāna Buddhist Sūtras).—Accordingly, “Then on that occasion the Lord uttered these verses: [...] (107) Since all living beings are originally extinguished ( prakṛti-nirvṛta ), they are never born. His patience shining like this is not carelessness about this teaching. (108) Seeing all parts of personality as an illusion, knowing all spheres as the sphere of the dharma, considering the six sense organs as an empty town, this is to transcend the Māra inherent in the parts of personality. [...]”.

Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) refers to the “nature” (of consciousness), according to the Nāmamantrārthāvalokinī by Vilāsavajra, which is a commentary on the Nāmasaṃgīti.—Accordingly, [while describing Mahāvairocana]—“And then [the Sādhaka should visualise] Mahāvairocana on the principal seat, generated by means of the syllable āḥ . [Why has he four faces?] Since consciousness—which is of the nature ( prakṛti ) of the Dharma-Sphere since, by its nature, it lacks such forms as the grasped [i.e., the subject-object duality]—is four-faced. [This is] because the four liberation faces [/doors]—emptiness and the rest—are the cause of the origination of all meditative concentrations, [and this in turn is] because their ground is the Dharma-Sphere. [...]”.

Tibetan Buddhism includes schools such as Nyingma, Kadampa, Kagyu and Gelug. Their primary canon of literature is divided in two broad categories: The Kangyur, which consists of Buddha’s words, and the Tengyur, which includes commentaries from various sources. Esotericism and tantra techniques ( vajrayāna ) are collected indepently.

General definition (in Buddhism)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) or prakṛtiśūnyatā refers to “natural emptiness” one of the “twenty emptinesses” ( śūnyatā ) as defined in the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 41). The Dharma-samgraha (Dharmasangraha) is an extensive glossary of Buddhist technical terms in Sanskrit (e.g., prakṛti ). The work is attributed to Nagarjuna who lived around the 2nd century A.D.

General definition (in Jainism)

Prakṛti (प्रकृति, “species”) or Prakṛtibandha refers to one of the four kinds of bondage ( bandha ) according to the 2nd-century Tattvārthasūtra chapter 8.—Accordingly, “What is meant by species of bondage ( prakṛti-bandha )? The innate nature of the bondage is called species of bondage. Knowledge obscuring etc are the eight kinds of species of bondage”.

According to verse 8.4, how many types of species bondage ( prakṛti-bandha ) are there? It is of eight types namely:

knowledge obscuring ( jñānāvaraṇa ),
perception obscuring ( darśanāvaraṇa ),
feeling producing ( vedanīya ),
deluding ( mohanīya ),
lifespan determining ( āyu ),
physique-making ( nāma ),
status-determining ( gotra ),
obstructive ( antarāya ).

Which out of these eight types of [ prakṛti-bandha ] karmas cause bondage of new karmas? Deluding karma is the only cause of bondage of new karmas. How these eight types of karmas are grouped in two classes? These can be clubbed as obscuring ( ghātiā ) and non-obscuring ( aghātiā ) karmas.

What are the sub divisions of the eight types of karmas? The 148 sub divisions of the eight types of karmas are: five for knowledge obscuring, nine for perception obscuring, two for feeling producing, twenty eight for deluding, four lifespan determining, two for status determining, ninety three for physique-making and five for obstructing karmas.

Jainism is an Indian religion of Dharma whose doctrine revolves around harmlessness ( ahimsa ) towards every living being. The two major branches (Digambara and Svetambara) of Jainism stimulate self-control (or, shramana , ‘self-reliance’) and spiritual development through a path of peace for the soul to progess to the ultimate goal.

India history and geography

Prakṛti.—(HD); cf. Mahābhārata, II. v. 23, speaking of the seven prakṛtis which Nīlakaṇṭha explains as referring to Durga-adhyakṣa (commandant of the citadel), Bal-ādhyakṣa (con- troller general of the army), Dharma-ādhyakṣa (chief of the departments of charity and justice), Camūpati (commander of the army in the field), chaplain, physician and astrologer. The Milindapañha (IV. i. 36) mentions six officers, e.g., the com- mander-in-chief, prime minister, chief judge, chief treasurer, bearer of the sun-shade and bearer of the sword of state (cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. XV, p. 77, note 6). Cf. Mātra. (EI 16), a temple official. (IE 7-1-2), ‘twentyone.’ (EI 9), the Kṣatriya community. Cf. sa-tantuvāya-gokuṭa-śauṇḍika-ādi-prakṛtika (IE 8-5); subjects of a king. (CII 1), usage. Note: prakṛti is defined in the “Indian epigraphical glossary” as it can be found on ancient inscriptions commonly written in Sanskrit, Prakrit or Dravidian languages.

