Mamsa, aka: Maṃsa, Māṃsa; 12 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.
Source: Wisdom Library: Kubjikāmata-tantra
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 and Itihasa (epic history)
Māṃsa (मांस) refers to “meat”, which a Śiva-devotee should refrain from eating, according to the Śivapurāṇa 1.25, while explaining the greatness of Rudrākṣa:—“[...] a devotee of Śiva shall refrain from eating meat [viz., Māṃsa], garlic, onion, red garlic, potherb, Śleṣmātaka, pig of rubbish and liquors.”.
Source: archive.org: Siva Purana - English TranslationMāṃsa (मांस).—Flesh offered to Goddess Kālī.*
- * Viṣṇu-purāṇa V. 1. 86.
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)
Māṃsa (मांस) refers to “meat” according to the 17th century Bhojanakutūhala (dravyaguṇāguṇa-kathana), and is commonly found in literature dealing with the topics of dietetics and culinary art, also known as Pākaśāstra or Pākakalā.—The text [māṃsa-prakaraṇa] says the three fold division of meat such as terrestrial (bhūcara), celestial (khecara) and aquatic (apcara). Here different types of meat and their properties are discussed in detail.
In the Māṃsa or “meats” group of foodstuffs, the following substances are beneficial (hita) to the body: (Jāṅghala): Eṇa, Kuraṅga and Hariṇa; (Pakṣiṇa): Tittiri (partridge) and Lāva; (Matsya): Rohita. The following substances are harmful (ahita) to the body: Meats of domesticated animals and the muscle fat of buffalo.
Māṃsa or “meat” is mentioned in a list of potential causes for indigestion.—A complete section in Bhojanakutūhala is devoted for the description of agents that cause indigestion [viz., māṃsa (meat)]. These agents consumed on a large scale can cause indigestion for certain people. The remedies [viz., yavaśūkasaṃyutaṃ sarpiḥ (ghee mixed with yavaśūka and warm water)] for these types of indigestions are also explained therewith.
Source: Shodhganga: Dietetics and culinary art in ancient and medieval India
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 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.
Source: Wisdom Library: Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra
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.
Source: Wisdom Library: Dharma-samgrahaIn 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.
Source: archive.org: Jaina Yoga
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.
Source: BuddhaSasana: Concise Pali-English Dictionary
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.
Source: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionarymāṃsa (मांस).—n Flesh.
Source: DDSA: The Aryabhusan school dictionary, Marathi-EnglishMarathi 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-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).
Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionaryMāṃsa (मांस).—n.
(-saṃ) 1. Flesh. 2. The fleshy part of fruit. f. (-sī) 1. Indian spikenard, (Valeriana Jatamansi.) 2. A sort of drug, commonly Kakoli. m.
(-saḥ) 1. Time. 2. A worm. E. san to mind, sa Unadi aff., and the vowel made long by special rule.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English DictionarySanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family. 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.
Relevant definitions
Starts with (+59): Mamsa Jataka, Mamsa Sutta, Mamsabadara, Mamsabala, Mamsabhaksha, Mamsabhakshaka, Mamsabhakshyanirupana, Mamsabhedin, Mamsabhettri, Mamsacakshu, Mamsacakshus, Mamsachakshu, Mamsachakshus, Mamsad, Mamsada, Mamsadalana, Mamsadhatu, Mamsadi, Mamsadin, Mamsadivarga.
Ends with (+42): Adhimamsa, Adhvaramimamsa, Agramamsa, Amamamsa, Amamsha, Amimamsa, Angaramamsa, Antramamsa, Anupakritamamsa, Anupamamsa, Ashtamamsha, Atimamsa, Brahmamimamsa, Bukkagramamsa, Dantamamsa, Dattakamimamsa, Gomamsa, Gramyamamsa, Hadayamamsa, Haranance-mamsa.
Full-text (+198): Mamsahasa, Dantamamsa, Mamsavikraya, Mamsasneha, Mamsatejas, Mamsakama, Agramamsa, Takramamsa, Mamsakshaya, Amaka, Saptadhatu, Pasibbita, Khala, Mattatta, Haranance-mamsa, Baramaham, Anisada, Gramyamamsa, Bukkagramamsa, Sariramamsa.
Relevant text
Search found 21 books and stories containing Mamsa, Maṃsa, Māṃsa; (plurals include: Mamsas, Maṃsas, Māṃsas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra (by Gelongma Karma Migme Chödrön)
Appendix 3 - Thirty-two substances of the human body < [Chapter XXXII-XXXIV - The eight classes of supplementary dharmas]
1. Generosity and the virtue of generosity. < [Part 14 - Generosity and the other virtues]
Preliminary note on the ‘five eyes’ < [Part 6 - Obtaining the five ‘eyes’]
Rasa Jala Nidhi, vol 4: Iatrochemistry (by Bhudeb Mookerjee)
Part 3 - Visama-jvara (chronic fever) < [Chapter II - Fever (jvara)]
Sushruta Samhita, volume 4: Cikitsasthana (by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna)
Chapter XXII - The affections of the mouth
Chapter XXI - The medical treatment of poison caused by a Shuka (water insect)
Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi (by Ganganatha Jha)
Verse 5.55 < [Section VI - Lawful and Forbidden Meat]
Verse 7.131-132 < [Section XI - Customs-Duties]
Verse 3.271 < [Section XXI - Relative Merits of the Offering-Materials]
A History of Indian Philosophy Volume 2 (by Surendranath Dasgupta)
Part 6 - Foetal Development < [Chapter XIII - Speculations in the Medical Schools]
Part 3 - Organs in the Atharva-veda and Āyurveda < [Chapter XIII - Speculations in the Medical Schools]
Part 9 - Prāṇa and its Control < [Chapter XII - The Philosophy of the Yogavāsiṣṭha]
Brihad Bhagavatamrita (by Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī)
Verse 2.3.175 < [Chapter 3 - Bhajana: Worship]
Verse 2.4.160 < [Chapter 4 - Vaikuṇṭha: The Spiritual Kingdom]