Kataha, Kaṭāha, Kaṭāhā, Kata-ha: 21 definitions
Introduction:
Kataha means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, Buddhism, Pali, 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
Kavya (poetry)
Kaṭāha (कटाह) or Kaṭāhadvīpa is the name of an island (dvīpa) according to the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 56. Accordingly, “... when the Brāhman [Candrasvāmin] heard that, he went [from the isle Nārikela] in a ship with the merchant Dānavarman to this island of Kaṭāha. There he heard that the merchant Kanakavarman had gone from that island to an island named Karpūra”.
Kaṭāha or Kaṭāhadvīpa is also mentioned in the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 123. Accordingly, “... there is a dvīpa named Kaṭāha, the home of all felicities. In it there is a king rightly named Guṇasāgara. He had born to him by his principal queen a daughter named Guṇavatī, who by her beauty produced astonishment even in the Creator who made her”.
The Kathāsaritsāgara (‘ocean of streams of story’), mentioning Kaṭāha, is a famous Sanskrit epic story revolving around prince Naravāhanadatta and his quest to become the emperor of the vidyādharas (celestial beings). The work is said to have been an adaptation of Guṇāḍhya’s Bṛhatkathā consisting of 100,000 verses, which in turn is part of a larger work containing 700,000 verses.
Kaṭāha (कटाह).—Tawney suggested that Kaṭāha might possibly be identified with Cathay, the medieval name of China. His surmise, however, has been proved incorrect. It has now been traced to Kedah, one of the unfederated Malay States, which was apparently known in Southern India as Kaḍāram, or Kaṭāha. The data for arriving at this conclusion is interesting.
Kavya (काव्य, kavya) refers to Sanskrit poetry, a popular ancient Indian tradition of literature. There have been many Sanskrit poets over the ages, hailing from ancient India and beyond. This topic includes mahakavya, or ‘epic poetry’ and natya, or ‘dramatic poetry’.
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Kaṭāha (कटाह) refers to “cauldrons”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.2.35. Accordingly, as Viṣṇu said to Dakṣa:—“[...] there is none to offer us refuge in the three worlds. Who can be the refuge of an enemy of Śiva in this world? Even if the body undergoes destruction, the torture at the hands of Yama is in store for us. It is impossible to bear as it generates much misery. On seeing an enemy of Śiva, Yama gnashes his teeth. He puts him in cauldrons of oil [viz., taptataila-kaṭāha] and not otherwise”.
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
1) Kaṭāha (कटाह) is the name of the Tree associated with Kāmarūpa, one of the sacred seats (pīṭha), according to the Ṣaṭsāhasrasaṃhitā, an expansion of the Kubjikāmatatantra: the earliest popular and most authoritative Tantra of the Kubjikā cult.
2) Kaṭāha (कटाह) (or Ṭādaka) is the name of the Tree associated with Pūrṇagiri, one the eight Sacred Seats (pīṭha), according to the Yogakhaṇḍa (chapter 14) of the Manthānabhairavatantra, a vast sprawling work that belongs to a corpus of Tantric texts concerned with the worship of the goddess Kubjikā.
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.
Pancaratra (worship of Nārāyaṇa)
Kaṭāha (कटाह) refers to a “golden cauldron” (used for carrying the water-vessel), according to the Padmasaṃhitā.—Accordingly, during the jaladroṇī-avagāhana a water-vessel (jaladroṇī) should be placed in a golden cauldron (kaṭāha) upon a ladder situated in a pond, and filled with incensed water. Unbroken pearls are scattered around. After summoning Gaṅgā to its waters, it should be honoured. Then, a deity should be immersed in the water sanctified with Vedic mantras associated with water (abliṅga). Additionally, the Vāruṇasūkta should be loudly recited. Then the deity is taken to a maṇḍapa. [...]
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
kaṭāha : (m.) receptacle; cauldron; a nut-shell.
