Alamba, Ālamba, Āḷamba, Ālambā: 22 definitions
Introduction:
Alamba means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit. 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 Āḷamba can be transliterated into English as Alamba or Aliamba, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).
In Hinduism
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Ālamba (आलम्ब).—An ancient sage. He flourished in Yudhiṣṭhira’s court. (Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Chapter 5, Verse 5).
1) Ālamba (आलम्ब).—A class of sages.*
- * Matsya-purāṇa 200. 17.
2) Ālambā (आलम्बा).—A daughter of Khaśā, and a Rākṣasī, after whom came the ālambeya gaṇa.*
- * Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa III. 7. 138; Vāyu-purāṇa 69. 170.
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.
Shaktism (Shakta philosophy)
Alamba (अलम्ब) is the name of a sacred region, according to the Śrīmatottara-tantra verse 3.135-138, an expansion of the Kubjikāmatatantra: the earliest popular and most authoritative Tantra of the Kubjikā cult.—The eight secondary fields are Kadaṃba, Alamba, Gokarṇa, the Vindhya mountain, Vimaleśvara, Sindhumāla, Mahāsena, and Mātaṅga.
Shakta (शाक्त, śākta) or Shaktism (śāktism) represents a tradition of Hinduism where the Goddess (Devi) is revered and worshipped. Shakta literature includes a range of scriptures, including various Agamas and Tantras, although its roots may be traced back to the Vedas.
Ayurveda (science of life)
Agriculture (Krishi) and Vrikshayurveda (study of Plant life)
Ālamba (आलम्ब) refers to “supporting” (a plant with pillars), as prescribed by certain bio-organical recipes for plant mutagenesis, such as dwarfing a plant, according to the Vṛkṣāyurveda by Sūrapāla (1000 CE): an encyclopedic work dealing with the study of trees and the principles of ancient Indian agriculture.—Accordingly, “A plant grown in a pit supported (ālamba) with four pillars [catustaṃbhakṛtālaṃvo] erected close to the root, carefully sprinkled with milk grows into a dwarf variety”.
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.
Vedanta (school of philosophy)
Ālamba (आलम्ब) refers to “(one’s inner) resting place”, according to the Aṣṭāvakragītā (5th century BC), an ancient text on spirituality dealing with Advaita-Vedānta topics.—Accordingly, [as Aṣṭavakra says to Janaka]: “[...] Those of weak intelligence think of themselves as pure non-duality, but because of their delusion do not know this, and remain unfulfilled all their lives. The mind of the man seeking liberation can find no resting place within (ālamba), [mumukṣorbuddhirālambamantareṇa na vidyate] but the mind of the liberated man is always free from desire by the very fact of being without a resting place. [...]”.
Vedanta (वेदान्त, vedānta) refers to a school of orthodox Hindu philosophy (astika), drawing its subject-matter from the Upanishads. There are a number of sub-schools of Vedanta, however all of them expound on the basic teaching of the ultimate reality (brahman) and liberation (moksha) of the individual soul (atman).
In Buddhism
Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)
1. Alamba - Probably the name of a divine musician, one of a large number who wait on Sakka and on his wives (Vv., pp.16, 47). Dhammapala (VvA.96) quotes this view and objects to it, saying that the name is not that of a musician but of a musical instrument. The opinion that the name denotes a celestial musician seems, however, to be the right one. For a discussion see Hardy: Vimanavatthu Commentary (P.T.S. Ed.), 372-3.
2. Alamba - See Alambayana.
Theravāda is a major branch of Buddhism having the the Pali canon (tipitaka) as their canonical literature, which includes the vinaya-pitaka (monastic rules), the sutta-pitaka (Buddhist sermons) and the abhidhamma-pitaka (philosophy and psychology).
Languages of India and abroad
Pali-English dictionary
ālamba : (m.) 1. support; 2. help; 3. anything to hang on.
Alamba, (adj.) (a + lamba) not hanging down, not drooping, short J.V, 302; VI, 3 (°tthaniyo not flabby: of a woman’s breasts cp. alamb’ordhva-stanī Suśruta I.371). (Page 79)
— or —
Ālamba, (Sk. ālamba, ā + lamb) anything to hang on, support S.I, 53 (an° without support); Sn.173 (id. + appatiṭṭha); J.III, 396; Miln.343; Sdhp.245, 463. (Page 109)
— or —
Āḷamba, = āḷambara Vv 189 = 5024. See ālambara. (Page 110)
1) alamba (အလမ္ဗ) [(ti) (တိ)]—
[na+lamba]
[န+လမ္ဗ]
2) ālamba (အာလမ္ဗ) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[ā+labi+a]
[အာ+လဗိ+အ]
[Pali to Burmese]
1) alamba—
(Burmese text): (၁) တွဲလျားမကျသော။ (ပု) (၂) မနုံ့နှေး-မလေးကန်-မဆိုင်းတွ-မဖင့်နွှဲ-ခြင်း။
(Auto-Translation): (1) Not to be neglected. (2) Not to be careless - not to delay - not to stall - not to be lax in action.
