Dhanurdhara, Dhanurdharā, Dhanus-dhara: 20 definitions
Introduction:
Dhanurdhara means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, Buddhism, Pali, 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.
Alternative spellings of this word include Dhanurdhar.
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In Hinduism
Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर) or Dhanurdharāgama refers to one of upāgamas (supplementary scriptures) of the Prodgītāgama which is one of the twenty-eight Siddhāntāgama: a classification of the Śaiva division of Śaivāgamas. The Śaivāgamas represent the wisdom that has come down from lord Śiva, received by Pārvatī and accepted by Viṣṇu. The purpose of revealing upāgamas (e.g., Dhanurdhara Āgama) is to explain more elaborately than that of mūlāgamas (e.g., Prodgīta-āgama) and to include any new idea if not dealt in mūlāgamas.
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.
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर) refers to “archers” (one who holds a bow), according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.2.24. Accordingly as Brahmā narrated to Nārada:—“[...] There Śiva saw Rāma [together with Lakṣmaṇa] who was searching for Sitā who was deceitfully abducted by Rāvaṇa. Lakṣmaṇa too was there. [...] Satī was surprised at this charmingly strange sport of Śiva. She was deluded by Śiva’s Māyā and spoke to Him. Satī said:—‘[...] O lord, who are these two persons apparently grief-stricken from pangs of separation? Though heroic archers (dhanurdhara) they are greatly distressed. They seem to be roaming about in the forest’”.
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)
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर) refers to “one who holds a bow”, according to the Kularatnoddyota, one of the earliest Kubjikā Tantras.—Accordingly, [while describing the gross form of Navātman called Śabdarāśinavātman]: “(Navātman) has a big body and burns intensely, illumining the sky with (his) radiant energy. [...] He holds a skull and an ascetic’s staff. (Another) hand shines (as it were) with a trident. (He also holds) a bow [i.e., dhanurdhara], an arrow, vīṇā, bell and double-headed drum. [...]”.
Dhanurdharā (धनुर्धरा) refers to “she who carries a bow” and is used to describe the Fourteen Goddesses (to whom all fourteen worlds bow), according to the King Vatsarāja’s Pūjāstuti called the Kāmasiddhistuti (also Vāmakeśvarīstuti), guiding one through the worship of the Goddess Nityā.—Accordingly, “[...] I worship those compassionately-disposed goddesses of red-complexion, the eight powers of the bodiless [love-god Kāmadeva], who have arisen like shadows of the goddess [Nityā Sundarī] and are very difficult to conquer. I venerate those fourteen goddesses, with Sarvasaṃkṣobhaṇī at the fore, to whom [all] fourteen worlds bow. They carry a bow (dhanurdharā) and arrows made of sugarcane. [...]”.
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.
India history and geography
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर) is the name of a Poet mentioned in the 13th century Saduktikarṇāmrita by Śrīdhara Dāsa (son of Vaṭu Dāsa) who was a chief over several districts (called a mahāmaṇḍalika).—The Sadukti-Karnamrita is a collection of miscellaneous verses by different authors and on various subjects, five verses being devoted to each subject. There are 446 poets identified (for example, Dhanurdhara) some of which in the feminine gender (intended for females) while others are of Buddhist monks etc.
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
dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर) [or धनुर्धारी, dhanurdhārī].—a (S That holds the bow). A bowman, an archer. 2 fig. Supereminently skilful (in any science or art); bearing the palm.
dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर) [or dhanurdhārī, or धनुर्धारी].—A bowman, an archer. a Fig. Supereminently skilful (in any science or art).
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
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर).—m. (dhanurdharaḥ &c.)
1) an archer; धनुर्भृतोऽप्यस्य दयार्द्रभावम् (dhanurbhṛto'pyasya dayārdrabhāvam) R.2.11; धनुर्धरः केसरिणं ददर्श (dhanurdharaḥ kesariṇaṃ dadarśa) 29;3.31,38,39;9.11;12.97; 16.77.
2) an epithet of Viṣṇu.
3) the sign Sagittarius of the zodiac.
Derivable forms: dhanurdharaḥ (धनुर्धरः).
Dhanurdhara is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms dhanus and dhara (धर). See also (synonyms): dhanurbhṛt.
Dhanudharā (धनुधरा).—name of a rākṣasī: Mahā-Māyūrī 241.32.
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर).—m.
(-raḥ) An archer, a bowyer, one armed with a bow. E. dhanus a bow, and dhara who possesses. dhanurdhārayati dhṛ-ac .
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर).—[adjective] bearing a bow; [masculine] archer.
1) Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर):—[=dhanur-dhara] [from dhanur > dhanu] m. = -graha, [Manu-smṛti; Mahābhārata; Rāmāyaṇa] etc. (also as Name of Śiva)
2) [v.s. ...] the sign of the zodiac Sagittarius, [Varāha-mihira]
3) [v.s. ...] Name of a son of Dhṛta-rāṣṭra, [Mahābhārata]
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर):—[dhanur-dhara] (raḥ) 1. m. An archer.
