Love: 8 definitions

Introduction:

Love means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Christianity, 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.

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In Hinduism

Natyashastra (theatrics and dramaturgy)

Source: Shodhganga: Elements of Art and Architecture in the Trtiyakhanda of the Visnudharmottarapurana (natya)

1) Love is denoted by the Sanskrit word Śṛṅgāra while the Love Gait is denoted by Śṛṅgāriṇī, which represents one of the various Gatis (“way of walking”) (in Indian Dramas), according to the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, an ancient Sanskrit text which (being encyclopedic in nature) deals with a variety of cultural topics such as arts, architecture, music, grammar and astronomy.—A person in elegant and stylish dress up walks in rhythmic footsteps with particular movements of arms along with the legs. One looks very graceful in it and it is generally adopted at the time of meeting with the beloved. That is why this type of gait is related to śṛṅgāra i.e., love. Moreover, this type of gait is seen in the walking of Dūtī i.e., female messenger.

2) Walking in Love is also associated with Sthira-gati: another one of the various Gatis (“way of walking”).—Sthira-gati denotes the steady movements. To show walking in fever, hunger, disease, tiredness due to penance, dissimulation, excitement, love and sorrow or ease, slow gait should be adopted by the artist. The lover who goes to meet his or her secret lover adopts the sthiragati. In darkness or if a deformed creature is visible or if a person walks a long way, the gait of a person becomes automatically slow down.

Natyashastra book cover
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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).

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Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology)

Source: Journal of South Asian Intellectual History: Samarasiṃha and the Early Transmission of Tājika Astrology

Love refers to one the “thirty-two astrological lots” (sahamas), as discussed in the fourth chapter of the Karmaprakāśa—one of the earliest preserved Sanskrit works on Perso-Arabic (Tājika) astrology authored by Samarasiṃha in the 13th century.—The so-called lots (Sanskrit: sahamas; Arabic: sahm, translating κλῆρος) are derived by measuring the longitudinal distance between two predefined points in a horoscope (typically two planets) and projecting it from a third point (typically the ascendant degree). Of these 32 lots [e.g., Love], all but two are present in what has become the most widespread list of Tājika sahamas, compiled some three centuries later by Nīlakaṇṭha and comprising 50 items.

Jyotisha book cover
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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.

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In Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)

Source: 84000: Glossary of Terms

(Meditations on) Love (in Sanskrit: Maitrī) refers to one of the “Four Immeasurables”.— In the Abhidharmakośa, Vasubandhu explains that the four immeasurables are called apramāṇa‍—meaning “infinite” or “limitless”‍—because they take limitless sentient beings as their object, and they generate limitless merit and results. Love (maitrī) is described as the wish that beings be happy, and it acts as an antidote to malice (vyāpāda).

Tibetan Buddhism book cover
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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.

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Languages of India and abroad

Hindi dictionary

Source: DDSA: A practical Hindi-English dictionary

Love in Hindi refers in English to:—(nm) a very small division of time; whit, particle; see [lau; ~lina] absorbed, engrossed (as in thought)..—love (लव) is alternatively transliterated as Lava.

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Kannada-English dictionary

Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpus

Lōve (ಲೋವೆ):—

1) [noun] that part of the slant-roof of a building, that is projected beyond the outer wall.

2) [noun] the frame-work of a sloping roof.

context information

Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.

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