2) ālamba—
(Burmese text): (၁) အာလမ္ဗမည်သော စည်။ (၂) အာရုံ။ (တိ) (၃) တွဲလျားကျသော။
(Auto-Translation): (1) A panoramic view. (2) Sensory. (3) Interwoven.
Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.
Sanskrit dictionary
Ālamba (आलम्ब).—a. Hanging down.
-baḥ 1 Depending on or from.
2) That on which one rests or leans, prop, stay; इह हि पततां नास्त्यालम्बा न चापि निवर्तनम् (iha hi patatāṃ nāstyālambā na cāpi nivartanam) Śānti.3.2.
3) Support, protection; तवालम्बादम्ब स्फुरदलघुगर्वेण सहसा (tavālambādamba sphuradalaghugarveṇa sahasā) Jag.; सीतां शून्ये यथासुखं (sītāṃ śūnye yathāsukhaṃ); निरालम्बां हरिष्यामि (nirālambāṃ hariṣyāmi) Rām.; अपश्यन्त निरालम्बं तं ययातिं परिच्युतम् (apaśyanta nirālambaṃ taṃ yayātiṃ paricyutam) Mahābhārata (Bombay) 5.121.5.
4) Receptacle.
5) A perpendicular.
-bā Name of a plant with poisonous leaves.
Ālamba (आलम्ब).—m.
(-mbaḥ) 1. A receptacle, a prop, an asylum or support. 2. Depending on or from. 3. A perpendicular. E. āṅ before lambi to go, affix ghañ.
Ālamba (आलम्ब).—[ā-lamb + a], I. adj. Hanging down, [Rāmāyaṇa] 3, 22, 17. Ii. m. Support, [Rājataraṅgiṇī] 5, 310 (in
Ālamba (आलम्ब).—[adjective] hanging down; [masculine] anything to hang on, support (l.&[feminine]).
1) Ālamba (आलम्ब):—[=ā-lamba] [from ā-lamb] mfn. hanging down, [Rāmāyaṇa]
2) [v.s. ...] m. that on which one rests or leans, support, prop
3) [v.s. ...] receptacle
4) [v.s. ...] asylum, [Mahābhārata; Rāmāyaṇa; Kathāsaritsāgara] etc.
5) [v.s. ...] depending on or from
6) [v.s. ...] a perpendicular, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
7) [v.s. ...] Name of a Muni, [Mahābhārata]
8) Ālambā (आलम्बा):—[=ā-lambā] [from ā-lamba > ā-lamb] f. a species of plant with poisonous leaves, [Suśruta]
Ālamba (आलम्ब):—[ā-lamba] (mbaḥ) 1. m. A prop; a dependence; a perpendicular.
Ālamba (आलम्ब):—(von lamb mit ā)
1) adj. herabhängend: śirobhiḥ -śobhante kiṃcidālamvaiḥ śālayaḥ [Rāmāyaṇa 3, 22, 17.] —
2) m. a) woran Etwas hängt, woran man sich festhält, sich stützt, Stütze (auch übertr.): śikyaṃ tadālambaḥ (d. i. bhārālambaḥ) śikya heisst dass, woran die Last hängt [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 364.] vidūṣako pi sāṃchannarajjvālambo mbumadhyagaḥ [Geschichte des Vidūṣaka 239.] iha hi patatāṃ nāstyālambo na cāpi nivartanam [Śihlana’s Śāntiśataka 3, 2.] nirālambaḥ pādāṅguṣṭhāgradhiṣṭhitaḥ [Mahābhārata 3, 1541.] [Rāmāyaṇa 1, 44, 2.] [Viśvāmitra’s Kampf 13, 23.] vāyumārge nirālambe [Rāmāyaṇa 5, 7, 58. 4, 63, 23.] rāme salakṣmaṇe yāte sītāṃ śūnye yathāsukham . nirālambāṃ hariṣyāmi rāhuścandraprabhāmiva .. [3, 40, 28.] [Vetālapañcaviṃśati 28, 12.] sālamba [Kathāsaritsāgara 12, 175.] durālambā (laṅkā) worauf festen Fuss zu fassen schwer ist [Rāmāyaṇa 5, 73, 6.] Vgl. anālamba . — b) eine senkrechte Linie [Wilson’s Wörterbuch] Vgl. avalamba . — c) Nomen proprium eines Muni [Mahābhārata 2, 109.] —
3) f. ālambā Name einer Pflanze mit giftigem Blatte [Suśruta 2, 251, 16.]