The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as mythology, zoology, royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

Languages of India and abroad

Marathi-english dictionary.

prakṛti (प्रकृति).—f (S) Constitution or disposition; temperament or temper (whether of body or mind). Seven particular pra0 are reckoned in vaidyaśāstra ; viz. vātaja or vātapra0, pittaja or pittapra0, kaphaja or kapha- pra0, vātapittapra0 vātakaphapra0, kaphapittapra0, samadhātu or samapra0. There are however many other pra0; as uṣṇapra0, sītapra0, ugrapra0, mandapra0, krūrapra0, kōmalapra0, mṛdupra0, svastha-saumya-tīkṣṇa-tāmasa &c. -pra0. 2 Natural or native state or form. 3 Nature--in philosophy; the passive or material cause of the world; as opp. to the active or spiritual cause. 4 Nature--in mythology; a goddess, the personified will of the Supreme in the creation, and identical with māyā and with the śakti or personified energy of a deity. māyā & avidyā are the bhēda or forms of pra0. 5 An uninflected word,--the radical form before the affixes are attached. 6 A radical form or predicament of being. Eight are reckoned; viz. pṛthvī, udaka or ap, agni or tēja, vāyu, ākāśa, mana, buddhi, ahaṅkāra Earth, water, fire, air, ether, the affections or heart, the understanding or mind, the consciousness or sense of personal being. To the first five of these, termed the gross or solid ele- ments are attached, as respectively related to them, the pañcasūkṣmabhūtēṃ (viz. gandha, rasa, rūpa, sparśa, śabda--gandha to pṛthvī, rasa to udaka &c.) the five archetypes or subtil superelementary principles or primordial bases; and the latter three, viz. mana, buddhi, ahaṅkāra are repeated; constituting another enumeration of eight, and also termed aṣṭapra0 See pañcamahābhūtēṃ . 7 A requisite of regal administration. Seven are enumerated; viz. King, minister, ally, treasure, territory, forts, army, or svāmī, amātya, suhṛt, kōṣa, rāṣṭra, durga, bala . To these (very considerately) an eighth is added, viz. Subjects or prajā . The seven collectively are termed saptavidhāprakṛti ; the eight, aṣṭavidhāprakṛti ; and these again are distinguished into antaḥprakṛti, designating severally svāmī, amātya, & suhṛt, and bahirprakṛti, designating severally the remaining four or five. prakṛtīcā tāḷa bighaḍaṇēṃ-nāsaṇēṃ-sōḍaṇēṃ or prakṛtīnēṃ tāḷa sōḍaṇēṃ-ṭākaṇēṃ- or tāḷāntūna jāṇēṃ To lose its tone, vigor, health, soundness--the constitution. 2 To begin to quarrel or to rage. prakṛtīnēṃ cālaṇēṃ-jāṇēṃ- vāgaṇēṃ-asaṇēṃ g. of o. To walk according to the temper or mind of: also, without g. of o. and with āpalyā, To follow one's own disposition. prakṛtīvara ṭākaṇēṃ-ṭhēvaṇēṃ-asūṃ dēṇēṃ To leave to nature (a disease &c.) prakṛti tāḷāvara yēṇēṃ g. of s. To recover one's healthy tone (from sickness, anger, hatred &c.): also to return to the right way.

prakṛti (प्रकृति).— f Constitution or disposition. Temperament or temper. Nature. In philosophy, the material cause of the world, as opposed to puruṣa . prakṛtīcā tāḷa bighaḍaṇēṃ-nāsaṇēṃ-sōḍaṇēṃ or prakṛtīnēṃ tāḷa sōḍaṇēṃ . ṭākaṇēṃ or tāḷāntūna jāṇēṃ To lose its tone, vigour, the constitution. To begin to quarrel or to rage. prakṛtīnēṃ cālaṇēṃ-jāṇēṃ . vāgaṇēṃ-asaṇēṃ To walk according to the temper or mind of; To follow one's own disposition. prakṛtīvara ṭākaṇēṃ-ṭhēvaṇēṃ-asa dēṇēṃ To leave to nature (a disease &c.) prakṛti tāḷyāvara yēṇēṃ To recover one's healthy tone; to return to the right way.

Marathi is an Indo-European language having over 70 million native speakers people in (predominantly) Maharashtra India. Marathi, like many other Indo-Aryan languages, evolved from early forms of Prakrit, which itself is a subset of Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages of the world.

Sanskrit dictionary

Prakṛti (प्रकृति).— f.

