Introduction

Alternative spellings of this word include Chatur.

In Hinduism

Pancaratra (worship of Nārāyaṇa)

Source: SriMatham: Vaiṣṇava Iconology based on Pañcarātra Āgama

Catur (“four”) is the number of the earth, and represents the fulfilment of manifestations in all the spheres of existence.

Thus they represent all the following;

1. The cardinal directions; indicating that the Lord is all pervading and has perfect dominion over all the directions.
2. The Yajña-kuṇḍa (fire pit); the Lord is known as Yajña Purusha, he is the sole enjoyer of the sacrifices as well as being the sacrifice itself, and as such his arms represent the four Vedic kuṇḍas (gārhapatya, āhavaniya, avasathya, sabhya).
3. The four Vedas which are the sacred Revelation namely Rik, Yajus, Sama and Atharvana.
4. The four divisions of society; intellectuals, administrators, entrepreneurs, and workers.
5. The four stages of life; student, householder, retirement and renunciate.
6. The four levels of consciousness; waking (jāgrata), dream (svapna), sub-consciousness (suṣupti) and transcendental consciousness (turiya).
7. The four types of devotees; distressed, inquirer, the opportunist and the sage.
8. The four functional manifestations (vyuhas). Vasudeva, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Sankarshana.
9. The four essential components of dharma; truth (satya), austerity (tapa), compassion (dayā), and charity (Dāna).
10. The four aims of human endeavor (purushārthas); pleasure (kāma), prosperity (artha), righteousness (dharma) and liberation (mokṣa)
11. The four types of liberation (mukti), communion (sāyujya), association (sārūpya),contiguity (sāmīpya), collocation (sālokya).
12. The four ages of man. (yugas) Satya, Treta, Dvapara, Kali.
13. four types of birth—gods (deva), humans (manushya), animals (tiryak) and plants (sthāvaram).
14. The four types of Spiritual Paths or Yogas:—jñāna, karma, bhakti and śaranāgati
15. The four types of differentiation among all existing things—genus (jāti), form (rūpa), nature (svabhāva) and knowledge (jñāna).
16. The four qualities of all manifested beings: category (jāti), attributes (guna), function (kriya), relationship (sambandha).

context information

Pancaratra (पाञ्चरात्र, pāñcarātra) represents a tradition of Hinduism where Narayana is revered and worshipped. Closeley related to Vaishnavism, the Pancaratra literature includes various Agamas and tantras incorporating many Vaishnava philosophies.

Languages of India and abroad

Pali-English dictionary

Source: Sutta: The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary

1) Cātur°, (and cātu°) (see catur) consisting of four. Only in cpds. viz.

2) Catur, catu° in composition (Vedic catvārah (m.) catvāri (nt.) fr. *qǔetuor, *qǔetur=Gr. tέttares (hom. piζurQs), Lat. quattuor, Goth. fidwōr, Ohg. fior, Ags fēower, E. four; catasras (f.) fr. *qǔ(e)tru, cp. tisras. Also as adv. catur fr. *quetrus=Lat. quater & quadru°) base of numeral four; 1. As num. adj. Nom. & Acc. m. cattāro (Dh. 109; J. III, 51) and caturo (Sn. 84, 188), f. catasso (Sn. 1122), nt. cattāri (Sn. 227); Gen. m. catunnaṃ (Sn. p. 102), (f. catassannaṃ); Instr. catubbhi (Sn. 229), catūhi (Sn. 231) & catuhi; Loc. catūsu (J. I, 262) & catusu.—2. As num. adv. , catu° catur° in cpds. catuddasa (14), also through elision & reduction cuddasa PvA. 55, 283, etc., cp. also cātuddasī. Catuvīsati (24) Sn. 457; catusaṭṭhi (64) J. I, 50; II, 193; PvA. 74; caturāsīti (84) usually with vassa-sahassāni J. I, 137; II, 311; Pv IV. 7⁷; DhA. II, 58; PvA. 9, 31, 254, etc. See also cattārīsa (40).

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.

