Dushkara, Duṣkara, Duḥkara, Duh-kara: 20 definitions
Introduction:
Dushkara means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, 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 Duṣkara can be transliterated into English as Duskara or Dushkara, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).
Alternative spellings of this word include Dushkar.
Images (photo gallery)
In Hinduism
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Source: archive.org: Shiva Purana - English TranslationDuṣkara (दुष्कर) (Cf. Suduṣkara) refers to “very difficult”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.3.14 (“The Birth of Tāraka and Vajrāṅga”).—Accordingly, after Vajrāṅga spoke to Varāṅgī: “O sage, thus Vajrāṅga whirled a lot in a dilemma. Intelligently he considered the corresponding strength and weakness of both the alternatives. O sage, as willed by Śiva, though intelligent the king of demons agreed to the proposal. He told his wife ‘So be it’. For that purpose he performed another very difficult penance [i.e., duṣkara—taponyadduṣkaraṃ] with great zeal with me as the object of worship, for number of years. [...]”.
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.
Yoga (school of philosophy)
Source: ORA: Amanaska (king of all yogas): A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation by Jason BirchDuṣkara (दुष्कर) refers to “that which causes sickness”, according to the Amanaska Yoga treatise dealing with meditation, absorption, yogic powers and liberation.—Accordingly, as Īśvara says to Vāmadeva: “[...] What is to be gained by [manipulating] the vital winds, [even when] practised for a long time? [What gained] by the hundreds of [ways] of holding the breath, which cause sickness (vyādhiprada) and are arduous, and by the many Mudrās, which are painful and difficult to master? You [should] serve continually the one and only guru to obtain that [no-mind state] whose nature is innate, on the arising of which, the breath, mighty [though it is], instantly disappears by itself. [...]”.
Yoga is originally considered a branch of Hindu philosophy (astika), but both ancient and modern Yoga combine the physical, mental and spiritual. Yoga teaches various physical techniques also known as āsanas (postures), used for various purposes (eg., meditation, contemplation, relaxation).
In Buddhism
Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)
Source: Wisdom Library: Maha Prajnaparamita SastraDuṣkara (दुष्कर) refers to “difficulty”, according to Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra (chapter 40).—Accordingly, “[Question].—The ten powers are knowledges and the four fearlessnesses (vaiśāradya) are also knowledges. What are the similarities and the differences? [Answer].—When the qualities of the Buddha are explained at length, this is bala; when they explained in brief, this is vaiśāradya. Furthermore, when there is activity (kriyā), this is bala; when there is neither doubt (saṃśaya) nor difficulty (duṣkara), this is vaiśāradya. When wisdom is accumulated, this is bala; when ignorance is dispersed, this is vaiśāradya. [...]”.
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)
Source: OSU Press: Cakrasamvara SamadhiDuṣkara (दुष्कर) refers to “doing wrong”, according to the Cakrasaṃvara Samādhi [i.e., Cakrasamvara Meditation] ritual often performed in combination with the Cakrasaṃvara Samādhi, which refers to the primary pūjā and sādhanā practice of Newah Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhists in Nepal.—Accordingly, “In the Mandala, an obscured Himalaya, abiding seated in lotus posture, [..] making many triple-dark demons, world protectors, destroying all fear, with a tiger skin garment, doing wrong (duṣkara), overcoming wrong, firm, deep, the letters Hūṃ, Phaṭ, or the letters Hāṃ Hāṃ, filling up the entire sky, [...] a helper for crossing over together, the dreadful wilderness of saṃsāra, routing Māra, Śrī Vajrasattva, homage”.
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.