1) The natural condition or state of anything, nature, natural form (opp. vikṛti which is a change or effect); तं तं नियममास्थाय प्रकृत्या नियताः स्वया ( taṃ taṃ niyamamāsthāya prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā ) Bhagavadgītā (Bombay) 7.2. प्रकृत्या यद्वक्रम् ( prakṛtyā yadvakram ) Ś1.9; उष्णत्वमग्न्यातपसंप्रयोगात् शैत्यं हि यत् सा प्रकृतिर्जलस्य ( uṣṇatvamagnyātapasaṃprayogāt śaityaṃ hi yat sā prakṛtirjalasya ) R.5.54; मरणं प्रकृतिः शरीरिणां विकृति- र्जीवितमुच्यते बुधैः ( maraṇaṃ prakṛtiḥ śarīriṇāṃ vikṛti- rjīvitamucyate budhaiḥ ) R.8.87; Uttararāmacarita 7.19; अपेहि रे अत्रभवान् प्रकृतिमापन्नः ( apehi re atrabhavān prakṛtimāpannaḥ ) Ś.2. 'has resumed his wonted nature'; प्रकृतिम् आपद् ( prakṛtim āpad ) or प्रतिपद् ( pratipad ) or प्रकृतौ स्था ( prakṛtau sthā ) 'to come to one's senses', 'regain one's consciousness.'

2) Natural disposition, temper, temperament, nature, constitution; प्रकृतिः खलु सा महीयसः सहते नान्यसमुन्नतिं यया ( prakṛtiḥ khalu sā mahīyasaḥ sahate nānyasamunnatiṃ yayā ) Kirātārjunīya 2.21; कथं गत एव आत्मनः प्रकृतिम् ( kathaṃ gata eva ātmanaḥ prakṛtim ) Ś.7. 'natural character'; अपश्यत् पाण्डवश्रेष्ठो हर्षेण प्रकृतिं गतः ( apaśyat pāṇḍavaśreṣṭho harṣeṇa prakṛtiṃ gataḥ ) Mahābhārata (Bombay) 39.66 (com. prakṛtiṃ svāsthyam ); so प्रकृतिकृपण, प्रकृतिसिद्ध ( prakṛtikṛpaṇa, prakṛtisiddha ) ; see below.

3) Make, form, figure; महानुभावप्रकृतिः ( mahānubhāvaprakṛtiḥ ) Mālatīmādhava (Bombay) 1.

4) Extraction, descent; गोपालप्रकृतिरार्यकोऽस्मि ( gopālaprakṛtirāryako'smi ) Mṛcchakaṭika 7.

5) Origin, source, original or material cause, the material of which anything is made; नार्थानां प्रकृतिं वेत्सि ( nārthānāṃ prakṛtiṃ vetsi ) Mahābhārata (Bombay) 4.49.1; प्रकृतिश्चोपादानकारणं च ब्रह्माभ्युपगन्तव्यम् ( prakṛtiścopādānakāraṇaṃ ca brahmābhyupagantavyam ) Ś. B. (see the full discussion on Br. Sūt.1.4.23); यामाहुः सर्वभूतप्रकृतिरिति ( yāmāhuḥ sarvabhūtaprakṛtiriti ) Ś.1.1; Bhāgavata 4.28.24.

6) (In Sāṅ. phil.) Nature (as distinguished from puruṣa ,) the original source of the material world, consisting of the three essential qualities सत्त्व, रजस् ( sattva, rajas ) and तमस् ( tamas ) . It is also mentioned as one of the four contentments; प्रकृत्युपादानकालभागाख्याः ( prakṛtyupādānakālabhāgākhyāḥ ) Sāṃkhyakārikā 5.

7) (In gram.) The radical or crude form of a word to which case-terminations and other affixes are applied; प्रकृतिप्रत्यययोरिवानुबन्धः ( prakṛtipratyayayorivānubandhaḥ ) Kirātārjunīya 13.19.

8) A model, pattern, standard, (especially in ritualistic works); Bhāgavata 5.7.5.

9) A woman.

1) The personified will of the Supreme Spirit in the creation (identified with māyā or illusion); मयाध्यक्षेण प्रकृतिः सूयते सचराचरम् ( mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sacarācaram ) Bhagavadgītā (Bombay) 9.1.

11) The male or female organ of generation.

12) A mother.

13) (In arith.) A coefficient, or multiplier.

14) (In anatomy) Temperament of the humours; प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति ( prakṛtiṃ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ kiṃ kariṣyati ) Bhagavadgītā (Bombay) 3.33.

15) An animal.

16) An artisan.

17) The Supreme Being; न ह्यस्ति सर्वभूतेषु दुःख- मस्मिन् कुतः सुखम् । एवं प्रकृतिभूतानां सर्वसंसर्गयायिनाम् ( na hyasti sarvabhūteṣu duḥkha- masmin kutaḥ sukham | evaṃ prakṛtibhūtānāṃ sarvasaṃsargayāyinām ) || Mahābhārata (Bombay) 12. 152.16.

18) Eight forms of the Supreme Being; भूमि- रापोऽनलो वायुः खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च । अहंकार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृति- रष्टधा ( bhūmi- rāpo'nalo vāyuḥ khaṃ mano buddhireva ca | ahaṃkāra itīyaṃ me bhinnā prakṛti- raṣṭadhā ) || Bhagavadgītā (Bombay) 7.4.

