Kira, Kīra, Kirā, Kīrā: 24 definitions
Introduction:
Kira means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, Buddhism, Pali, 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.
Images (photo gallery)
In Hinduism
Kavya (poetry)
Kīra refers to an ancient district or cultural territory, as mentioned in the 7th-century Mudrārākṣasa written by Viśākhadeva. Kīra corresponds to the Kangra valley.
Kīra (कीर) is the name a locality mentioned in Rājaśekhara’s 10th-century Kāvyamīmāṃsā.—Kīrāgrāma or Baijnātha in the Punjab. However, Rājaśekhara in his Kāvyamīmāṃsā includes it amongst the countries of the Uttarāpatha. Therefore, it may be possible to locate this region in south Afghanistan to the north of the Kīrthār range.

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’.
Ayurveda (science of life)
Veterinary Medicine (The study and treatment of Animals)
Kīra (कीर) refers to the Rose-Ringed parakeet (Psittacula Krameri), according to scientific texts such as the Mṛgapakṣiśāstra (Mriga-pakshi-shastra) or “the ancient Indian science of animals and birds” by Hamsadeva, containing the varieties and descriptions of the animals and birds seen in the Sanskrit Epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Āyurveda (आयुर्वेद, ayurveda) is a branch of Indian science dealing with medicine, herbalism, taxology, anatomy, surgery, alchemy and related topics. Traditional practice of Āyurveda in ancient India dates back to at least the first millenium BC. Literature is commonly written in Sanskrit using various poetic metres.
Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology)
1) Kīra (कीर) refers to a kingdom identified with Kāśmīra, according to the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (chapter 4), an encyclopedic Sanskrit work written by Varāhamihira mainly focusing on the science of ancient Indian astronomy astronomy (Jyotiṣa).—Accordingly, “If Jupiter should be eclipsed by the lunar disc the men of Gāndhāra, of Sauvīraka, of Sindhu and of Kīra (Kāśmīra) the rulers of the Draviḍa countries and Brāhmins as well as food grains and mountains will suffer for ten months. If Mars should be so eclipsed the rulers of Traigarta (Lāhora) and of Mālavā, with their fighting men in their cars, the chiefs of Kulinda, the rulers of Śibi, of Audha, of Kuru (Delhi), of Matsya and of Śukti will suffer for six months”.
2) Kīra (कीर) (mentioned in a list separate from Kāśmīra) refers to a country belonging to “Aiśānī (north-eastern division)” classified under the constellations of Revatī, Aśvinī and Bharaṇī, according to the system of Kūrmavibhāga, according to the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (chapter 14).—Accordingly, “The countries of the Earth beginning from the centre of Bhāratavarṣa and going round the east, south-east, south, etc., are divided into 9 divisions corresponding to the 27 lunar asterisms at the rate of 3 for each division and beginning from Kṛttikā. The constellations of Revatī, Aśvinī and Bharaṇī represent the north-eastern consisting of [i.e., Kīra] [...]”.

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.
In Jainism
General definition (in Jainism)
Kīra (कीर) refers to a “parrot”, according to the Candralekhācaupaī by Matikuśala (dealing with the lives of Jain female heroes), which is included in the collection of manuscripts at the ‘Vincenzo Joppi’ library, collected by Luigi Pio Tessitori during his visit to Rajasthan between 1914 and 1919.—Accordingly, “On the mountain Malīyācala there was a Vidyādhara. once he saw at the top of a mango tree a couple of parrots (kīra-yugala). He took them with him, put them in a golden cage and trained them. He went to the Nandīśvara to listen to a monk (Munirāya) who asked him to set the birds free, which he did. [...]”.

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.
India history and geography
Kīra (कीर) (identified with Kullu Kangra) is classified as one of the eighteen dialects (Deśī) of ancient India, as described in the Kathās (narrative poems) such as Uddyotanasūri in his 8th-century Kuvalayamālā (a Prakrit Campū, similar to Kāvya poetry).—Page 152.24 ff.: Here we have a specimen of eighteen Deśī dialects spoken in: [e.g., Kīra] [...] These different idioms of speech were spoken by the shop-keepers in the market place of Vijayāpurī. [...]