In Jainism
General definition (in Jainism)
Source: archive.org: Een Kritische Studie Van Svayambhūdeva’s PaümacariuDuṣkara (दुष्कर) participated in the war between Rāma and Rāvaṇa, on the side of the latter, as mentioned in Svayambhūdeva’s Paumacariu (Padmacarita, Paumacariya or Rāmāyaṇapurāṇa) chapter 57ff. Svayambhū or Svayambhūdeva (8th or 9th century) was a Jain householder who probably lived in Karnataka. His work recounts the popular Rāma story as known from the older work Rāmāyaṇa (written by Vālmīki). Various chapters [mentioning Duṣkara] are dedicated to the humongous battle whose armies (known as akṣauhiṇīs) consisted of millions of soldiers, horses and elephants, etc.
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.
Languages of India and abroad
Marathi-English dictionary
Source: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionaryduṣkara (दुष्कर).—a (S) Difficult of performance. 2 That works or does evil.
Source: DDSA: The Aryabhusan school dictionary, Marathi-Englishduṣkara (दुष्कर).—a Difficult of performance.
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 dictionaryDuṣkara (दुष्कर).—a.
1) wicked, acting badly; काँल्लोकांस्तु गमिष्यामि कृत्वा कर्म सुदुष्करम् (kāṃllokāṃstu gamiṣyāmi kṛtvā karma suduṣkaram) Mahābhārata (Bombay) 12. 27.18.
2) hard to be done or accomplished, arduous, difficult; वक्तुं सुकरं कर्तुं दुष्करम् (vaktuṃ sukaraṃ kartuṃ duṣkaram) 'sooner said than done'; Amaruśataka 46; Mṛcchakaṭika 3.1.; Manusmṛti 7.55. (-ram) 1 a difficult or painful task or act, difficulty.
2) atmosphere, ether.
Duṣkara is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms dus and kara (कर).
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Edgerton Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit DictionaryDuṣkara (दुष्कर).—nt. (= Pali dukkara; Sanskrit as adj.), difficult task, said of the feats of religious performance accomplished by a Bodhisattva: °rāṇi Mahāvastu i.83.12; 95.15; °raṃ 104.21; °ra-kārakā bodhisattvāḥ Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā 293.9; Gaṇḍavyūha 74.10; °ra-kāriṇo bodhisattvasya Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra 203.9; °ra-caryā Mahāvyutpatti 6679; Lalitavistara 36.2; 250.10 ff., or -cārikā Mahāvastu ii.130.12, course of (such) difficult tasks (engaged in by Bodhisattvas).
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English DictionaryDuṣkara (दुष्कर).—mfn.
(-raḥ-rā-rī-raṃ) 1. Difficult to be done. 2. One who behaves ill, does wrong, &c. wicked, bad. n.
(-raṃ) 1. Æthen atmosphere. 2. Doing any thing with pain or difficulty. E. dur bad, and kara what does from kṛ with karmaṇi khal aff. duḥkhena kriyate .
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Benfey Sanskrit-English DictionaryDuṣkara (दुष्कर).—i. e. dus-kara, adj., f. rā. 1. Difficult to be performed, [Mānavadharmaśāstra] 7, 55. 2. Difficult to be supported, [Rāmāyaṇa] 2, 32, 2. 3. Difficult, Mahābhārata 4, 52. 4. With following yadi, Scarcely, [Rāmāyaṇa] 2, 73, 7.
--- OR ---
Duṣkara (दुष्कर).—adj., f. rī, difficult [Mānavadharmaśāstra] 7. 55; duṣkaraṃ yadi, scarcely, [Rāmāyaṇa] 2, 73, 7.
Duṣkara is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms dus and kara (कर).
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English DictionaryDuṣkara (दुष्कर).—[adjective] difficult, arduous, uncommon, extraordinary; difficult to or to be (infin.); [neuter] hardly, scarcely ([with] yad or yadi).
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary1) Duṣkara (दुष्कर):—[=duṣ-kara] [from duṣ > dur] mfn. hard to be done or borne, difficult, arduous, [Brāhmaṇa; Manu-smṛti; Mahābhārata] etc. (often with [infinitive mood]; raṃ yad or yadi, with indic. or [Potential] and also with [infinitive mood] = hardly, scarcely, [Mahābhārata; Rāmāyaṇa])
2) [v.s. ...] rare, extraordinary, [Mahābhārata; Kathāsaritsāgara]
3) [v.s. ...] doing wrong, behaving ill, wicked, bad, [Horace H. Wilson]
4) [v.s. ...] n. difficult act, difficulty, [ib.]