Kaṭāha, (m. nt.) (Sk. kaṭāha) a pot (in older texts only as —°).—1. pot, vessel, vase, receptacle. udaka° Vin. II, 122; ghaṭi° Vin. II, 115; loha° Vin. II, 170. ayo° (in simile “diva-santatte ayokaṭāhe”) M. I, 453=A. IV, 138; gūtha° Vin. IV, 265; tumba° (a gourd used as receptacle for food) vin II. 114; alābu° DhsA. 405.—Uncompounded only at Dpvs 92 (°ka); Mhvs 17, 47; 18, 24.—2. anything shaped like a pot, as the skull: sīsa° D. II, 297= M. I, 58; Miln. 197. (Page 176)
kaṭāha (ကဋာဟ) [(pu,na) (ပု၊န)]—
[kaṭa+ha．kaṭanti ettha osadhādiṃ maddantīti kaṭāho,bhājanaviseso．,7．223．]
[ကဋ+ဟ။ ကဋန္တိ ဧတ္ထ ဩသဓာဒိံ မဒ္ဒန္တီတိ ကဋာဟော၊ ဘာဇနဝိသေသော။ မောဂ်၊ ၇။ ၂၂၃။]
[Pali to Burmese]
kaṭāha—
(Burmese text): (၁) (က) အိုးကင်း။ (ခ) ဒယ်အိုး။ (ဂ) ဖျဉ်းအိုး။ (ဃ) အိုးအုံ။ (၂) (က) အခွံ။ (ခ) သစ်သီးခွံ။
(Auto-Translation): (1) (a) Bowl. (b) Pot. (c) Saucepan. (d) Dish. (2) (a) Shell. (b) Fruit shell.
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
kaṭāha (कटाह).—m S A boiler or a frying vessel of a semispheroidal shape, and with handles.
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
Kaṭāha (कटाह).—[kaṭamāhanti, ā-han-ḍa Tv.]
1) A frying-pan, a shallow boiler for oil or butter (of a semispheriodal shape and furnished with handles; Mar. kaḍhaī); तदैव तस्मिन्निनदोऽतिभीषणो बभूव येनाण्डकटाहमस्फुरत् (tadaiva tasminninado'tibhīṣaṇo babhūva yenāṇḍakaṭāhamasphurat) Bhāgavata 7.8.16.
2) A turtle's shell.
3) A well.
4) A hill or mound of earth.
5) A fragment of a broken jar; 'कटाहः खर्प- रस्तूपः (kaṭāhaḥ kharpa- rastūpaḥ)' इति वैजयन्ती (iti vaijayantī); यद्दन्तिनः कटकटाहतटान्मिमङ्क्षोः (yaddantinaḥ kaṭakaṭāhataṭānmimaṅkṣoḥ) Śiśupālavadha 5. 37; N.22.32.
6) A winnowing basket.
7) Hell, the infernal regions.
8) A young female buffalo whose horns are just appearing.
9) A Dvīpa or division of a known continent.
1) A heap or pile.
Derivable forms: kaṭāhaḥ (कटाहः).
Kaṭāha (कटाह).—m.
(-haḥ) 1. A shallow boiler for oil or butter. 2. A frying pan. 3. A winnowing basket. 4. A turtle’s shell. 5. A young buffalo whose horns are just appearing. 6. A Dwipa or division of the known continent, so called. 7. Hell, the infernal regions. 8. A well. E. kaṭa much, &c. han to destroy, with āṅ prefixed, and ḍa aff.
Kaṭāha (कटाह).—I. m. and n. A frying vessel, Mahābhārata 14, 1927. Ii. m. The name of a dvīpa of the grand divisions of the terrestrial world, [Kathāsaritsāgara, (ed. Brockhaus.)] 13, 74.
Kaṭāha (कटाह).—[masculine] ([neuter], & ī [feminine]) a frying pan, anything hollow, e.[grammar] the temples of an elephant.