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
kira : (ind.) really; truly; (refers to a report by hear-say). || kīra (m.), a parrot.
Kira, (& Kila) (Vedic kila) adv. 1. emphatic: really, truly, surely. (Gr. dή) — 2. presumptive (with pres. or fut.): I should think one would expect.—3. narrative (with aor.): now, then, you know (Gr. de, Lat. at, G. aber). ‹-› kira in continuous story is what “iti” is in direct or indirect speech. It connects new points in a narrative with something preceding, either as expected or guessed. It is aoristic in character (cp. Sk. sma). In questions it is dubitative, while in ordinary statements it gives the appearance of probability, rather than certainty, to the sentence. Therefore the definitions of commentators: “people say” or “I have heard”: kirasaddo anussavane: “kira refers to a report by hearsay” PvA. 103; kira-saddo anussav’atthe J. I, 158; VvA. 322 are conventional and one-sided, and in both cases do not give the meaning required at the specified passages. The same holds good for J. I, 158 & II. 430 (kirā ti anussavatthe nipāto).—1. mahantaṃ kira Bārāṇasirajjaṃ “the kingdom of B. is truly great” J. I, 126; attā hi kira duddamo “self is difficult to subdue, we know” Dh. 159; amoghaṃ kira me puṭṭhaṃ Sn. 356.—na kira surely not Sn. 840; J. I, 158.—2. esā kira Visākhā nāma “that I presume is the Visākhā” (of whom we have heard) DhA. I, 399; petā hi kira jānanti “the petas, I should say, will know” Pv. II, 710; evaṃ kira Uttare? “I suppose this is so, Uttarā” VvA. 69. evaṃ kira saggaṃ gamissatha “thus you will surely go to Heaven” Vv 828; “I hear” DhA. I, 392.—3. atīte kira with aor. once upon a time ... PvA. 46, etc.; so kira pubbe ... akāsi, at one time, you know, he had made ... J. I, 125; sā kira dāsī adāsi now the maid gave her ... PvA. 46; cp. J. I, 195, etc. (Page 215)
— or —
Kīra, (cp. Sk. kīra) a parrot Abhp 640 (cp. cirīṭi). (Page 217)
1) kira (ကိရ) [(bya) (ဗျ)]—
[(1) .(2) ma.(3) sā (evasaddāeiea).(4) a.(ti) (5) kiraso,sū.kirakammakāraç kirapatika-.
[(၁) တစ်ဆင့်ကြားခြင်း။ (၂) မနှစ်သက်ခြင်း။ (၃) သာလျှင် (ဧဝသဒ္ဒါ၏)။ (၄) အကျယ်ချဲ့ခြင်း။ (တိ) (၅) ကိရမည်သော၊ သူ။ ကိရကမ္မကာရ,ကိရပတိက-တို့ကြည့်။
2) kīra (ကီရ) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[kī+kara+a.kara+a.,ṭī.64va.kī+ira+.thoma]
[ကီ+ကရ+အ။ ကရ+အ။ ဓာန်၊ဋီ။ ၆၄ဝ။ ကီ+ဣရ+အစ်။ ထောမ]

