Kanduka, Kaṇḍuka, Kamduka: 22 definitions
Introduction:
Kanduka means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, the history of ancient India, Marathi. 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.
In Hinduism
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
1) Kaṇḍuka (कण्डुक) is the name of a leader of Gaṇas (Gaṇapa or Gaṇeśvara or Gaṇādhipa) who came to Kailāsa, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.1.20. Accordingly, after Śiva decided to become the friend of Kubera:—“[...] The leaders of Gaṇas revered by the whole world and of high fortune arrived there. [...] Kapālin with five crores, the auspicious Sandāraka with six crores and Kaṇḍuka and Kuṇḍaka each with a crore. [...]”.
These [viz., Kaṇḍuka] and other leaders of Gaṇas [viz., Gaṇapas] were all powerful (mahābala) and innumerable (asaṃkhyāta). [...] The Gaṇa chiefs and other noble souls of spotless splendour eagerly reached there desirous of seeing Śiva. Reaching the spot they saw Śiva, bowed to and eulogised him.
2) Kanduka (कन्दुक) refers to “balls (for playing with)”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.3.7.—Accordingly, after the Goddess (Umā/Śivā) incarnated as Pārvatī by becoming the daughter of Menā:—“[...] Just as a lamp in the house is praised by leaping flames of brilliance, just as the path of the good by the Gaṅgā, so also the lord of mountains was respected on account of Pārvatī. During her childhood, the goddess played frequently on the sandy banks of the Gaṅgā in the middle of her playmates with balls [i.e., kanduka] and dolls. [...]”.

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.
Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)
Kanduka (कन्दुक) refers to a “ball”, according to the Guhyasūtra chapter 3.—Accordingly, “[...] One may perform the Block-of-Wood Observance in a forest full of bears, tigers and lions, conquering the urges to sleep and eat, [constantly] reciting. If one takes on the appearance of a woman and sings and dances, adorned with bracelets, with a winnowing fan, ball (kanduka) and plait, one observes the Colourful Observance. With a weapon in hand, full of compassion, if one wanders like a saviour of creatures (?) focussed upon recitation, meditation and worship, one performs the Warrior Observance. [...]”.

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.
In Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)
Kanduka (कन्दुक) is the name of a Vīra (hero) who, together with the Ḍākinī named Kandukī forms one of the 36 pairs situated in the Guṇacakra, according to the 10th century Ḍākārṇava chapter 15. Accordingly, the guṇacakra refers to one of the four divisions of the sahaja-puṭa (‘innate layer’), situated within the padma (lotus) in the middle of the Herukamaṇḍala. The 36 pairs of Ḍākinīs and Vīras [viz., Kanduka] are whitish red in color; they each have one face and four arms; they hold a skull bowl, a skull staff, a small drum, and a knife.

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.
India history and geography
Kanduka.—(EI 1), probably, a sugar-boiler. Note: kanduka 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
kanduka : (m.) a ball (used in games).
Kaṇḍuka, the itch, itchy feeling, irritation J. V, 198. (Page 179)
kanduka (ကန္ဒုက) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[kadi+ṇuka.kudda+ṇuka.kadi avhāne rodane ca,ṇuko,kudda kīḷāyameva vā,ussattaṃ,pubbadassa no.,ṭī.316.]
[ကဒိ+ဏုက။ ကုဒ္ဒ+ဏုက။ ကဒိ အဝှါနေ ရောဒနေ စ၊ ဏုကော၊ ကုဒ္ဒ ကီဠာယမေဝ ဝါ၊ ဥဿတ္တံ၊ ပုဗ္ဗဒဿ နော။ ဓာန်၊ ဋီ။ ၃၁၆။]
[Pali to Burmese]
kanduka—
(Burmese text): အိမ်ကျင် (ဂျင်)။ ဘော့လုံး။
(Auto-Translation): Home ball (Jin). Ball.