1) Kaṭāha (कटाह):—[from kaṭ] m. (rarely f(ī). n.) a frying-pan
2) [v.s. ...] a boiler, caldron, saucepan (of a semi-spheroidal shape and with handles), [Mahābhārata; Suśruta; Sūryasiddhānta] etc.
3) [v.s. ...] a turtle’s shell, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
4) [v.s. ...] anything shaped like a caldron (as the temple of an elephant), [Śiśupāla-vadha v, 37]
5) [v.s. ...] a well, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
6) [v.s. ...] a winnowing basket, [Horace H. Wilson]
7) [v.s. ...] a mound of earth
8) [v.s. ...] hell, the infernal regions, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
9) [v.s. ...] a cot, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
10) [v.s. ...] a young female buffalo whose horns are just appearing, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
11) [v.s. ...] Name of a Dvīpa, [Kathāsaritsāgara]
Kaṭāha (कटाह):—(haḥ) 1. m. A shallow boiler for oil or butter; frying-pan; winnowing basket; a turtle shell; a young buffalo; hell; a well.
Kaṭāha (कटाह):—m. [Amarakoṣa.3,6,21.] [Siddhāntakaumudī 250,a,4.]
1) Pfanne ([Murathee]: a boiler or a frying-vessel, of a semispheroidal shape and with handles) [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa 3, 3, 457.] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 1022] (nach dem [Scholiast] m. f. n.). [Anekārthasaṃgraha 3, 763. 764] (karpara und tailādipākapātra). [Medinīkoṣa Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 15] (tailādeḥ pākabhājane). [Mahābhārata 3, 17403. 14, 1927] [?(Nalopākhyāna). Suśruta 1, 15, 4. 32, 19. 2, 29, 4. 35, 15. 182, 18.] prāsthikaḥ kaṭāhaḥ [Pāṇini’s acht Bücher 5, 1, 52,] [Scholiast] —
2) die Schale der Schildkröte [Hemacandra’s Anekārthasaṃgraha] [Medinīkoṣa] Vgl. u. kaccha [4.] —
3) Brunnen [Śabdaratnāvalī im Śabdakalpadruma] —
4) = sūpa [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa] a winnowing basket (also sūrpa, śūrpa) [Wilson’s Wörterbuch] = stūpa Erdhügel, Tope [Vaijayantī] beim Sch. zu [Śiśupālavadha 5, 37.] —
5) Hölle [Hārāvalī 261.] —
6) eine junge Büffelkuh, bei der die Spitzen der Hörner gerade im Duchbrechen sind, [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa] [Hemacandra’s Anekārthasaṃgraha] [Medinīkoṣa] [Hārāvalī 39.] —
7) Nomen proprium eines Dvīpa [Medinīkoṣa] kaṭāhadvīpa [Kathāsaritsāgara 13, 74. 83.] [BROCKHAUS] vermuthet, dass das Katai (Китай) der Muhammedaner oder China gemeint sei.
--- OR ---
Kaṭāha (कटाह):—
1) [Sūryasiddhānta 12, 29.] kaṭāho rdhagolākāraṃ sāvakāśaṃ pātram Schol. —
7) dvīpaṃ kaṭāhākhyam [Kathāsaritsāgara 123, 105.] dvīpa [56, 59. 61, 3.]
Kaṭāha (कटाह):—m. —
1) Pfanne. Ausnahmsweise auch f. ī ([Indische studien von Weber 15,372]) und n. —
2) *Schildkrötenschale. —
3) *Tope. —
4) ein pfannenähnliches Ding , z.B. die Elephantenschläfe [Śiśupālavadha 5,37.] —
5) *Hütte. —
6) *eine junge Büffelkuh , bei der die Hörner so eben durchbrechen. —
7) Nomen proprium eines Dvīpa.
Kaṭāha (कटाह) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Kaḍāha.