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
kira (किर).—ad (Poetry.) Certainly. See kīra ad.
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kīra (कीर).—m (S) A parrot.
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kīra (कीर).—ad (Poetry. kila S) Certainly, assuredly, verily. Ex. mōkṣa durārādhya kīra hōya || tōhī ārādhī tujhē pāya || mhaṇōni yē viśīcā maja dēvā || bharavasā kīra jhālā dēvā ||.
kīra (कीर).—m A parrot. ad (In Poetry.) Cer- tainly.
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
Kira (किर).—A hog.
Derivable forms: kiraḥ (किरः).
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Kīra (कीर).—1 A parrot; एवं कीरवरे मनोरथमयं पीयूषमास्वादयति (evaṃ kīravare manorathamayaṃ pīyūṣamāsvādayati) Bv.1.58; स कीरवन्मानुषवागवादीत् (sa kīravanmānuṣavāgavādīt) N.3.12.
-rāḥ (pl.) The country and the people in Kāśmīra.
-ram Flesh.
Derivable forms: kīraḥ (कीरः).
Kira (किर).—m.
(-raḥ) A hog. E. kṝ to scatter, ka affix; also kiri.
--- OR ---
Kīra (कीर).—m.
(-raḥ) 1. A parrot. 2. Kashmir. m. plu.
(-rāḥ) The people of Kashmir, n.
(-raṃ) Flesh. E. kī bad, vile, īr to send or order, ka aff.
Kira (किर).—i. e. kṛ10 + a, m. A hog.
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Kīra (कीर).—m. 1. A parrot, [Lassen, Anthologia Sanskritica.] 19, 14.
Kīra (कीर).—[masculine] parrot; [plural] [Name] of a people.
1) Kira (किर):—[from kir] mf(ā)n. scattering, etc., [Pāṇini 3-1, 135] (cf. mṛt-kirā)
2) [v.s. ...] m. a hog, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.] (cf. kiṭi, kiri.)
3) Kīra (कीर):—m. a parrot, [Vetāla-pañcaviṃśatikā] etc.
4) m. [plural] Name of the people and of the country of Kaśmir, [Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā; Mudrārākṣasa]
5) n. flesh, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
1) Kira (किर):—(raḥ) 1. m. A hog.
2) Kīra (कीर):—(raḥ) 1. m. A parrot. n. Flesh.
[Sanskrit to German]
Kīra (कीर) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Kīra.
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.
Prakrit-English dictionary
1) Kira (किर) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit word: Kila.
2) Kīra (कीर) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Kīra.
3) Kīra (कीर) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Kīra.
Prakrit is an ancient language closely associated with both Pali and Sanskrit. Jain literature is often composed in this language or sub-dialects, such as the Agamas and their commentaries which are written in Ardhamagadhi and Maharashtri Prakrit. The earliest extant texts can be dated to as early as the 4th century BCE although core portions might be older.
Kannada-English dictionary
Kira (ಕಿರ):—[noun] a wild boar (Sus scrofa).
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Kīra (ಕೀರ):—[noun] any of various civet like carnivores (family Viverridae); esp., any of a sometimes domesticated genus (Herpestes) noted for their ability to kill poisonous snakes, rodents, etc.; mongoose.
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Kīra (ಕೀರ):—[noun] a fluid secreted by the mammary glands of females (as women, cows, goats, etc.) for the nourishment of their young, which sometimes used as a food by humans.
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Kīra (ಕೀರ):—
1) [noun] any of numerous widely distributed tropical zygodactyl birds of Psittaciformes order, esp. family of Psittacidae family, that have a distinctive stout curved hooked bill, are often crested and brightly variegated, and include some excellent mimics; a parrot.
2) [noun] flesh of animals eaten as food.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
1) Kirā (किरा):—n. pl. of किरो [kiro]
2) Kīrā (कीरा):—n. → किरा [kirā]
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 (+20): Kala, Kara, Karisha, Kiccha, Kira-kiraenal, Kira-mar, Kiraadwar-paragasechan, Kiraaith, Kirabekku, Kirakam, Kirakammakara, Kirakarnaka, Kirakati, Kirakiyam, Kirakki, Kirakkipannu, Kiralittanam, Kiram, Kiramakantakan, Kiramakkanakkan.
Full-text (+219): Kala, Gambhira, Kiṇṇa, Kirita, Mritkira, Mandira, Kirana, Kana, Kirati, Kireshta, Vikirana, Vakkira, Vishkira, Pankakira, Lohitaka, Itikira, Vikira, Kiravarnaka, Rajakira, Varakira.
Relevant text
Search found 63 books and stories containing Kira, Ki-kara-a, Kī-kara-a, Kīra, Kirā, Kīrā; (plurals include: Kiras, as, Kīras, Kirās, Kīrās). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Tirumantiram by Tirumular (English translation)
Verse 740: Ascension of Jiva from Moon's Sphere < [Tantra Three (munran tantiram) (verses 549-883)]
Verse 914: How to Form the Chakra < [Tantra Four (nankam tantiram) (verses 884-1418)]
Rig Veda (translation and commentary) (by H. H. Wilson)
Dictionaries of Indian languages (Kosha)
Page 93 < [Hindi-English-Nepali (1 volume)]
Page 166 < [Tamil-English-Malayalam (1 volume)]
Page 201 < [Hindi-English-Nepali (1 volume)]
Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī)
Verse 2.2.4 < [Part 2 - Ecstatic Expressions (anubhāva)]
Hindu Pluralism (by Elaine M. Fisher)
The Śivalīlārṇava of Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita < [Chapter 4 - The Language Games of Śiva]
Sahitya-kaumudi by Baladeva Vidyabhushana (by Gaurapada Dāsa)
Text 11.39 < [Chapter 11 - Additional Ornaments]
Text 2.38 < [Chapter 2 - The Natures of Words (śabda)]