--- OR ---
Ālamba (आलम्ब):—
2) a) [Rājataraṅgiṇī 5, 310.] karālamba [Spr. 2158.] dattahastālamba [Kathāsaritsāgara 67, 106.] anālamba so v. a. Wüstheit des Kopfes [Sāhityadarpana 222.] — Vgl. nirālamba .
Ālamba (आलम्ब):——
1) Adj. herabhängend. [86,18.] —
2) m. — a) das woran Etwas hängt , woran man sich festhält , Stütze (eig. und übertr.). — b) *senkrechte Linie. — c) Nomen proprium eines Muni. —
3) f. ā eine best. Pflanze mit giftigen Blättern.
Ālamba (आलम्ब) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Ālaṃba.
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.
Prakrit-English dictionary
1) Ālaṃba (आलंब) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit word: Ālamb.
2) Ālaṃba (आलंब) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Ālamba.
Prakrit is an ancient language closely associated with both Pali and Sanskrit. Jain literature is often composed in this language or sub-dialects, such as the Agamas and their commentaries which are written in Ardhamagadhi and Maharashtri Prakrit. The earliest extant texts can be dated to as early as the 4th century BCE although core portions might be older.
Kannada-English dictionary
Ālaṃba (ಆಲಂಬ):—[noun] = ಆಲಂಬನ - [alambana -] 1.
--- OR ---
Āḷaṃba (ಆಳಂಬ):—[noun] = ಆಳಂಬನ - [alambana -] 1.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Ālamba (आलम्ब):—n. 1. support; depending on/from; 2. that/which one rests on; prop; stay; 3. receptacle; 4. fulcrum;
Nepali is the primary language of the Nepalese people counting almost 20 million native speakers. The country of Nepal is situated in the Himalaya mountain range to the north of India.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches (+0): La bi, Lamba, A, Na.
Starts with (+14): Alambadanda, Alambagama, Alambaka, Alambakshi, Alambal, Alambala, Alambam, Alambamana, Alambamaram, Alamban, Alambana, Alambanabaha, Alambanadayaka, Alambanadayakatthera, Alambanadayakavagga, Alambananangala, Alambananidassana, Alambanapariksha, Alambanaphalaka, Alambanapratyaya.
Full-text (+36): Niralamba, Alabu, Analamba, Alambam, Lamba, Mattalamba, Apalamba, Duralamba, Salamba, Vyalamba, Alambati, Karalamba, Alambamana, Alambara, Niralambam, Tadalamba, Apalambana, Alambadanda, Alambayana, Alambathana.
Relevant text
Search found 17 books and stories containing Alamba, A-labi-a, Ā-labi-a, A-lamba, Ā-lamba, Ā-lambā, Ālamba, Āḷamba, Ālambā, Ālaṃba, Āḷaṃba, Na-lamba; (plurals include: Alambas, as, lambas, lambās, Ālambas, Āḷambas, Ālambās, Ālaṃbas, Āḷaṃbas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Dictionaries of Indian languages (Kosha)
Page 54 < [Hindi-English-Nepali (1 volume)]
Page 200 < [Hindi-Gujarati-English Volume 1]
Page 196 < [Hindi-Marathi-English Volume 1]
Historical Elements in the Matsya Purana (by Chaitali Kadia)
Lineages of Vasiṣṭha < [Chapter 6 - Human history in the Matsya-Purāṇa]
Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī)
Verse 3.2.117 < [Part 2 - Affection and Service (dāsya-rasa)]
Sahitya-kaumudi by Baladeva Vidyabhushana (by Gaurapada Dāsa)
Text 4.26 < [Chapter 4 - First-rate Poetry]
The Cult of Jagannatha (by K. C. Mishra)
Skanda Purana (by G. V. Tagare)
Chapter 50 - Departure of the Soul to the Next World < [Section 2 - Kaumārikā-khaṇḍa]