Marathi-English dictionary

Source: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionary

catur (चतुर्).—a S Four. 2 One of the two divisions of the śrāvaka or jaina people. These are agriculturalists: the other (pañcama) engage in trade.

context information

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

Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary

Catur (चतुर्).—num. a. [cat-uran Uṇ.5.58] (always in pl.; m. catvāraḥ; f. catasraḥ; n. catvāri) Four; चत्वारो वयमृत्विजः (catvāro vayamṛtvijaḥ) Ve.1.25; चतस्रोऽवस्था बाल्यं कौमारं यौवनं वार्धकं चेति (catasro'vasthā bālyaṃ kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ vārdhakaṃ ceti); चत्वारि शृङ्गा त्रयो अस्य पादाः (catvāri śṛṅgā trayo asya pādāḥ) &c.; शेषान् मासान् गमय चतुरो लोचने मील- यित्वा (śeṣān māsān gamaya caturo locane mīla- yitvā) Me.11. -ind. Four times. [cf. Zend chathru; Gr. tessares; L. quatuor.] [In Comp. the र् (r) of चतुर् (catur) is changed to a Visarga (which in some cases becomes ś, ṣ or s, or remains unchanged) before words beginning with hard consonants.]

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

Catur (चतुर्).—mfn. plu. only, (catvāraḥ catasraḥ catvāri) Four: in composition, and the last member of a compound, the numeral is inflected in all the numbers; thus priyacatur Who has four favorites, makes masc. and fem. (sing.) priyacatvā (du.) tvārau (plu.) tvāraḥ and n. (sing.) priyacatuḥ (du.) catvārī (plu.) catvāri, &c. vahuvacanāntaḥ cata-uran .

—— OR ——

Catus (चतुस्).—ind. Four times: see catur.

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

Catur (चतुर्).— (for catvar), f. catasṛ, numeral, Four, Chr. 28, 21; msc. instead of the fem. [Rāmāyaṇa] 4, 39, 33.

— Cf. for [Latin] quatuor; [Gothic.] fidvör; A. S. feower.

--- OR ---

Catus (चतुस्).—i. e. catur + s, adv. Four times, [Cāṇakya] 71.

— Cf. [Latin] quater.

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

Catur (चतुर्).—(°—) v. catvār.

--- OR ---

Catus (चतुस्).—[adverb] four times.

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

1) Catur (चतुर्):—[from catasṛ] tvāras m. [plural], tvāri n. [plural], 4 ([accusative] m. turas [instrumental case] turbhis [for f., [Rāmāyaṇa iv, 39, 33]] [genitive case] turṇām [ablative] turbhyas; class. [instrumental case] [dative case] [ablative], and [locative case] also oxyt. [Pāṇini 6-1, 180 f.]; ifc. [Kāśikā-vṛtti] and, [Siddhānta-kaumudī on Pāṇini 7-1, 55 and 98 ff.]; for f. See catasṛ);

2) [v.s. ...] cf. τέσσαρες, τέτταρες, [Aeolic] πίσυρες; [Gothic] fidvor; [Latin] quatuor; [Cambro-Brit, the language of Wales] pedwar, pedair; [Hibernian or Irish] ceatkair; [Lithuanian] keturi; [Slavonic or Slavonian] cetyrje.

3) Catuś (चतुश्):—[from catasṛ] in [compound] for tur.

4) Catuṣ (चतुष्):—[from catasṛ] in [compound] for tur.

5) Catus (चतुस्):—[from catasṛ] 1. catus ind. ([Pāṇini 5-4, 18]; in [compound] before hard gutturals and labials tuḥ or tuṣ, [viii, 3, 43]) 4 times, [Atharva-veda xi, 2, 9; Taittirīya-saṃhitā ii; Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa; Āśvalāyana-gṛhya-sūtra etc.]

6) [v.s. ...] 2. catus in [compound] for tur.

[Sanskrit to German] (Deutsch Wörterbuch)

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Sanskrit-Wörterbuch in kürzerer Fassung

Catur (चतुर्):—s. catvar.

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Catus (चतुस्):—Adv. viermal. Ungenau für vier [Indische sprüche 2183,] v.l.

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)

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