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
Kaṭaha (ಕಟಹ):—
1) [noun] a huge wall enclosing a town, palace, etc.; a fort-wall.
2) [noun] a place where dead bodies are buried or burnt; cemetery.
--- OR ---
Kaṭāha (ಕಟಾಹ):—
1) [noun] a large, round, metal (copper, brass, iron etc.) boiler.
2) [noun] a hemisphere a) any of the halves into which the celestial sphere is divided by either the celestial equator or the ecliptic; b) any of the halves of the earth either divided by the equator into the northern and southern hemispheres or by a meridian into the eastern hemisphere (containing Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia) and the western hemisphere (containing the Americas and Oceania).
3) [noun] a kind of basket used to blow the chaff from grain by wind or forced current of air; a winnow.
4) [noun] the act or an instance of two or more persons meeting, associating together.
5) [noun] nearness; proximity.
6) [noun] time; opportunity.
7) [noun] the gourd of the vine Lagenaria vulgaris (= L. speciosa) of Cucurbitaceae family.
8) [noun] the shell of a turtle.
9) [noun] a hole or shaft sunk into the earth to tap an underground supply of water, gas, oil, etc.; a well.
10) [noun] the infernal regions; hell.
11) [noun] a young buffalo whose horns are just appearing.
12) [noun] a frying pan.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Kaṭāhā (कटाहा):—adj. 1. niggardly; miser; 2. envious; intolerant; 3. (insect, rat, etc.) cutting holes (in wood, cloth, etc.); 4. sharp-edged;
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 (+0): Ha, Ge, Kata, Kitta.
Starts with (+0): Katahadvipa, Katahaka, Katahaka Jataka, Katahakatantra, Katahal, Katahala, Katahar, Katahara, Kataharahande, Katahare-kuro, Kataharhande, Katahattha, Katahatthaputa.
Full-text (+23): Andakataha, Lohakataha, Labukataha, Guthakataha, Angarakataha, Tumbakataha, Ghatikataha, Brahmandakataha, Rajatakataha, Alabukataha, Udakakataha, Bhunjanakataha, Arammanakataha, Pattakataha, Sisakataha, Telakataha, Pattapacanakataha, Katahaka, Ayokataha, Shronikataha.
Relevant text
Search found 45 books and stories containing Kataha, Kaṭāha, Kaṭaha, Kaṭāhā, Kataaha, Kata-ha, Kaṭa-ha, Katahas; (plurals include: Katahas, Kaṭāhas, Kaṭahas, Kaṭāhās, Kataahas, has, Katahases). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Archaeology and the Mahabharata (Study) (by Gouri Lad)
Vinaya (3): The Cullavagga (by T. W. Rhys Davids)
Cullavagga, Khandaka 5, Chapter 10 < [Khandaka 5 - On the Daily Life of the Bhikkhus]
Milindapanha (questions of King Milinda) (by T. W. Rhys Davids)
Chapter 3 < [Book 7 - The Similes]
Chapter 3b < [Book 2 - The Distinguishing Characteristics of Ethical Qualities]
Chapter 6h: The Layman’s sin < [Book 4 - The Solving of Dilemmas]
Skanda Purana (by G. V. Tagare)
Chapter 28 - In Praise of Kaṭāha Tīrtha < [Section 1 - Veṅkaṭācala-māhātmya]
Chapter 47 - Installation of Goddesses at Bahūdaka Tīrtha < [Section 2 - Kaumārikā-khaṇḍa]
Chapter 37 - Bhuvanakośa: Evolution of the Universe < [Section 2 - Kaumārikā-khaṇḍa]
Kathasaritsagara (the Ocean of Story) (by Somadeva)
The identification of Kaṭāha < [Notes]
Notes on the story of Devasmitā < [Notes]
Chapter XIII < [Book II - Kathāmukha]
Further sources of Vijayanagara history (by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri)
Page 149 < [Volume 2]