Alternative spellings of this word include Charika.

In Hinduism

Purana and Itihasa (epic history)

Source: archive.org: Shiva Purana - English Translation

Cārikā (चारिका) refers to the “servant-maids (in the harem)”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.3.46 (“The arrival of the bridegroom”).—Accordingly, as Brahmā narrated to Nārada: “[...] In the meantime the servant-maids in the harem (antaḥpura-cārikā) of the mountain took Pārvatī out in order to worship the tutelar family deity. There the gods saw joyously with winkless eyes the bride of dark complexion like the collyrium, and fully bedecked in ornaments in every limb. With a side glance she was respectfully looking at the three-eyed lord avoiding the eyes of others. [...]”.

context information

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.

In Jainism

General definition (in Jainism)

Source: academia.edu: Rare Sanskrit Words from the Commentary on the Bṛhat-kalpa-bhāṣya

Cārika (चारिक) refers to a “spy”.—In his publication for the Journal of Jaina Studies, Yutaka Kawasaki collected in a non-definite list several rare Sanskrit words (e.g., cārika) from Malayagiri’s and Kṣemakīrti’s commentaries on the Bṛhatkalpabhāṣya: a 6th century commentary on monastic discipline authored by Svetambara Jain exegete Saṅghadāsa.

context information

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

Source: What is India: Inscriptions of the Śilāhāras

Carikā (चरिका) is the name of a river mentioned as lying on the western boundaries of Aulakīyā, according to the “Ṭhāṇā plates of Arikesarin”.—Aulakīyā consisted of the following boundaries: on the east a tank; on the south Govinī; on the west Carikā; on the north Kalibalāyacholī.

These copper plates (mentioning Carikā) were found in digging for some works at the Fort of Tanna (Ṭhāṇā) the capital of Salset. The object of the present plates was to record the grant, by the Śilāhāra king Arikesarin, of three villages in the Vatsarāja-viṣaya to the family priest and teacher Tikkapaiya on the occasion of a lunar eclipse which occurred on the fifteenth tithi of the bright fortnight of Kārttika in the Śaka year 939.

context information

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

Pali-English dictionary

Source: BuddhaSasana: Concise Pali-English Dictionary

cārikā : (f.) a journey; wandering.

context information

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

Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary

Cārikā (चारिका).—A female attendant.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Edgerton Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary

Cārikā (चारिका) or Cārakā.—3, q.v., course, stream (of a river).

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Cārika (चारिक).—(-cārika), adj. or subst. m. (= Sanskrit and Pali -cārin, ifc.; see also piṇḍa-cārika), moving; practising: pattra- cārikā ṛddhyā harita-cārikā bhājana-cārikāś cāgatāḥ Divyāvadāna 45.17; similarly 45.20; it seems clear that the reference [Page228-b+ 71] is to persons who magically ride or move thru the air on leaves, some sort of plants or trees (harita, compare Sanskrit haritaka), and jars (bhājana), compare 45.27—30. Acc. to Burnouf, Introd. 261 note 2, Tibetan renders -cārikā(ḥ) by ḥdri ma, which the Dictt. of Tibetan do not interpret satisfactorily; I suggest dri bo, magician. Tibetan renders harita by śiṅ tshe, ap- parently some tree or shrub. There is a v.l. -vārika, which [Boehtlingk] 7.365 adopts for bhājana-cārika, identifying it with °vārika in Mahāvyutpatti 9069, which however means something like superintendent of vessels and cannot be intended in the Divyāvadāna passage. In Śikṣāsamuccaya 332.4 cārika seems to mean practiser, follower (compare Sanskrit and Pali cārin), sc. of a heretical religion.

