Lajja, Lajjā: 28 definitions
Introduction:
Lajja means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, Buddhism, Pali, 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.
In Hinduism
Shaktism (Shakta philosophy)
Lajjā (लज्जा, “modesty”):—One of the names attributed to Devī, as chanted by the Vedas in their hymns, who were at the time incarnated in their personified forms. See the Devī-bhāgavata-purāṇa chapter 5.51-68, called “the narrative of Hayagrīva”.
Lajjā (लज्जा) refers to “bashfulness”.—The Kubjikāmatatantra tell us that the goddess who emerges from the Liṅga is bent (kubjarūpā). Various reasons are given in the sources for her being ‘bent’. Some of these relate to her personal mythic identity. From this perspective, we are told a little further on in the text that she is bent with bashfulness (lajjā) when she sees Bhairava. Further ahead, after her marriage to the god, she is again ‘bent’.
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)
Lajjā (लज्जा, “modesty”):—One of the twenty-four emanations of Lakṣmī accompanying Nārāyaṇa. This particular manifestation couples with his counterpart form called Dāmodara and together they form the twelfth celestial couple. Lakṣmī represents a form of the Goddess (Devī) as the wife of Viṣṇu, while Nārāyaṇa represents the personification of his creative energy, according to the Pāñcarātra literature.
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.
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Lajja (लज्ज).—One of the thirteen daughters of Dakṣaprajāpati. The other daughters were, Śraddhā, Lakṣmī, etc. (Chapter 7, Aṃśa 1, Viṣṇu Purāṇa).
1) Lajjā (लज्जा, “bashfulness”) is one of the twenty-four daughters of Dakṣa by Prasūti: one of the three daughters of Svāyambhuvamanu and Śatarūpā, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.1.16:—“Dakṣa begot twenty-four daughters. Thirteen daughters Śraddhā etc. were given to Dharma in marriage by Dakṣa. O lordly sage, listen to the names of Dharma’s wives. Their names are [... Lajjā (bashfulness),...]. Thereupon the entire universe consisting of three worlds, mobile and immobile was filled (with progeny). Thus according to their own actions and at the bidding of Śiva innumerable famous Brahmins were born out of the various living beings”.
2) Lajjā (लज्जा, “bashfulness”) refers to “bashful” or “shyness”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.2.19. Accordingly as Brahmā narrated to Nārada:—“[...] since she [viz., Satī] was bashful (lajjā) in the presence of Śiva I could not see her face. She did not show out her face on account of shyness (lajjā)”.
1a) Lajjā (लज्जा).—A Śakti.*
- * Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa IV. 44. 74.
1b) R. from Ṛṣyavān.*
- * Matsya-purāṇa 114. 26.
1c) A daughter of Dakṣa;1 married Dharma;2 mother of Vinaya.3
- 1) Vāyu-purāṇa 10. 25; Viṣṇu-purāṇa I. 7. 23.
- 2) Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa II. 9. 50, 61.
- 3) Vāyu-purāṇa 10. 36; 55. 43; Viṣṇu-purāṇa I. 7. 30.
Lajjā (लज्जा) is a name mentioned in the Mahābhārata (cf. I.60.14) and represents one of the many proper names used for people and places. Note: The Mahābhārata (mentioning Lajjā) is a Sanskrit epic poem consisting of 100,000 ślokas (metrical verses) and is over 2000 years old.
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.
Ayurveda (science of life)
Nighantu (Synonyms and Characteristics of Drugs and technical terms)
Lajjā (लज्जा) is another name for Lajjālu, a medicinal plant identified with Mimosa pudica Linn. or “sensitive plant” from the Fabaceae or “legume” family of flowering plants, according to verse 5.103-106 of the 13th-century Raj Nighantu or Rājanighaṇṭu. The fifth chapter (parpaṭādi-varga) of this book enumerates sixty varieties of smaller plants (kṣudra-kṣupa). Together with the names Lajjā and Lajjālu, there are a total of twenty-two Sanskrit synonyms identified for this plant.
Unclassified Ayurveda definitions
Lajjā (लज्जा):—Feeling of Shame
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.
In Jainism
General definition (in Jainism)
Lajjā (लज्जा) refers to “shame”, according to the 11th century Jñānārṇava, a treatise on Jain Yoga in roughly 2200 Sanskrit verses composed by Śubhacandra.—Accordingly, “For great men, what kind of delight is there in the body which is riddled with a multitude of hundreds of worms, afflicted by a multitude of diseases [and] worn out by old age? Whatever thing here in the body, which is the foul abode of bad odours, is considered by the one whose mind is pure, that bestows contempt [com.—lajjā—‘shame’] on everything”.
Synonyms: Ghṛṇa.
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
Pali-English dictionary
lajjā : (f.) shame; bashfulness.