19) The way of life ( jīvana ); सतां वै ददतोऽन्नं च लोकेऽस्मिन् प्रकृतिर्ध्रुवा ( satāṃ vai dadato'nnaṃ ca loke'smin prakṛtirdhruvā ) Mahābhārata (Bombay) 12.18.27. (pl.)

1) A king's ministers, the body of ministers or counsellors, ministry; अथानाथाः प्रकृतयो मातृबन्धुनिवासिनम् ( athānāthāḥ prakṛtayo mātṛbandhunivāsinam ) R.12.12; Pañcatantra (Bombay) 1.48; अशुद्धप्रकृतौ राज्ञि जनता नानुरज्यते ( aśuddhaprakṛtau rājñi janatā nānurajyate ) 31.

2) The subjects (of a king); प्रवर्ततां प्रकृतिहिताय पार्थिवः ( pravartatāṃ prakṛtihitāya pārthivaḥ ) Ś.7.35; नृपतिः प्रकृतीरवेक्षितुम् ( nṛpatiḥ prakṛtīravekṣitum ) R.8.18,1.

3) The constituent elements of the state ( saptāṅgāni ), i. e. 1 the king; -2 the minister; -3 the allies; -4 treasure; -5 army; -6 territory; -7 fortresses &c.; and the corporations of citizens (which is sometimes added to the 7); स्वाम्यमात्य- सुहृत्कोशराष्ट्रदुर्गबलानि च ( svāmyamātya- suhṛtkośarāṣṭradurgabalāni ca ) Ak.

4) The various sovereigns to be considered in case of war; (for full explanation see Kull. on Manusmṛti 7.155 and 157).

5) The eight primary elements out of which everything else is evolved according to the Sāṅkhyas; see Sāṃkhyakārikā 3.

6) The five primary elements of creations ( pañcamahābhūtāni ) i. e. पृथ्वी, अप्, तेजस्, वायु ( pṛthvī, ap, tejas, vāyu ) and आकाश ( ākāśa ) ; प्रकृतिं ते भजिष्यन्ति नष्टप्रकृतयो मयि ( prakṛtiṃ te bhajiṣyanti naṣṭaprakṛtayo mayi ) Mahābhārata (Bombay) 5.73.17.

Derivable forms: prakṛtiḥ (प्रकृतिः).

Prākṛti (प्राकृति).—(?) ( f. ), sometimes in text of Divyāvadāna for prakṛti, nature , e.g. 310.26 °tiṃ ca jñātvā; elsewhere in the same phrase, e.g. 47.10, the regular prakṛtiṃ is printed. Not recorded in Index; perhaps only misprint.

Prakṛti (प्रकृति).—f.

( -tiḥ ) 1. Nature; in philosophy the passive or material cause of the world, as opposed to the active or spiritual; and in mythology, a goddess, the personified will of the Supreme in the creation identified with Maya or illusion, and in an especial manner the prototype of the female sex; hence it is the same with the Sakti or personified energy or bride of a deity, as Lakshmi, Durga, &c. in some systems Prakriti is considered the same with the Supreme Being. 2. The natural state or condition of any thing. 3. A radical form or predicament of being, an illusion, intelligence, consciousness, and the five elements, or Akas, fire, air, earth, and water. 4. The five elements collectively. 5. Cause, origin. 6. A woman or womankind. 7. A mother. 8. An animal. 9. The male organ of generation. 10. The female organ of generation. 11. An uninflected word; the radical form of a word, before the affixes forming cases, &c. are subjoined. 12. A requisite of regal administration, of which seven are enumerated; the king, the minister, an ally, treasure, territory, fortresses, and an army: the corporations or companies of citizens are sometimes added, making an eighth class. 13. A form of metre, consisting of a stanza of four lines, each line containing twenty-one syllables. 14. (In arithmetic,) A given coefficient. (In anatomy,) Temperament, the predominance of one of the humours at the time of generation. E. pra implying priority or precedence, kṛ to make aff. ktin or ktic; being the first step towards creation.

Prakṛti (प्रकृति).—[ pra-kṛ + ti ], f. 1. The original or natural state of anything, [ Pañcatantra ] ii. [distich] 95 (by birth); [Vikramorvaśī, (ed. Bollensen.)] 8, 2; [ Hitopadeśa ] ii. [distich] 131; [Raghuvaṃśa, (ed. Stenzler.)] 5, 54. 2. Nature, [Bhagavadgītā, (ed. Schlegel.)] 3, 33; prakṛtyā , properly, [ Pañcatantra ] 218, 11. 3. With tṛtīyā , ‘the third nature,’ i. e. an eunuc’s nature. 4. A radical form or predicament of being, as illusion, intelligence, etc. 5. The eight elements, from which all is produced, [Bhagavadgītā, (ed. Schlegel.)] 7, 4. 6. Cause, the original source, [Śākuntala, (ed. Böhtlingk.)] [distich] 1. 7. The requisites of royal administration, [ Mānavadharmaśāstra ] 9, 294. 8. The chief objects of royal consideration, [ Mānavadharmaśāstra ] 7, 156. 9. Business, affairs, [ Mānavadharmaśāstra ] 8, 161. 10. The minister of a king, 9, 232. 11. Subjects, people, [ Mānavadharmaśāstra ] 7, 175.

