Ganaka, Gaṇaka: 23 definitions
Introduction:
Ganaka 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 Ganak.
In Hinduism
Natyashastra (theatrics and dramaturgy)
Gaṇaka (गणक, “reckoner”).—Blemishes (ghāta) affecting the success (siddhi) should be recorded with the help of reckoners (gaṇaka) by these persons (i. e. assessors, prāśnika) who are seated at ease, have clean intention, and whose intelligence is.[generally relied on by the public.
Natyashastra (नाट्यशास्त्र, nāṭyaśāstra) refers to both the ancient Indian tradition (shastra) of performing arts, (natya—theatrics, drama, dance, music), as well as the name of a Sanskrit work dealing with these subjects. It also teaches the rules for composing Dramatic plays (nataka), construction and performance of Theater, and Poetic works (kavya).
Arthashastra (politics and welfare)
Gaṇaka (गणक, “accountant”) is an official title designating one of the seventy-two officers (niyoga) of the Bāhattaraniyogādhipati circle, according to the Inscriptional glossary of Andhra Pradesh (Śāsana-śabdakośāmu). The bāhattaraniyoga-adhipati is the highest executive officer of this circle (including a Gaṇaka). For example: During the reign of Gaṇapatideva, the area extending between Pānagal to Mārjavāḍi was entrusted to Gaṇḍapeṇḍāru Gangayasāhiṇi as Bāhattaraniyogādhipati. Later on, this office was entrusted to Kāyastha Jannigadeva.
Arthashastra (अर्थशास्त्र, arthaśāstra) literature concerns itself with the teachings (shastra) of economic prosperity (artha) statecraft, politics and military tactics. The term arthashastra refers to both the name of these scientific teachings, as well as the name of a Sanskrit work included in such literature. This book was written (3rd century BCE) by by Kautilya, who flourished in the 4th century BCE.
Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology)
Gaṇakā (गणका) or Gaṇakāketu refers to certain types of Ketus (i.e., luminous bodies such as comets and meteors), according to the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (chapter 11), an encyclopedic Sanskrit work written by Varāhamihira mainly focusing on the science of ancient Indian astronomy astronomy (Jyotiṣa).—Accordingly, “The comets that resemble clusters of stars are named Gaṇakā Ketus; they are 8 in number and are the sons of Prajāpati. Those that are oblongular in shape, are 204 in number and are the sons of Brahmā. The comets that resemble clusters of bamboo canes and that are as bright as the moon are named Kaṅkā Ketus; they are the sons of Varuṇa and are 32 in number. When they appear mankind will suffer miseries”.
Gaṇaka (गणक) refers to an “astrologer”, according to the Karmaprakāśa—one of the earliest preserved Sanskrit works on Perso-Arabic (Tājika) astrology authored by Samarasiṃha in the 13th century.—Accordingly, [the text opens with the three stanzas]: “Homage to that powerful something which all learned men call action [and which] spiritual men [call] unfathomable [but] certain and of most manifest result; homage, moreover, to those great ones who have set down the canons in which expert astrologers (gaṇaka-śreṣṭha) behold it as clearly as people [behold] their image in a spotless mirror! [...]”.
Jyotisha (ज्योतिष, jyotiṣa or jyotish) refers to ‘astronomy’ or “Vedic astrology” and represents the fifth of the six Vedangas (additional sciences to be studied along with the Vedas). Jyotisha concerns itself with the study and prediction of the movements of celestial bodies, in order to calculate the auspicious time for rituals and ceremonies.
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Gaṇaka (गणक) (Cf. Gaṇa) refers to “attendants” (of Śiva), according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.3.43 (“Description of Śiva’s wonderful sport”).—Accordingly, after Śiva spoke to Viṣṇu and Brahmā: “[...] In the meantime, seeing the splendid vast army, O sage, Menā became delighted as usual. [...] On seeing Vasu, the lord of Vasus, along with Vasus, Menā became delighted and exclaimed—‘O this is Śiva’. O excellent sage, you told her ‘These are only the attendants (gaṇaka) of Śiva. This is not Śiva, the bridegroom’. On hearing this, Menā fell athinking ‘A person greater than this! Hā, how will he be!’ [...]”.
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.
India history and geography
Gaṇaka.—(EI 18), official designation; cf. Tamil kaṇakaṉ (SITI), a village accountant; also vāśal-kaṇakkaṉ (SITI), accountant at the vāśal (palace or palace-gate); ūrkkaṇakkar- jīvitam (SITI), land assigned in lieu of salary to the village accountant or perquisites of the office of the village accountant (i. e. the Paṭvārī as he is called in many parts of India). Note: gaṇaka is defined in the “Indian epigraphical glossary” as it can be found on ancient inscriptions commonly written in Sanskrit, Prakrit or Dravidian languages.