Lajjā, (f.) (fr. lajj) shame, bashfulness, modesty M. I, 414; DA. I, 70; DhA. II, 90; Instr. lajjāya out of shame PvA. 47, 112, 283. Cp. nillajja. (Page 580)
1) lajja (လဇ္ဇ) [(ti) (တိ)]—
[ajja+a．(lajja+u=lajju¿) pākata-nitea lajji atū lajjurhi．lajja-saṃ．]
[လဇ္ဇ+အ။ (လဇ္ဇ+ဥ=လဇ္ဇု¿) ပါကတ-၌ လဇ္ဇိနှင့် အနက်တူ လဇ္ဇုပုဒ်ရှိသည်။ လဇ္ဇ-သံ။]
2) lajjā (လဇ္ဇာ) [(thī) (ထီ)]—
[ajja+a+ā．lajjati pāpāti lajjā．,ṭī,158．lajjā-saṃ,prā,addhamāgadhī．]
[လဇ္ဇ+အ+အာ။ လဇ္ဇတိ ပါပါတိ လဇ္ဇာ။ ဓာန်၊ ဋီ၊ ၁၅၈။ လဇ္ဇာ-သံ၊ ပြာ၊ အဒ္ဓမာဂဓီ။]
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
lajjā (लज्जा).—f (S) Shame, modesty, sense of decency or decorum: also shamefacedness or bashfulness. Ex. ēkalajjāṃ parityajya sarvatra vijayī bhavēt Cast away but Shame, then overcome or accomplish anything. lajjākajjā or lajjēkajjēnēṃ By the force or at the impulse of shame.
lajjā (लज्जा).—f Shame, modesty; bashfulness lajjēkajjēnēṃ At the impulse of shame.
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
Lajjā (लज्जा).—[lajj bhāve a]
1) Shame; कामातुराणां न भयं न लज्जा (kāmāturāṇāṃ na bhayaṃ na lajjā) Subhāṣ.; विहाय लज्जाम् (vihāya lajjām) R.2.4; Kumārasambhava 1.48.
2) Bashfulness, modesty; शृङ्गारलज्जां निरूपयति (śṛṅgāralajjāṃ nirūpayati) Ś.1; Kumārasambhava 3.7; R.7.35. लज्जे त्वं मज्ज सिन्धौ (lajje tvaṃ majja sindhau) Subhāṣ.
3) Name of the sensitive plant.
Lajjā (लज्जा).—f.
(-jjā) Shame, modesty, bashfulness. E. lasj to be modest, affs. aṅ and ṭāp .
Lajjā (लज्जा).—[lajj + ā], f. 1. Shame, [Pañcatantra] v. [distich] 10. 2. Bashfulness, [Pañcatantra] v. [distich] 83. 3. Modesty.
Lajjā (लज्जा).—[feminine] shame, bashfulness.
1) Lajja (लज्ज):—[from lajj] m. Name of a man
2) [v.s. ...] [plural] his descendants, [Vopadeva]
3) Lajjā (लज्जा):—[from lajja > lajj] a f. See below.
4) [from lajj] b f. shame, modesty, bashfulness, embarrassment (also Shame personified as the wife of Dharma and mother of Vinaya), [Mahābhārata; Kāvya literature] etc.
5) [v.s. ...] the sensitive plant, Mimosa Pudica, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
Lajjā (लज्जा):—(jjā) 1. f. Shame, modesty.
Lajja (लज्ज):—m. Nomen proprium eines Mannes; pl. seine Nachkommen [Vopadeva’s Grammatik 7, 14.] vielleicht fehlerhaft für lahya .
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Lajjā (लज्जा):—(von lajj) f.
1) Scham, Schamgefühl [Amarakoṣa 1, 1, 7, 23.] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 311.] [Halāyudha 2, 412.] lajjayā [Rāmāyaṇa 2, 98, 19.] [Śākuntala 15, 3.] [Spr. 2265.] [Kathāsaritsāgara 18, 103.] [Pañcatantra 84, 10.] vinamrānanā [Varāhamihira’s Bṛhajjātaka S. 78, 12.] guṇaughajananī [Spr. 2655.] lajjā tiraścāṃ yadi cetasi syāt [2656. fgg. 2679.] [Rājataraṅgiṇī 5, 324.] lajjāvṛta [Mahābhārata 3, 1852.] lajjādautukatoḥ saṃmardaḥ [Kathāsaritsāgara 3, 66.] kīṃ na nairava lajjā te kuṛvataḥ kośasaṃvṛtim [Spr. 1879.] yuvāṃ me kā lajjā warum sollte ich mich euer schämen [Kathāsaritsāgara 2, 53.] śṛṅgāralajjāṃ nirūpayati [Śākuntala 14, 3.] eṣaiva mahatī lajjā sadācārasya bhūpateḥ . yadakālabhavo mṛtyustasya saṃspṛśati prajāḥ .. [Rājataraṅgiṇī 4, 84.] kasmānna lajjāmavahan [Spr. 3506.] lajjāvaha [Rājataraṅgiṇī 6, 177.] lajjodvahana [5, 384.] alajjākara [Spr. 2707.] lajjākṛti Scham heuchelnd [688.] lajjojjhitā [Rājataraṅgiṇī 6, 322.] apakṛṣya lajjām [Mahābhārata 3, 2726.] vihāya lajjām [Raghuvaṃśa 2, 40.] vyasmarallajjām [Rājataraṅgiṇī 2, 22.] am Ende eines adj. comp. (f. ā): mukta [Rāmāyaṇa 2, 36, 13.] [Kumārasaṃbhava 3, 7.] tyakta [Bhāgavatapurāṇa 5, 26, 23.] hāta [8, 7, 33.] prāglajjā [Rājataraṅgiṇī 4, 37.] alajjā schamlos [Mahābhārata 13, 518.] salajja verschämt, Schamgefühl besitzend [Rāmāyaṇa 1, 34, 23.] [Spr. 277.] [Kathāsaritsāgara 13, 51. 21, 69. 45, 263.] [Daśakumāracarita 64, 2.] [Pañcatantra 45, 8.] salajjam adv. [Śākuntala 38, 4.] [Vikramorvaśī 22, 12.] [Dhūrtasamāgama 72, 15.] [Daśakumāracarita 73, 12.] Die Scham personificirt als Gattin Dharma's [Mahābhārata 1, 2579.] [Harivaṃśa 12452.] [Viṣṇupurāṇa 54.] [Mārkāṇḍeyapurāṇa 50, 21.] Mutter Vinaya's 27. Vgl. nirlajja . —
2) = lajjālu
2) [Rājanirghaṇṭa im Śabdakalpadruma]
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Lajjā (लज्जा):—
1) kara [Veṇīsaṃhāra 11, 6.]