Prakṛti (प्रकृति).—[feminine] the original or natural form or cause of anything; nature or the material world (ph.); the (5—8) constituent elements of the state, e.[grammar] the king, the ministers, subjects etc.; i.[grammar] nature, character, disposition, temper.

1) Prakṛti (प्रकृति) as mentioned in Aufrecht’s Catalogus Catalogorum:—Sv. Oppert. 1163. 4220. 4597. 4598. 4662. 4663. 4840. 8092. Ii, 391. 2297.

2) Prakṛti (प्रकृति):—Sv. add Ii, 5592.

3) Prakṛti (प्रकृति):—Sv. Gov. Or. Libr. Madras 52.

1) Prakṛti (प्रकृति):—[= pra-kṛti ] [from pra-kāra > pra-kṛ ] a f. See next p.

2) [= pra-kṛti ] [from pra-kṛ ] b f. ‘making or placing before or at first’, the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance (opp. to vi-kṛti q.v. ), [Prātiśākhya; Nirukta, by Yāska; Jaimini; Mahābhārata]

3) [ v.s. ...] cause, original source, [Manu-smṛti; Mahābhārata; Śakuntalā] etc.

4) [ v.s. ...] origin, extraction, [Mṛcchakaṭikā]

5) [ v.s. ...] nature, character, constitution, temper, disposition, [Mahābhārata; Kāvya literature; Suśruta] etc. ([in the beginning of a compound] and tyā ind. by nature, naturally, unalterably, properly, [Prātiśākhya; ???; Manu-smṛti] etc.)

6) [ v.s. ...] fundamental form, pattern, standard, model, rule ([especially] in ritual), [???]

7) [ v.s. ...] (in the Sāṃkhya [philosophy]) the original producer of (or rather passive power of creating) the material world (consisting of 3 constituent essences or Guṇas called sattva , rajas and tamas ), Nature (distinguished from puruṣa , Spirit as Māyā is d° from Brahman in the Vedāntas)

8) [ v.s. ...] [plural] the 8 producers or primary essences which evolve the whole visible world (viz. a-vyakta , buddhi or mahat , ahaṃ-kāra , and the 5 tan-mātras or subtle elements; rarely the 5 elements alone), [Indian Wisdom, by Sir M. Monier-Williams 80 etc.]

9) [ v.s. ...] (in mythol.) a goddess, the personified will of the Supreme in the creation (hence the same with the Śakti or personified energy or wife of a deity, as Lakṣmī, Durgā etc.; also considered as identical with the Supreme Being), [Horace H. Wilson; Indian Wisdom, by Sir M. Monier-Williams 140; Religious Thought and Life in India 223]

10) [ v.s. ...] ([plural]) Name of a class of deities under Manu Raibhya, [Harivaṃśa]

11) [ v.s. ...] (in polit.) [plural] a king’s ministers, the body of ministers or counsellors, ministry, [Manu-smṛti; Mahābhārata] etc.

12) [ v.s. ...] the subjects of a king, citizens, artisans etc., [ib.]

13) [ v.s. ...] the constituent elements or powers of the state (of which are usually enumerated, viz. king minister, allies, treasure, army, territory, fortresses, [Manu-smṛti ix, 294; 295])

14) [ v.s. ...] the various sovereigns to be considered in case of war (viz. the madhyama , vijigīṣu , udāsīna and śatru ; to which should be added 8 remoter princes, viz. the mitra , arimitra , mitra-mitra , arimitra-mitra , pārṣṇi-graha , ākranda , pārṣṇigrāhāsāra , ākrandāsāsa ; each of these 12 kings has 5 Prakṛtis in the form of minister, territory, fortresses, treasure and army, so that the total number of Prakṛtis may be 72), [Manu-smṛti vii, 155; 157; Manvarthamuktāvalī, kullūka bhaṭṭa’s Commentary on manu-smṛti]

15) [ v.s. ...] (in gram.) the crude or elementary form of a word, base, root, an uninflected word, [Sāhitya-darpaṇa; Pāṇini [Scholiast or Commentator]; Vopadeva]

16) [ v.s. ...] Name of 2 classes of metres, [Colebrooke]

17) [ v.s. ...] (in [arithmetic]) a co-efficient multiplier, [ib.]