5) [v.s. ...] austerity, [Divyāvadāna 392]
6) [v.s. ...] aether, air, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
7) [v.s. ...] the tree of plenty, [Horace H. Wilson]
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English DictionaryDuṣkara (दुष्कर):—[du-ṣkara] (raḥ-rā-raṃ) a. Hard to be done. n. Æther; sky; tree of abundance; doing evil.
Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)Duṣkara (दुष्कर) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Duara, Dukkara.
[Sanskrit to 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
Source: DDSA: A practical Hindi-English dictionaryDuṣkara (दुष्कर) [Also spelled dushkar]:—(a) difficult, hard, arduous; hence ~[tā] (nf).
...
Kannada-English dictionary
Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpusDuṣkara (ದುಷ್ಕರ):—
1) [adjective] difficult to perform, understand, etc.
2) [adjective] inflicting distress, pain, etc.; harmful; cruel.
--- OR ---
Duṣkara (ದುಷ್ಕರ):—
1) [noun] the quality or fact of being difficult; difficulty.
2) [noun] the evil quality or intention.
3) [noun] (rhet.) the quality of being complex, complicated, intricate, etc., which is considered as one of the major fallacies in a literary work.
4) [noun] such a literary work.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Source: unoes: Nepali-English DictionaryDuṣkara (दुष्कर):—adj. (any work) troublesome; burdensome; arduous; difficult to be accomplished; n. burdensome or troublesome work;
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: Dush, Duh, Kara.
Starts with: Dushkaracarya, Dushkaraka, Dushkarakarana, Dushkarakarin, Dushkarakarita, Dushkarakarman, Dushkarana, Dushkarasadhana, Dushkaroddhara.
Ends with: Atidushkara, Pradushkara, Sudushkara, Varnatidushkara.
Full-text (+24): Sudushkara, Atidushkara, Duara, Dutkarakarita, Dushkarakarita, Dushkarasadhana, Dushkaracarya, Dushkarakarman, Dushkarakarin, Dutkarakarin, Aushadhikar, Dukkara, Tukkaram, Dur, Divakara, Sahasradha, Pravivekya, Adhikaranika, Mauneya, Dushkaraka.
Relevant text
Search found 22 books and stories containing Dushkara, Duh-kara, Duḥ-kara, Duh-kara, Duḥkara, Duṣ-kara, Dus-kara, Dush-kara, Duṣkara, Duskara; (plurals include: Dushkaras, karas, Duḥkaras, Duṣkaras, Duskaras). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Garga Samhita (English) (by Danavir Goswami)
Verse 5.21.37 < [Chapter 21 - The Story of Śrī Nārada]
Brihad Bhagavatamrita (commentary) (by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyana Gosvāmī Mahārāja)
Verse 2.2.106 < [Chapter 2 - Jñāna (knowledge)]
Verse 1.7.115 < [Chapter 7 - Pūrṇa (pinnacle of excellent devotees)]
Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi (by Ganganatha Jha)
Verse 2.84 < [Section XVII - Rules of Study]
Verse 7.55 < [Section IV - Duties of the King]
Verse 11.238 < [Section XXXI - Austerity (tapas): its Value]
Shiva Gita (study and summary) (by K. V. Anantharaman)
Chaitanya Bhagavata (by Bhumipati Dāsa)
Verse 2.18.76 < [Chapter 18 - Mahāprabhu’s Dancing as a Gopī]
Verse 1.6.9 < [Chapter 6 - The Lord Begins Studying and His Childhood Mischief]
Verse 3.2.236 < [Chapter 2 - Description of the Lord’s Travel Through Bhuvaneśvara and Other Placesto Jagannātha Purī]