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
gaṇaka : (m.) an accountant; one skilled in arithmetic.
Gaṇaka, (fr. gaṇ, to comprise in the sense of to count up) a counter, one skilled in counting familiar with arithmetic; an accountant, overseer or calculator. enumerated as an occupation together with muddika at D.I, 51 (expl. DA.I, 157 by acchidda-pāṭhaka); also with muddika and saṅkhāyika S.IV, 376; as an office at the king’s court (together with amaccā as gaṇaka-mahāmatta=a ministerial treasurer) D.III, 64, and in same context D.III, 148, 153, 169, 171, 177; as overseer Vin.III, 43; as accountant Miln.79, 293; VvA.66. (Page 241)
gaṇaka (ဂဏက) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[gaṇa+ṇvu．gaṇayatīti gaṇako,ṇvu．,ṭī.347.]
[ဂဏ+ဏွု။ ဂဏယတီတိ ဂဏကော၊ ဏွု။ ဓာန်၊ဋီ။၃၄၇။]
[Pali to Burmese]
gaṇaka—
(Burmese text): (၁) ဟူးရား-ဗေဒင်-တတ်သူ၊ ဗေဒင်ဆရာ။ (၂) သစ်စောင့်၊ သစ်ထိန်း၊ သစ်စာရေး။ (၃) ဂဏန်းသင်္ချာတတ်သူ၊ ကိုးကြောင်းခရိုင်တတ်သူ။ အစ္ဆိဒ္ဒကပါဌက-လည်းကြည့်။
(Auto-Translation): (1) Hura - astrologer, astrologer. (2) Tree caretaker, tree protector, tree scribe. (3) Mathematics expert, code expert. Also look at the Ahsiddhaka Padhaka.
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
gaṇaka (गणक).—m An astrologer.
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
Gaṇaka (गणक).—a. [gaṇ-ṇvul] (-ṇikā f.) Bought for a large sum.
-kaḥ 1 An arithmetician.
2) An astrologer; Vāj.3.2; रे पान्थ पुस्तकधर क्षणमत्र तिष्ठ वैद्योसि किं गणकशास्त्र- विशारदोसि । केनौषधेन मम पश्यति भर्तुरम्बा किं वा गमिष्यति पतिः सुचिरप्रवासी (re pāntha pustakadhara kṣaṇamatra tiṣṭha vaidyosi kiṃ gaṇakaśāstra- viśāradosi | kenauṣadhena mama paśyati bharturambā kiṃ vā gamiṣyati patiḥ sucirapravāsī) || Subhāṣ.
3) An assemblage of eight stars; तारापुञ्जनिकाशा गणका नाम प्रजापतेरष्टौ (tārāpuñjanikāśā gaṇakā nāma prajāpateraṣṭau) Bri. S.11.25.
-kī The wife of an astrologer.
Gaṇaka (गणक).—m.
(-kaḥ) 1. An astrologer, a calculator of nativities. &c. 2. An arithmetician. f. (-kī) The wife of an astrologer. E. gaṇ to calculate, affix kvun, fem. affix ṅīṣ.
Gaṇaka (गणक).—[gaṇ + aka], m. 1. A calculator, Mbh, 15, 417. 2. An astrologer, [Rāmāyaṇa] 1, 12, 7.
Gaṇaka (गणक).—[masculine] arithmetician, astrologue.
1) Gaṇaka (गणक):—[from gaṇ] mfn. bought for a large sum, [Pāṇini 5-1, 22; Kāśikā-vṛtti]
2) [v.s. ...] m. one who reckons, arithmetician, [Mahābhārata ii, 206; xv, 417]
3) [v.s. ...] a calculator of nativities, astrologer, [Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā xxx, 20; Rāmāyaṇa i, 12, 7; Kathāsaritsāgara]
4) [v.s. ...] m. [plural] Name of a collection of 8 stars, [Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā xi, 25]
Gaṇaka (गणक):—(kaḥ) 1. m. An astrologer.