18) [ v.s. ...] (in [anatomy]) temperament, the predominance of one of the humours at the time of generation, [Horace H. Wilson]

19) [ v.s. ...] (with tritīyā ) the third nature, a eunuch, [Mahābhārata]

20) [ v.s. ...] matter, affair, [Lalita-vistara]

21) [ v.s. ...] the male or female organ of generation, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]

22) [ v.s. ...] a woman or womankind, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]

23) [ v.s. ...] a mother, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]

24) [ v.s. ...] an animal, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]

25) [ v.s. ...] Name of a woman, [Buddhist literature]

26) [ v.s. ...] Name of [work]

Prakṛti (प्रकृति):—[ pra-kṛti ] (tiḥ) 2. f. Nature; matter; Māyā; origin; uninflected word; elements of royalty; temperament; a given co-efficient.

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Pagai , Pagaḍi , Payai .

[Sanskrit to German]

Prakriti in German

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् ( saṃskṛtam ), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

Hindi dictionary

Prakṛti (प्रकृति) [Also spelled prakrati]:—( nf ) the nature; temperament, disposition; habit; genius (as of a language); ~[ ja ] spontaneous, natural; -[ bheda ] difference of nature; temperamental, difference; ~[ vāda ] naturalism; naturism; ~[ vādī ] a natur(al)ist; natur(al)istic; —[ vijñāna ] natural history; —[ śāstra ] naturism; ~[ śāstrī ] a naturist; ~[ śāstrīya ] naturistic; ~[ siddha ] natural, spontaneous; ~[ stha ] composed, cool and composed; poised, sane; ~[ sthatā ] composure; sanity.

Kannada-English dictionary

Prakṛti (ಪ್ರಕೃತಿ):—

1) [noun] the essential character of a thing; quality or qualities that make something what it is; essence; nature.

2) [noun] inborn character; innate disposition; inherent tendencies of a person.

3) [noun] any or all of the instincts, desires, appetites, drives, etc. of a person or animal (which are, as per Hindu system, divided into Satva, Rajas and Tamassu).

4) [noun] (phil.) any of the five substances (earth, air, fire, water and ether or space) believed to constitute all physical matter.

5) [noun] the entire physical universe, that is not created by human effort; nature.

6) [noun] the reproduction or the sexual organs in human.

7) [noun] a person appointed by the head of a government to take charge of some department; a minister.

8) [noun] (collectively) the citizens (as of a city).

9) [noun] the procreation power of the universe personified as a female being.

10) [noun] that which is to be done, carried out; a work; a job.

11) [noun] that which brings out something; a reason.

12) [noun] a worker in a skilled trade; craftsman; an artisan.

13) [noun] truth; fact.

14) [noun] a law, rule or other order prescribed by authority, esp. to regulate conduct; a regulation.

15) [noun] a restraining of one’s anger, grief, passions, etc.

16) [noun] a compulsory payment to be made by a person to the government on various accounts; a tax.

17) [noun] that which is importnt or essential.

18) [noun] collectively, the beginning and end (of something).

19) [noun] the act or an instance of leaving something completely and for ever; abandonment.

20) [noun] the way that one acts; behavior; deportment; conduct.

21) [noun] a group of persons collected at one place for some purpose; a multitude.

22) [noun] the physical make up of a person; constitution.

23) [noun] (ling.) the fundamental element of a word or form, exclusive of all affixes and inflectional phonetic changes; a root.

24) [noun] (pros.) a metre in which each line of the verse has twenty one syllables.

25) [noun] (phil.) the physical universe; non-conscious matter of the world; the world of experience.

26) [noun] (phil.) one of the super natural powers of the Supreme Being often referred as Māya.

27) [noun] (phil.) a false idea or conception; belief or opinion not in accord with the facts.

28) [noun] (jain.) the system that holds the individual soul in this physical world birth after birth.

29) [noun] any deed, action that harms, impedes the progress of the individual souls.

30) [noun] (polit.) the seven divisions of the government.

31) [noun] (mus.) a pure note, not affected by variations or not influenced by another note or other notes.

Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.

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Search found 191 books and stories containing Prakriti, Pra-kriti, Pra-kṛti, Pra-krti, Prakrti, Prakṛti, Prākṛti; (plurals include: Prakritis, kritis, kṛtis, krtis, Prakrtis, Prakṛtis, Prākṛtis). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Yoga-sutras (with Vyasa and Vachaspati Mishra) (by Rama Prasada)

Sūtra 1.19 < [Book 1 - Trance (Samādhi)]

Sūtra 3.47 < [Book 3 - Attainment (Vibhūti or Siddhi)]

Sūtra 1.24 < [Book 1 - Trance (Samādhi)]

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Garga Samhita (English) (by Danavir Goswami)

Verse 1.16.26 < [Chapter 16 - Description of Śrī Rādhikā’s Wedding]

Verse 6.10.3 < [Chapter 10 - In the Description of the Gomatī River, the Glories of Cakra-tīrtha]

Verse 5.21.10 < [Chapter 21 - The Story of Śrī Nārada]

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Shrimad Bhagavad-gita (by Narayana Gosvami)