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
kanduka (कंदुक).—m S A playball. Ex. ēka hari parvata ucalō- ni || kandukavat jhēliti gaganīṃ ||
kanduka (कंदुक).—m A play ball.
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
Kanduka (कन्दुक).—A bell for playing with; पातितोऽपि कराघातैरुत्पतत्येव कन्दुकः (pātito'pi karāghātairutpatatyeva kandukaḥ) Bhartṛhari 2.83; Kumārasambhava 1.29,5.11,19; R.16.83.
-kam A pillow; भूः पर्यङ्को निजभुजलता कन्दुकं खं वितानम् (bhūḥ paryaṅko nijabhujalatā kandukaṃ khaṃ vitānam) Bhartṛhari 3.145.
Derivable forms: kandukaḥ (कन्दुकः), kandukam (कन्दुकम्).
Kaṇḍuka (कण्डुक) or Kaṇḍu-kāra.—see kanduka.
--- OR ---
Kanduka (कन्दुक).—and kandu-kāra(ka), or (vv.11.) kaṇḍu°, m. (presumably from Sanskrit kandu, AMg. id. or kaṇḍu, iron pan), an artisan of some sort, presumably maker (seller) of iron pans; only in nom. pl. in long lists of persons of various occupations: Mahāvastu iii.113.9 kaṇḍukā(ḥ), v.l. kandrukā; 442.14 mss. kandukā(ḥ), Senart em. kaṇḍ°; 443.2 kandu-kārakā(ḥ), v.l. kaṇḍukāro (intending °rā).
Kanduka (कन्दुक).—m.
(-kaḥ) A ball of wood or pith for playing with. n.
(-kaṃ) A germ. E. kadi to cry, to call, &c. u affix, and kan added.
Kanduka (कन्दुक).—I. m. A ball for playing with, [Bhartṛhari, (ed. Bohlen.)] 2, 83. Ii. n. A pillow, [Bhartṛhari, (ed. Bohlen.)] 3, 42.
Kanduka (कन्दुक).—[masculine] the same; playing ball, pillow.
1) Kaṇḍuka (कण्डुक):—[from kaṇḍ] m. Name of a barber, [Harivaṃśa]
2) Kanduka (कन्दुक):—[from kandu] m. a boiler, saucepan [commentator or commentary] on [Kātyāyana-śrauta-sūtra]
3) [v.s. ...] a ball of wood or pith for playing with, [Mahābhārata; Bhartṛhari; Raghuvaṃśa]
4) [v.s. ...] a pillow, [Bhartṛhari iii, 93], (n. [varia lectio])
5) [v.s. ...] a betel-nut, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
6) [v.s. ...] a kind of time in music:
Kanduka (कन्दुक):—(kaḥ) 1. m. A ball of wood for playing with. n. (kaṃ) a germ.
[Sanskrit to German]
Kanduka (कन्दुक) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Kaṃḍua, Kaṃḍaga, Kaṃdua, Kiṃdua, Geṃdua.
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.
Kannada-English dictionary
Kaṃḍuka (ಕಂಡುಕ):—[noun] = ಕಂಡುಗ [kamduga].
--- OR ---
Kaṃduka (ಕಂದುಕ):—
1) [noun] a solid or hollow sphere, esp. for use in a game; a ball.
2) [noun] a cloth case filled with cotton, feathers, down, foam rubber, air, etc., used as a support, as for the head in sleeping; a pillow; ಕಂದುಕದಾಗಮ [kamdukadagama] kandukadāgama the systematised learning of the games played with balls.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Kanduka (कन्दुक):—n. 1. a ball; 2. a pillow;
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: Kati.
Starts with (+1): Kamdukakride, Kamdukakridita, Kamdukasarike, Kamdukattu, Kandukacchuadiabadhapaccaya, Kandukacchuchavidosadiabadha, Kandukagriha, Kandukakeli, Kandukalila, Kandukaprastha, Kandukara, Kandukari, Kandukasana, Kandukay, Kandukaya, Kandukayamtra, Kantukali, Kantukam, Kantukan, Kantukattukai.
Full-text (+23): Kapikanduka, Mandukachapi, Kandukalila, Kandukaprastha, Kandukagriha, Kantukam, Sakanduka, Kandukara, Kandukesha, Kandukakeli, Kandukayamtra, Ginduka, Kanduk, Kimdua, Gemdua, Kentukam, Kandukeshvaralinga, Kamdua, Kandukotsava, Kandukasana.
Relevant text
Search found 22 books and stories containing Kanduka, Kadi-nuka, Kadi-ṇuka, Kaṃḍuka, Kaṃduka, Kamduka, Kaṇḍuka, Kaṇḍūka; (plurals include: Kandukas, nukas, ṇukas, Kaṃḍukas, Kaṃdukas, Kamdukas, Kaṇḍukas, Kaṇḍūkas). 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 3.7.12 < [Chapter 7 - The Holy Places of Śrī Girirāja]
Verse 5.14.21 < [Chapter 14 - The Meeting of King Nanda and Uddhava]
Verse 2.24.11 < [Chapter 24 - The Story of Asuri Muni in the Rāsa-dance Pastime]
Dictionaries of Indian languages (Kosha)
Page 306 < [Hindi-Malayalam-English Volume 1]
Page 305 < [Hindi-Bengali-English Volume 1]
Page 362 < [Tamil-Hindi-English, Volume 1]
Mahavastu (great story) (by J. J. Jones)
Chapter XLV - The conversion of Bimbisāra < [Volume III]
Chapter X - The Buddha’s Visit to Kapilavastu < [Volume III]
Society as depicted in the Chaturbhani (study) (by Mridusmita Bharadwaj)
Part 4.5 - Sports in ancient India < [Chapter 4 - Critical assessment of the Society as depicted in the Caturbhāṇī]
Part 4.2 - Dance in ancient India < [Chapter 4 - Critical assessment of the Society as depicted in the Caturbhāṇī]
Notices of Sanskrit Manuscripts (by Rajendralala Mitra)
Page 284 < [Volume 10 (1890)]
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts, Madras (by M. Seshagiri Sastri)
Page 397 < [Volume 20 (1918)]
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