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Cārikā (चारिका).—(in meaning 2 = Pali id.), (1) = cari, q.v., course of conduct, especially a religious course leading to enlightenment, pursued by Bodhisattvas; repeatedly used in prose, hence not exclusively m.c.; usually with a form of the cognate verb carati: caranti ete varabodhi-cārikāṃ Saddharmapuṇḍarīka 131.12 (verse); puruṣottama-cārikām acari, so bodhisattva-caryāṃ (note use together of the synonymous forms cārikā and caryā!)…saṃsarati Mahāvastu i.3.9 (prose); duṣkara-cār° (compare duṣkara-cariṃ Lalitavistara 276.1) Mahāvastu ii.130.12 (°kāye, instr., prose); 237.17 (°kāṃ carantaṃ, prose); bodhisattva- cārikāṃ caranto ii.356.19 (prose); caranto bodhicārikāṃ ii.362.20 (verse); jinacārikā(ye) ii.375.12 (verse); carann utta- mabodhicārikāṃ Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā 50.2 (verse); cariṣye varabodhicārikāṃ Sādhanamālā 29.7 (verse); otari cārika- (a m.c.)-kalpa-samudrāṃ Bhadracarī 29; bodhisattvacārikā Śikṣāsamuccaya 316.18 (prose) and °kaṃ (probably misprint for °kāṃ) carantaṃ Gaṇḍavyūha 423.22 (prose); praṇidhisi cārīkām (ī m.c. for i) asamām (referring to the course of Bodhisattvas) Gaṇḍavyūha 57.15 (verse); saṃsāra- cārikaiṣā, naiṣā bodhisattvacārikā Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā 329.15 (prose); eka-cārikā Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra 291.13 (verse), the solitary religious course (of Pratyekabuddhas); (2) journey, wandering (also = Sanskrit caryā, which varies with this in the same passages; Pali cārikā id.), commonly as object of carati or another verb of going; the place of the journey is either in the loc. or preceding in composition: magadheṣu cārikāṃ prakrāmat Lalitavistara 246.2 (prose), compare magadheṣu caryāṃ (best ms. cārikāṃ) caran 246.6; caryāṃ caran kāśiṣu janapadeṣu cārikāṃ (v.l. caryāṃ) prakrāmat 405.2—3; janapadeṣu cārikāṃ prakramet(su) Mahāvastu i.231.3 (prose), set out on a journey over the countryside; cārikāṃ caramāṇo 6; gacchantam… cārikāṃ 234.14 (verse); janapadacārikāṃ caramāṇo 244.12 (prose); kāśīṣu cārikāṃ prakrāmi 323.10 (prose); maga- dheṣu °kāṃ caramāṇo iii.47.10 (prose); °kāṃ pratipanna- sya, embarked on a journey, 94.3 (verse); janapada-cārikā Mahāvyutpatti 9355; Kauśaleṣu janapadeṣu °kāṃ caran Divyāvadāna 80.11; °kāṃ cariṣyati 92.8; Buddha-cārikā, the journey of a Buddha, 92.25; 93.2; śmaśānacārikāṃ gantu(ṃ) 267.8, 9, to go on a trip to a cemetery; dakṣiṇāgiriṣu janapade °kāṃ caritvā Avadāna-śataka i.3.3; janapadacārikāṃ caran Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā 5.2 (prose); (Pāñcāleṣu janapadeṣu) janapadacārikāṃ cara- māṇo Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra 202.3 (prose); also used of journeys to other worlds or states of existence, inferior or superior: niraya- cārikāṃ gacchati Mahāvastu i.4.15 (prose) went on a trip to (the) hell(s); caranto narakacārikāṃ 5.2; so also tiracchāna- cārikāṃ gacchati 27.2, and caranto tir° °kāṃ 4, a trip among the animal-existences; pretacārikāṃ 28.3, 5; asura-c° 30.1, 3; deveṣu °kāṃ gacchati 30.16; 31.16; and with acc. instead of loc., devāṃ (= °ān) cār° ga° 33.4, went on a trip to the gods; deveṣu cārikāṃ caramāṇena Mahāvastu ii.190.17; naraka-cārikāṃ carataḥ Avadāna-śataka i.241.9, preta-c° c° 10; (3) cārikā or cārakā, stream, course (of a river): nadīcārikām avatīrṇaḥ, went down into a river-stream, Avadāna-śataka ii.86.3; nadīcārakāyāḥ (ms., Speyer em. °cārik°) pāre vṛkṣaḥ 4; nadīcārikām uttīrṇaḥ, crossed a river-stream, ii.116.13; nadyāṃ cārakāyāṃ (so Speyer; ms. naṃdyā cārakāyā; read nadyāś, or, semi-MIndic, nadyā, gen. ?) patitas, fell into the stream of a river, or if nadyāṃ is correct, into a river, into its stream, ii.181.17.

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Cārīkā (चारीका).—m.c. for cārikā, q.v., Gaṇḍavyūha 57.15.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Cārikā (चारिका).—f.

(-kā) 1. A female attendant. A cockroach.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1) Cārikā (चारिका):—[from cāraka > cāra] a f. ‘a female attendant’ See antaḥpura-

2) [v.s. ...] journey (of Buddha), [Lalita-vistara; Divyāvadāna]

3) [v.s. ...] a cock-roach, [Nighaṇṭuprakāśa]

4) Cārika (चारिक):—[from cāra] See brahma-, māsa-

5) Cārikā (चारिका):—[from cārika > cāra] b f. See raka.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Cārikā (चारिका):—(kā) 1. f. A cockroach.

Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)

Carikā (चरिका) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Cariyā, Cāria, Cāriyā.

[Sanskrit to German]

Carika 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 has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Starts with: Carikaikkentai, Carikaimalai, Carikaittimmai, Carikaittiri, Carikaivelli, Carikamapatani.

Ends with (+38): Abhicarika, Abhinicarika, Abhisamacarika, Acarika, Aggiparicarika, Akasacarika, Anaishcarika, Anaupacarika, Antahpuracarika, Anucarika, Ardhaaupacarika, Asamudacarika, Asannacarika, Aupacarika, Avaicarika, Bhajanacarika, Bhandavaicarika, Bodhiparicarika, Brahmacarika, Camcarika.

Full-text (+38): Cariya, Masacarika, Caria, Paricarika, Bhajanacarika, Haritacarika, Pattracarika, Brahmacarika, Caraka, Samcarika, Gocarika, Abhicaraka, Acarika, Anucarika, Antahpuracarika, Akasacarin, Padacarika, Akasacarika, Janapadacarika, Asannacarika.

Relevant text

Search found 10 books and stories containing Carika, Cārikā, Carikā, Cārika, Cārīkā; (plurals include: Carikas, Cārikās, Carikās, Cārikas, Cārīkās). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

The Great Chronicle of Buddhas (by Ven. Mingun Sayadaw)

Part 1 - On the Journey (Cārika) of the Buddha < [Chapter 24 - The Buddha’s Sixth Vassa at Mount Makula]

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Vastu-shastra (2): Town Planning (by D. N. Shukla)

Chapter 7 - Fortification

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Dhammapada (Illustrated) (by Ven. Weagoda Sarada Maha Thero)

Verse 326 - The Story of Sāmanera Sānu < [Chapter 23 - Nāga Vagga (The Great)]

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The Jataka tales [English], Volume 1-6 (by Robert Chalmers)

Jataka 6: Devadhamma-jātaka < [Book I - Ekanipāta]

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Natyashastra (English) (by Bharata-muni)

Chapter XXXIV - Types of Characters (prakṛti)

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Apadana commentary (Atthakatha) (by U Lu Pe Win)

Commentary on Biography of the thera Kāḷudāyī < [Chapter 4 - Kuṇḍadhānavagga (section on Kuṇḍadhāna)]

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Click here for all 10 books