Verse 4.6 < [Chapter 4 - Jñāna-Yoga (Yoga through Transcendental Knowledge)]

Verse 13.1 < [Chapter 13 - Prakṛti-puruṣa-vibhāga-yoga]

Verse 7.5 < [Chapter 7 - Vijñāna-Yoga (Yoga through Realization of Transcendental Knowledge)]

+ 46 more chapters / show preview

Prasthanatrayi Swaminarayan Bhashyam (Study) (by Sadhu Gyanananddas)

3.8. Māyā and the Creation of the Universes < [Chapter 3 - Analysis on the Basis of Metaphysics]

3.2. Three Guṇas of Māyā < [Chapter 3 - Analysis on the Basis of Metaphysics]

3.4. Eternal and Indistinct < [Chapter 3 - Analysis on the Basis of Metaphysics]

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Samkhya thoughts in the Mahabharata (by Shini M.V.)

The doctrine of Kośas (five sheaths) < [Chapter 3 - The Philosophical Tenets in the Śānti-parva]

Liberation (Mukti or Kaivalya) < [Chapter 2 - The Principles of Sāṃkhya Philosophy]

Sāṃkhya Definition and Meaning < [Chapter 2 - The Principles of Sāṃkhya Philosophy]

+ 26 more chapters / show preview

Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra (by Gelongma Karma Migme Chödrön)

Emptiness 12: Emptiness of essences (prakṛtiśūnyatā) < [Chapter XLVIII - The Eighteen Emptinesses]

Ninefold classification of dharmas < [Part 2 - Understanding dharmatā and its synonyms]

Emptiness 13: Emptiness of specific characteristics < [Chapter XLVIII - The Eighteen Emptinesses]