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर):—(1. dhanus + dhara)
1) adj. subst. einen Bogen tragend, mit einem Bogen bewaffnet, Bogenschütze [Amarakoṣa 2, 8, 2, 37.] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 771,] [Scholiast] [Manu’s Gesetzbuch 7, 74.] [Duaupadīpramātha 6, 1.] [Rāmāyaṇa 1, 1, 43. 2, 31. 3.] [Raghuvaṃśa 2, 29. 3, 31. 38. 12, 97. 16, 77.] von Śiva [Śivanāmasahasra] —
2) m. der Schütze im Thierkreise [Varāhamihira’s Bṛhajjātaka 4, 15. 17, 16.] —
3) m. Nomen proprium eines der 100 Söhne des Dhṛtarāṣṭra [Mahābhārata 1, 4550]; vgl. dhanurgraha .
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर):——
1) Adj. einen Bogen tragend , mit einem B. bewaffnet ; m. Bogenschütze. Auch als Beiw. Śiva’s —
2) m. — a) der Schütze im Thierkreise. — b) Nomen proprium eines Sohnes des Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
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
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर) [Also spelled dhanurdhar]:—[[~rdhārī]] (a) wielding a bow/arch; (nm) a bowman, an archer.
...
Kannada-English dictionary
Dhanurdhara (ಧನುರ್ಧರ):—
1) [noun] a man holding a bow; an archer.
2) [noun] (astrol.) the ninth sign of the zodiac entered by the sun about November 21; Sagittarius.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Dhanurdhara (धनुर्धर):—n. an archer; a skilled archer;
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.
Pali-English dictionary
dhanudhara (ဓနုဓရ) [(ti) (တိ)]—
[dhanu+dhara+a．(dhanuddhīra-saṃ．dhaṇuddhara-prā,dhanudhīrayā-sī)]
[ဓနု+ဓရ+အ။ (ဓနုဒ္ဓီရ-သံ။ ဓဏုဒ္ဓရ-ပြာ၊ ဓနုဓီရယာ-သီဟိုဠ်)]
[Pali to Burmese]
dhanudhara—
(Burmese text): လေးကို-ဆောင်-ကိုင်စွဲ-သော၊ သူ၊ လေးသမား။
(Auto-Translation): The one who is holding the little one, is the little girl's companion.
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.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches: Dhanus, Dhanu, A, Dhara, Tara, Tanu.
Full-text (+5): Sharngadhanurdhara, Dhanurbhrit, Dhanurdhar, Shashashringa, Mahadhanurdhara, Dhanurdhari, Vilohita, Dhanugriha, Dhanurdharin, Prakarastha, Anudruta, Sasavisana, Shreshthatama, Kesarin, Kaula, Dhanurgraha, Dhvaja, Torana, Dhanus, Tara.
Relevant text
Search found 29 books and stories containing Dhanurdhara, Dhanu-dhara-a, Dhanudhara, Dhanudharā, Dhanur-dharā, Dhanur-dhara, Dhanurdharā, Dhanus-dharā, Dhanus-dhara; (plurals include: Dhanurdharas, as, Dhanudharas, Dhanudharās, dharās, dharas, Dhanurdharās). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Bhagavad-gita (with Vaishnava commentaries) (by Narayana Gosvami)
Verse 18.78 < [Chapter 18 - Mokṣa-yoga (the Yoga of Liberation)]
Bhagavad Gita in contemporary perspective (study) (by Tapan Dutta)
Making a sustainable and ideal society < [Chapter 4 - Contemporary relevance of the teachings of the Śrīmadbhagavadgītā]
The Karmayoga in the Gītā: The basic Human Value < [Chapter 3 - Human values as revealed in the Śrīmadbhagavadgītā]
Yavanajataka by Sphujidhvaja [Sanskrit/English] (by Michael D Neely)
Verse 3.8 < [Chapter 3 - One’s Own Form of the Drekkāṇas]
Verse 2.34 < [Chapter 2 - One’s Own Form of the Horās]
Verse 3.26 < [Chapter 3 - One’s Own Form of the Drekkāṇas]
Garga Samhita (English) (by Danavir Goswami)
Verses 1.7.24-26 < [Chapter 7 - Description of the Conquest of All Directions]
Verse 4.19.92 < [Chapter 19 - A Thousand Names of Srī Yamunā]
Verse 2.5.11 < [Chapter 5 - The Liberation of Bakāsura]
Brahma Sutras (Govinda Bhashya) (by Kusakratha das Brahmacari)
Adhikarana 2: The Lord’s Qualities are Described in Many Scriptures < [Adhyaya 3, Pada 3]
Chaitanya Bhagavata (by Bhumipati Dāsa)
Verse 2.10.8 < [Chapter 10 - Conclusion of the Lord’s Mahā-prakāśa Pastimes]
Verse 3.4.324 < [Chapter 4 - Descriptions of Śrī Acyutānanda’s Pastimes and the Worship of Śrī Mādhavendra]
Verse 1.12.165 < [Chapter 12 - The Lord’s Wandering Throughout Navadvīpa]