Mamsa, aka: Maṃsa, Māṃsa; 9 Definition(s)

Introduction

Mamsa means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, 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

Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)

Māṃsa (मांस):—Sanskrit word for ‘flesh’. It is associated with Śikhi, which is the third seat of the Svādhiṣṭhāna-chakra, according to the Kubjikāmata-tantra.

context information

Shaiva (शैव, śaiva) or Shaivism (śaivism) represents a tradition of Hinduism worshiping Shiva as the supreme being. Closely related to Shaktism, Shaiva literature includes a range of scriptures, including Tantras, while the root of this tradition may be traced back to the ancient Vedas.

Purana

Māṃsa (मांस).—Flesh offered to Goddess Kālī.^*

• * Viṣṇu-purāṇa V. 1. 86.

context information

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

Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)

Maṃsa (मंस, “flesh”) or Māṃsa refers to one of the thirty-substances of the human body according to the Visuddhimagga, as mentioned in an appendix of the 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra chapter 32-34. The Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra mentions thirty-six substances [viz., maṃsa, māṃsa]; the Sanskrit sources of both the Lesser and the Greater Vehicles, physical substances are 26 in number while the Pāli suttas list thirty-once substances.

context information

Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.

General definition (in Buddhism)

Māṃsa (मांस, “fleshly”) or Māṃsacakṣus refers to one the “five eyes” (cakṣus) as defined in the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 65). The Dharma-samgraha (Dharmasangraha) is an extensive glossary of Buddhist technical terms in Sanskrit (eg., māṃsa). The work is attributed to Nagarjuna who lived around the 2nd century A.D.

In Jainism

General definition (in Jainism)

Māṃsa (मांस, “meat”) refers to one of the ten classifications of food (āhāra), also known as vikṛtis, according to the 12th century Yogaśāstra (verse 3.130) by Hemacandra. Māṃsa refers to meat, which again is said to be of three kinds: of birds, beasts or fishes; sometimes, however, this threefold division is explained as skin, meat, and blood.

Meat (māṃsa) is forbidden to consume for Jain laymen. The five udumbara fruits and three forbidden vikṛtis: meat (māṃsa), alcohol (madya), and honey (madhu)—from which abstention is enjoined have one aspect in common: they are all used as offerings to the spirits of the ancestors (pitṛs). For Amitagati, in the Subhāṣita-ratna-sandoha, the common characteristic of meat, alcohol, and honey is their aphrodisiac quality.

The eating of meat (māṃsa) is, above all, a sin against compassion and the guilt belongs not only to the actual slaughterer but to anybody who buys or sells, cooks or carves, or gives or eats meat as in fact the Hindu dharma-śāstras confirm. To eat meat is to acknowledge vultures, wolves, and tigers as one’s gurus. Some people, continues Hemacandra (alluding to the śrāddha, Yogaśāstra v3.29-31), not only eat meat themselves but offer it to the devas and pitṛs.

The Digambaras tend to emphasize the sharp distinction between eating meat which contains trasa-jīvas and fruits or corn in which there are present only sthāvara-jīvas (see Amṛtacandra’s Puruṣārthasiddhyupāya 65-68). Even where a bullor buffalo has not been slaughtered but has died a natural death the consumption of its flesh involves the destruction of the minute living organisms (nigodas) that have found refuge there and these continue to come into existence in meat either raw or cookedor in process of cooking so that very great hiṃsā is caused even by touching a piece of it. The eating of meat, says Āśādhara, in his Sāgāra-dharmāmṛta (v2.8), increases the lusts of the flesh and keeps a man wandering in the saṃsāra.

context information

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

maṃsa : (nt.) flesh.

context information

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

māṃsa (मांस).—n (S) pop. māsa n Flesh.

māṃsa (मांस).—n Flesh.

Sanskrit-English dictionary

Māṃsa (मांस).—[man-sa dīrghaśca Uṇ.3.64] Flesh, meat; समांसो मधुपर्कः (samāṃso madhuparkaḥ) U.4. (The word is thus fancifully derived in Ms.5.55 :-māṃ sa bhakṣayitā'mutra yasya māṃsamihādmyaham | etanmāṃsasya māṃsatvaṃ pravadanti manīṣiṇaḥ ||).

2) The flesh of fish.

3) The fleshy part of a fruit.

-saḥ 1 A worm.

2) Name of a mixed tribe, selling meat.

3) Time.

Derivable forms: māṃsam (मांसम्).

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