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Prakṛti
Prakriti (Sanskrit: प्रकृति IAST: Prakṛti) is "the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance". It is a key concept in Hinduism, formulated by its Sāṅkhya school, where it does not refer to matter or nature, but "includes all the cognitive, moral, psychological, emotional, sensorial and physical aspects of reality", stressing "Prakṛti ...
Understanding Purusha and Prakriti
Discourse 40: The Thirteenth Chapter Concludes - Understanding Purusha and Prakriti. In the Thirteenth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita, we have covered the theme which touched upon the kṣetra and the kṣetrajña, individually as well as cosmically, and the relationship between the individual and the cosmic. We also went through the list of ...
Prakriti
prakriti, in the Samkhya system of Indian philosophy, material nature in its germinal state, eternal and beyond perception.When prakriti (female) comes into contact with the spirit, purusha (male), it starts on a process of evolution that leads through several stages to the creation of the existing material world. Prakriti is made up of three gunas ("qualities" of matter), which are the ...
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 - Verse 20 - Know you that Matter (PRAKRITI) and Spirit (PURUSHA) are both beginningless; and know you also that all modifications and qualities are born of PRAKRITI. - All Bhagavad Gita (Geeta) Verses in Sanskrit, English, Transliteration, Word Meaning, Translation, Audio, Shankara Bhashya, Adi Sankaracharya Commentary and Links to Videos by Swami Chinmayananda and others
Prakṛti
Prakriti. 1 According to Sāṃkhya-Yoga ontology, the female of the two fundamental principles (the other being the male, puruṣa) which constitute reality. Invisible and unconscious, prakṛti in its unmanifest form (also known as pradhāna) is the ultimate cause of all material existence. The evolution of the universe occurs when the ...
Patanjali's Words: Prakriti, the Seen
Rev. Jaganath, Integral Yoga Minister and Raja Yoga master teacher, has spent a lifetime delving into the deepest layers of meaning in Patanjali's words within the Yoga Sutras.Our series continues with sutra: 2.18 in which Patanjali delineates the nature of "the seen" (prakriti) and the pivotal role it plays in spiritual unfolding.. Sutra 2.18: prakāśa-kriyā-sthiti-śīlam bhūta ...
Samkhya
Samkhya or Sankhya (/ ˈ s ɑː ŋ k j ə /; Sanskrit: सांख्य, romanized: sāṃkhya) is a dualistic orthodox school of Hindu philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, Puruṣa ('consciousness' or spirit) and Prakṛti (nature or matter, including the human mind and emotions).. Puruṣa is the witness-consciousness. It is absolute, independent, free ...
Prakṛti
Prakṛti, also Prakriti or Prakruti (from Sanskrit language प्रकृति, prakṛti), means "nature". It is a key concept in Hinduism, formulated by its Samkhya school, and refers to the primal matter with three different innate qualities whose equilibrium is the basis of all observed empirical reality. Prakriti, in this school, contrasts with Purusha which is pure awareness and ...
prakriyā
Here are the basic steps we will follow: Choose a dhātu from the Dhātupāṭha. Choose the right lakāra. Determine whether the root uses parasmaipada or ātmanepada endings. Replace the lakāra with the appropriate tiṅ ending. Add a vikaraṇa as needed. Apply guṇa changes as needed. Apply sandhi rules.
Andrey Safronov. Ishvara, Prakriti and Sanskrit Grammar
Prakriti is "arranged" by Ishvara and comes to "match" it - by means of transformations within the root. While the word formed comes as the result of the act of creation. [1] The metamorphoses of the same kind can be found in Russian grammar as well. f. Deciphering Protein Complexes and Protein Interaction Networks by Tandem Affinity ...
The True Meaning of Prakriti in Hinduism
2. Prakriti: The original or latent state of creation. 3. Asambhuti: The Unmanifested Primordial Prakriti. 4. Sambhuti Prakriti: The manifested, original, eternal, indestructible, indivisible but mutable set of realities known as tattvas. 5. Maya: A modification of the Sambhuti Prakriti that appears to the senses as real. 6.
Prakrit
Thus the name prākṛta indicates that they depend on Sanskrit for their origin and are not themselves the prakṛti (or originary languages, originating independent of Sanskrit): According to the Prākrṭa Prakāśa , an ancient Prakrit grammar, "Saṃskṛtam is the prakṛti (source) - and the language that originates in, or comes from ...
Samkhya
Samkhya, one of the six systems ( darshan s) of Indian philosophy. Samkhya adopts a consistent dualism of matter ( prakriti) and the eternal spirit ( purusha ). The two are originally separate, but in the course of evolution purusha mistakenly identifies itself with aspects of prakriti. Right knowledge consists of the ability of purusha to ...
PDF The Meaning of Samskriti or Culture
used as the equivalent of the Sanskrit term samskriti, it is better to study this word first, its connotations and impli- cations. The verbal root kr (to do) can give rise to several nouns when associated with certain prefixes. Out of these, three words have a direct bearing on our subject: prakriti (basic matter or condition), samskrti (re-
Determinants of Prakriti, the Human Constitution Types of Indian
Materials and Methods: The study is cross sectional, multicentered, and prakriti assessment of a total of 3416 subjects was undertaken. Healthy male, nonsmoking, nonalcoholic volunteers between the age group of 20-30 were screened for their prakriti after obtaining written consent to participate in the study. The prakriti was determined on the phenotype description of ayurvedic texts and ...
PDF A detailed review of Prakriti, Prakriti Nirmakarabhava w.s.r to ...
prakriti of the humans.10 Vagabhata while explaining the types of prakriti put forward the example of worm. He says that seven kinds of prakriti are formed from the fusion of shukra and aartava just like the poisonous worm arise from the poison. These are hina prakriti, madhya prakriti and uttam prakriti from vata, pitta and kapha dosha ...
Bharatiya Samskrtika Parampara (भारतीयसांस्कृतिकपरम्परा)
Samhitas are primarily a collection of the mantras, Riks in Rigveda, Yajus of Yajurveda, Samans of the Samaveda and those of Atharvaveda. The Rig-Veda Samhita is the oldest sacred literary text of the Hindus. The Yajur-Veda Samhita is mostly in prose and explaining the procedures of the yajnas and yagas, supplementing the Rig-Vedic Mantras. The Sama-Veda Samhita, shortest of all vedas, is ...
The Samkhya Philosophy and 24 Principles of Creation
by Jayaram V. Summary: This essay explains the significance of tattvas or finite realities of Nature (Prakriti) according to the Samkhya school of Hinduism.. Hinduism owes a great deal to the Samkhya (Sankhya) philosophy or the Samkhya Darshana. Samkhya means number. The Samkhya philosophy deals with the number of realities that are present in existence.
Sanskrit Essays
An essay is a piece of content which is written from the perception of the writer. Essays can be of different types, long or short, formal or informal, biography or autobiography etc. These are useful for Sanskrit students and others interested in learning Sanskrit.
PDF A Conceptual Review on Assessment of Prakriti & Its Role in Prognosis
Prakriti and providing diet programmes accordingly and selection of drugs according to the Prakriti of patient. Knowing about one's constitution is of utmost importance to select what is beneficial for him. Thus Prakriti definitely has an important role in dealing with the health problem. REFRENCES 1. Acharya JT.
Sanskrit Essay Collection
Sanskrit Essay Collection - संस्कृत निबंध संग्रह. संस्कृत के सबसे महत्वपूर्ण निबंधों का संग्रह सभी छात्रों के लिए प्रकाशित किया जा रहा है। निबंधों ...
Prakriti, Prakṛti: 42 definitions
[Sanskrit to German] Prakriti in German. context information. Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and ...
(PDF) A CLINICAL UTILITY OF PRAKRITI PARIKSHAN- AN ...
Prakriti is one of the major Ayurvedic principles derived from the Veda, Purana, Upanishad, and Darshana. ... Chaukhamba Sanskrit Pratishthan, Delhi, Reprint 2019, Sharir Sthana 3/83, Page no. 381.