Lajja (लज्ज):—m. Nomen proprium eines Mannes ; Pl. seine Nachkommen. lajjā s. bes.
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Lajjā (लज्जा):—f. —
1) Scham , Schamgefühl , Verlegenheit , das Sichschämen einer Sache (im Comp. putrau yuvāṃ me kā lajjā ihr seid meine Kinder , warum sollte ich mich schämen? [Kathāsaritsāgara 2,53.] Die personificirte Scham ist eine Gattin Dharma’s und Mutter Vinaya's. —
2) *Mimosa pudica [Rājan 5,104.]
Lajjā (लज्जा) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Lajjā, Lajjāva.
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
Lajjā (लज्जा):—(nf) shame; modesty; shyness, bashfulness; ~[kara/kārī/janaka/prada] shameful; ~[lu] bashful, shy; hence ~[latā] (nf); ~[vatī] bashful/shy (woman); ~[vāna] bashful/shy (man); —[gholakara pī jānā] to be absolutely brazen/shameless, to be completely lost to shame; see [lāja].
...
Prakrit-English dictionary
1) Lajja (लज्ज) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit word: Lasj.
2) Lajjā (लज्जा) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Lajjā.
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.
Nepali dictionary
Lajjā (लज्जा):—n. shame; shyness; dishonor; ignominy; scandal; disgrace;
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 (+11): Lajjaawatee, Lajjabati, Lajjabhaya, Lajjadhara, Lajjadhika, Lajjahina, Lajjahinate, Lajjahine, Lajjahvi, Lajjaka, Lajjakara, Lajjakarin, Lajjakriti, Lajjalu, Lajjalua, Lajjaluira, Lajjaluka, Lajjalumini, Lajjalura, Lajjanvita.
Full-text (+111): Nirlajja, Salajja, Vilajja, Lajjashila, Lajjakara, Sparshalajja, Lajjanvita, Alajja, Lajjavat, Lajjahina, Lajjavaha, Lajjarahita, Lajjakriti, Shringaralajja, Lajjakarin, Sulajja, Nillajja, Lajjamana, Lajjanti, Lajjashunya.
Relevant text
Search found 91 books and stories containing Lajja, Ajja-a, Ajja-a-a, Ajja-a-ā, Lajjā; (plurals include: Lajjas, as, ās, Lajjās). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Krishna Sandarbha of Jiva Goswami (by Kusakratha Prabhu)
Sahitya-kaumudi by Baladeva Vidyabhushana (by Gaurapada Dāsa)
Text 7.138 < [Chapter 7 - Literary Faults]
Text 4.51 < [Chapter 4 - First-rate Poetry]
Text 10.74 < [Chapter 10 - Ornaments of Meaning]
Garga Samhita (English) (by Danavir Goswami)
Verse 5.4.33 < [Chapter 4 - The Journey to Śrī Mathurā]
Verses 4.21.14-15 < [Chapter 21 - Lord Krsna Extinguishes the Forest Fire and Reveals Himself to the Brāhmana’s Wives]
Verse 5.14.18 < [Chapter 14 - The Meeting of King Nanda and Uddhava]
Brihad Bhagavatamrita (commentary) (by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyana Gosvāmī Mahārāja)
Verse 1.7.89 < [Chapter 7 - Pūrṇa (pinnacle of excellent devotees)]
Verse 2.4.108 < [Chapter 4 - Vaikuṇṭha (the spiritual world)]
Verse 2.3.156 < [Chapter 3 - Bhajana (loving service)]
List of Mahabharata people and places (by Laxman Burdak)
Rivers in Ancient India (study) (by Archana Sarma)
4a. Sarasvatī’s relation with Brahmā < [Chapter 5 - Rivers in the Purāṇic Literature]