Gaṇaka (गणक):—(von gaṇa)
1) adj. um eine grosse Summe erstanden [Pāṇini’s acht Bücher 5, 1, 22,] [Scholiast] —
2) m. Rechner, Berechner: kacciccāyavyaye yuktāḥ sarve gaṇakalekhakāḥ . anutiṣṭhanti pūrvāhṇe nityamāyavyayaṃ tava .. [Mahābhārata 2, 206.] gaṇakā lekhakāstathā [45, 417.] —
3) m. Astrolog [Amarakoṣa 2, 8, 1, 14.] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 482.] [Anekārthasaṃgraha 3, 35.] [Medinīkoṣa k. 79.] [Vājasaneyisaṃhitā 30, 20.] [Rāmāyaṇa 1, 12, 7.] [Kathāsaritsāgara 12, 13.] gaṇakī f. die Frau eines Astrologen [Pāṇini’s acht Bücher 4, 1, 48,] [Scholiast] [Jaṭādhara im Śabdakalpadruma] —
4) m. eine best. Gruppe von acht Sternen: tārāḥ puñjanikāśā gaṇakā nāma prajāpateraṣṭau [Varāhamihira’s Bṛhajjātaka 11, 25.] — Vgl. gaṇay .
--- OR ---
Gaṇaka (गणक):—
3) [Kathāsaritsāgara 51, 190. 61, 252.] — Vgl. patti, ratha .
Gaṇaka (गणक):——
1) *Adj. um eine grosse Summe erstanden. —
2) m. — a) Rechner , Berechner. — b) Astrolog. — c) Pl. eine best. Gruppe von acht Sternen. —
3) f. gaṇikā — a) Hetäre , Hure. — b) *Elephantenweibchen. — c) *Jasminum auriculatum. — d) *Aeschynomene Sesban. — e) *Premna spinosa. — f) *counting , enumerating. — g) *apprehension. —
4) *f. gaṇakī die Frau eines Astrologen.
Gaṇaka (गणक) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Gaṇaga.
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
Gaṇaka (गणक) [Also spelled ganak]:—(nm) a scorer, reckoner.
...
Kannada-English dictionary
Gaṇaka (ಗಣಕ):—
1) [noun] a man who has the knowledge of arithmetic or one who calculates; an arithmetician; an accountant.
2) [noun] a man who foretells the future by studying the position of the moon, sun and stars, that is believed to affect human affairs and destiny; an astrologer.
3) [noun] = ಗಣಕಯಂತ್ರ - [ganakayamtra -] 1.
4) [noun] = ಗಣಕಯಂತ್ರ - [ganakayamtra -] 2.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Gaṇaka (गणक):—adj. counter; n. 1. calculator; 2. an astrologer;
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)
Starts with (+10): Ganaka Moggallana, Ganaka Moggallana Sutta, Ganakabhushana, Ganakakantha, Ganakakanthabharana, Ganakakanthabharana, Ganakaketu, Ganakakumudakaumudi, Ganakale, Ganakama, Ganakamahamatra, Ganakamahamatta, Ganakamandana, Ganakamma, Ganakamodakarini, Ganakamoggallanasutta, Ganakananda, Ganakapradipa, Ganakaprakasha, Ganakaputta Tissa.
Full-text (+53): Ganika, Ganaki, Rathaganaka, Pattiganaka, Suganaka, Ganakabhushana, Ganaka Moggallana, Soma ganaka, Ganakamahamatta, Ganakamahamatra, Ganakaputtatissatthera, Acchiddakadipathaganaka, Ganakamandana, Vishnu ganaka, Suraji ganaka, Vallabha ganaka, Vishvarupa ganaka, Kalidasa ganaka, Ganakaprakasha, Ganakasaroddhara.
Relevant text
Search found 41 books and stories containing Ganaka, Gaṇaka, Gana-nvu, Gaṇa-ṇvu; (plurals include: Ganakas, Gaṇakas, nvus, ṇvus). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Indian Astronomy (a source book) (by B. V. Subbarayappa)
Chapter 2 - Astronomer (ganaka)
Chapter 11 - Ancient Indian Calendar (pancanga)
Brahmasphutasiddhanta by Brahmagupta (Introduction) (by Acharyavara Ram Swarup Sharma)
Part 3 - Operations and Determinations in Patiganita < [Chapter 9 - Brahmagupta and Arithmetic]
Part 30 - Double Equations of the First Degree < [Chapter 10 - Brahmagupta as an Algebraist]
Part 6 - Reference to Romaka and Paulisa systems < [Chapter 2 - Personal References of Brahmagupta]
Arts in the Puranas (study) (by Meena Devadatta Jeste)
2. History of Music from the Vedic period < [Chapter 1 - Music in the Puranas]
Kathasaritsagara (cultural study) (by S. W. Chitale)
The Palace and Personal Staff < [Chapter 2 - Political conditions]
Arts and Sciences—Introduction < [Chapter 3 - Economic Conditions]
The other sections and surroundings in the Palace < [Chapter 2 - Political conditions]
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts, Madras (by M. Seshagiri Sastri)
Further sources of Vijayanagara history (by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri)