Maharatha, Mahāratha, Maha-ratha: 19 definitions
Introduction:
Maharatha 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.
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In Hinduism
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Mahāratha (महारथ).—A title earned by the five sons of Kārtavīryārjuna;1 an epithet of a Rākṣasa in the army of Bhaṇḍa.2
Mahāratha (महारथ) is a name mentioned in the Mahābhārata (cf. I.63.29, I.63, I.63.29, VI.18.11) and represents one of the many proper names used for people and places. Note: The Mahābhārata (mentioning Mahāratha) 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.
In Buddhism
Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)
1. Maharatha. A king of thirty one kappas ago; a former birth of Dhammasava (Nagapupphiya) Thera. ThagA.i.215; Ap.i.179.
2. Maharatha. A devaputta in Tavatimsa. As a result of his good deeds, he excelled in majesty Sakka himself. DhA.i.426; UdA.i.199.
Theravāda is a major branch of Buddhism having the the Pali canon (tipitaka) as their canonical literature, which includes the vinaya-pitaka (monastic rules), the sutta-pitaka (Buddhist sermons) and the abhidhamma-pitaka (philosophy and psychology).
India history and geography
Mahāratha.—(EI 7), explained as ‘a race’ (EI 17); official designation; cf. Mahārathin. Note: mahāratha 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
Marathi-English dictionary
mahāratha (महारथ) [or थी, thī].—m (S) A mighty warrior; one capable of opposing his car and himself to 10,000 cars with their several warriors. Applied figuratively to any bold champion, eloquent declaimer &c.
mahāratha (महारथ) [-thī, -थी].—m A mighty warrior.
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
Mahāratha (महारथ).—
1) a great chariot.
2) a great warrior or hero; द्रुपदश्च महारथः (drupadaśca mahārathaḥ) Bhagavadgītā (Bombay) 1.4; कुतः प्रभावो धनंजयस्य महारथजयद्रथस्य विपत्तिमुत्पादयितुम् (kutaḥ prabhāvo dhanaṃjayasya mahārathajayadrathasya vipattimutpādayitum) Ve.2; दशरथः प्रशशास महारथः (daśarathaḥ praśaśāsa mahārathaḥ) R.9.1; Śiśupālavadha 3.22; (a mahāratha is thus defined:-eko daśasahasrāṇi yodhayedyastu dhanvinām || śastraśāstra- pravīṇaśca vijñeyaḥ sa mahārathaḥ ||).
3) desire, longing; cf. मनोरथ (manoratha).
Derivable forms: mahārathaḥ (महारथः).
Mahāratha is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms mahā and ratha (रथ).
Mahāratha (महारथ).—name of a king: Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra 206.11; 225.9 ff.
Mahāratha (महारथ).—m.
(-thaḥ) 1. Wish, desire. 2. A large car. 3. A warrior fighting in a car, or any leader or warrior of note. It is thus defined in Vachaspatya:—“eko daśasahasrāṇi yodhayed yastu dhanvinām . śastraśāstrapravīṇaśca vijñeyaḥ sa mahārathaḥ ..” E. mahā great, and ratha a car.
Mahāratha (महारथ).—m. 1. a great chariot, [Rāmāyaṇa] 3, 55, 32. 2. (having a great chariot), a hero, ib. 3, 53, 11.
Mahāratha is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms mahā and ratha (रथ).
Mahāratha (महारथ).—1. [masculine] great chariot or great hero.
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Mahāratha (महारथ).—2. [adjective] having a great chariot.
1) Mahāratha (महारथ):—[=mahā-ratha] [from mahā > mah] m. a gr° chariot, [Mahābhārata; Rāmāyaṇa]
2) [v.s. ...] a gr° warrior (not a Bahu-vrīhi [compound], as shown by the accent; cf. ratha, ‘a warrior’), [Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā; Taittirīya-saṃhitā; Mahābhārata] etc.
3) [v.s. ...] Name of a Rākṣasa, [Rāmāyaṇa]
4) [v.s. ...] of a son of Viśvā-mitra, [Rāmāyaṇa]
5) [v.s. ...] of a king, [Mārkaṇḍeya-purāṇa; Buddhist literature]
6) [v.s. ...] of a minister, [Rājataraṅgiṇī]
7) [v.s. ...] desire, longing, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.] (cf. mano-ratha)
8) [v.s. ...] mfn. possessing gr° chariots, [Harivaṃśa]
Mahāratha (महारथ):—[mahā-ratha] (thaḥ) 1. m. Wish; a large car; a warrior fighting in a car.
Mahāratha (महारथ):—1. (ma + ratha) m.
1) ein grosser Wagen [Mahābhārata 3, 1730.] [Rāmāyaṇa 3, 55, 32.] —
2) oxyt. ein grosser Kämpfer, - Kriegsheld [Vājasaneyisaṃhitā 22, 22.] [Taittirīyasaṃhitā 7, 5, 18, 1.] [Nalopākhyāna 12, 31.] [Mahābhārata 1, 532.] mahāratho magadhānāṃ viśruto yo bṛhadrathaḥ [2363. 5930.] sarvaloka (arjuna) [?3, 1528. 11903. 5, 5799. 7383. Rāmāyaṇa 2, 50, 12. 56, 13, f. 3, 53, 11. Raghuvaṃśa 9, 1. Śiśupālavadha 3, 22. Kirātārjunīya 16, 14. Śiva Mahābhārata 13, 1236.] mahārathānāṃ yūthasya patiḥ [Kathāsaritsāgara 47, 23.] yūthapa [26.] eko daśasahasrāṇi yodhayedyastu dhanvinām . astraśastrapravīṇaśca mahāratha iti smṛtaḥ .. [ŚRĪDHARASV.] zu [Bhāgavatapurāṇa im Śabdakalpadruma]; vgl. [Mahīdhara] zu [Vājasaneyisaṃhitā 22, 22.] ātmānaṃ sārathiṃ (v. l. rathikaṃ) cāśvānrakṣanyudhyeta yo naraḥ . sa mahārathasaṃjñaḥ syādityāhurnītikovidāḥ .. Citat bei [Mallinātha] zu [Kirātārjunīya 16, 14] und [Śiśupālavadha 3, 22.] Dass das Wort in dieser Bed. nicht als adj. comp. zu fassen sei, beweist schon der Accent und der Umstand, dass auch das einfache ratha häufig in der Bed. von Kämpfer, Held gebraucht wird. Hiernach wird man auch 1. bṛhadratha anders als [Sāyaṇa] auffassen. —
3) Nomen proprium eines Rākṣasa [Rāmāyaṇa 3, 29, 30.] eines Sohnes des Viśvāmitra [Rāmāyaṇa 1, 57, 3] (mahodara [Gorresio]). eines Fürsten [Mārkāṇḍeyapurāṇa 118, 23. 26.] = Śuddhodana in einer anderen Geburt [Burnouf 535.] Nomen proprium eines Ministers des Fürsten Śaṃkaravarman [Rājataraṅgiṇī 7, 82.] —
4) Lust, Verlangen (vgl. manoratha) [ŚABDĀRTHAK.] bei [WILSON.]
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Mahāratha (महारथ):—2. (wie eben) adj. mit grossen Wagen versehen: balāni [Harivaṃśa 10628.]
Mahāratha (महारथ):—1. m. —
1) ein grosser Wagen. —
2) ein grosser Kämpfer , — Kriegsheld. —
3) Nomen proprium — a) eines Rākṣasa. — b) eines Sohnes des Viśvāmitra. — c) eines Fürsten. — d) eines Ministers. —
4) *Lust , Verlangen.
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Mahāratha (महारथ):—2. Adj. mit grossen Wagen versehen.
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
Mahāratha (ಮಹಾರಥ):—[noun] a great warrior, who can single handedly fight ten thousand soldiers.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Mahāratha (महारथ):—n. 1. a great chariot; 2. a great warrior or hero;
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.
Pali-English dictionary
mahāratha (မဟာရထ) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[mahanta+ratha]
[မဟန္တ+ရထ]
[Pali to Burmese]
mahāratha—
(Burmese text): (၁) ကြီးသောရထား၊ ရထားကြီး။ (၂) မဟာရထနတ်သား။ (တိ) (၃)မြတ်သောရထားရှိသော၊ သူ။
(Auto-Translation): (1) Large train, big train. (2) Great train driver. (3) He who possesses a noble train.
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.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches: Ratha, Maha, Mahanta.
Starts with: Maharatha Vagga, Maharatha Vimanavatthu, Maharathadevaputta, Maharathamanjari, Maharathatva, Maharathavimana, Maharathika.
Full-text (+86): Maharathatva, Maharatha Vagga, Maharathamanjari, Maharathadevaputta, Maharathavimana, Maharathika, Maharatha Vimanavatthu, Sumaharatha, Yuyudhana, Vivaksha, Makaratam, Vrishtyadya, Ashvacarya, Maharath, Maratan, Vrishasya, Abhila, Trivenu, Makaratan, Dhurandhara.
Relevant text
Search found 35 books and stories containing Maharatha, Maha-ratha, Mahā-ratha, Mahanta-ratha, Mahāratha, Maharathas; (plurals include: Maharathas, rathas, Mahārathas, Maharathases). 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)
Verses 6.4.17-20 < [Chapter 4 - Journey to the City of Kuṇḍina]
Verse 6.8.27 < [Chapter 8 - The Marriages of All the Queens]
Verses 6.19.6-10 < [Chapter 19 - In the First Fortress of Dvārakā, the Glories of Līlā-sarovara, etc.]
Mahabharata (English) (by Kisari Mohan Ganguli)
Section CLXXII < [Uluka Dutagamana Parva]
Section CLXVIII < [Uluka Dutagamana Parva]
Section CLXIX < [Uluka Dutagamana Parva]
Bhagavata Purana (by G. V. Tagare)
Chapter 10 - Dhruva invades Alakā < [Book 4 - Fourth Skandha]
Chapter 14 - Conjectures of Yudhiṣṭhira < [Book 1 - First Skandha]
Dictionaries of Indian languages (Kosha)
Page 590 < [Hindi-Bengali-English Volume 2]
Page 136 < [Hindi-Kashmiri-English Volume 2]
Page 70 < [Bengali-Hindi-English, Volume 2]
List of Mahabharata people and places (by Laxman Burdak)
Krishna Sandarbha of Jiva Goswami (by Kusakratha Prabhu)