Nanavidha, Nānāvidha, Nana-vidha: 24 definitions
Introduction:
Nanavidha means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, 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
Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)
Nānāvidha (नानाविध) refers to “various sorts (of pain)”, according to the Netratantra of Kṣemarāja: a Śaiva text from the 9th century in which Śiva (Bhairava) teaches Pārvatī topics such as metaphysics, cosmology, and soteriology.—Accordingly, [verse 19.121-128, while describing the prevention of natural disasters]—“[...] [He performs the ritual when people are afflicted by] skin diseases, etc., fevers, untimely death or various sorts of pain (nānāvidha—duḥkhair nānāvidhaiś), past faults or seizing spirits. Diseases from snake poison, etc., insect bites, etc., rheumatism, change in form, phlegm, hemorrhoids, eye diseases, skin diseases, etc., internal disease, and sickness caused by wounds, etc., by the thousands [can occur] if various sorts of evils touch the maṇḍala, a defect arises from offense [occurs]. [...]”.
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)
Nānāvidha (नानाविध) refers to “various kinds (of articles of homage)”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.3.37 (“The letter of betrothal is dispatched”).—Accordingly, as Brahmā narrated to Nārada: “[...] Urged by them lovingly, Himācala caused the letter of betrothal to be written by Garga, his priest. He dispatched the letter of betrothal to Śiva along with articles of homage (nānāvidha—nānāvidhāstu sāmagryaḥ) through his kinsmen. Those people arrived at Kailāsa and handed over the letter to Śiva after applying the holy mark on his forehead. After being duly honoured by the lord, they returned highly delighted to the penance of the mountain. [...]”.
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.
Yoga (school of philosophy)
Nānāvidha (नानाविध) refers to “various sorts (of contemplations)”, according to the Yogabīja 80.—Accordingly, while discussing the connection between mind and breath: “The mind cannot be subdued by contemplations of various sorts (nānāvidha). Therefore, the breath alone is the means to the conquest of it. There is no other way”.
Yoga is originally considered a branch of Hindu philosophy (astika), but both ancient and modern Yoga combine the physical, mental and spiritual. Yoga teaches various physical techniques also known as āsanas (postures), used for various purposes (eg., meditation, contemplation, relaxation).
Shyanika-shastra (the science of Hawking and Hunting)
Nānāvidha (नानाविध) refers to “various sorts (of worms)” (causing problems for Hawks), according to the Śyainika-śāstra: a Sanskrit treatise dealing with the divisions and benefits of Hunting and Hawking, written by Rājā Rudradeva (or Candradeva) in possibly the 13th century.—Accordingly, [while discussing the treatment of hawks]: “[...] From eating putrified, stale and indigestible meat, various sorts (nānāvidha) of worms are often found to grow in the stomach of hawks. For their destruction, two parts of viḍaṅga and one part of musk are to be mixed and administered with care and discretion”.
Shyanika-shastra (श्यैनिकशास्त्र, śyainikaśāstra) deals with ancient Indian skill of hawking/falconry (one of the ways of hunting) which were laid down in a systematic manner in various Sanskrit treatises. It also explains the philosophy behind how the pleasures derived from sense-experience could lead the way to liberation.
Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology)
Nānāvidha (नानाविध) refers to the “various kinds (of results)” (of annual horoscopy), according to the first chapter of the Hāyanaratna—a nibandha or meta-commentary drawing on many important expositions of Tājika or Perso-Arabic astrology.—Accordingly, “The word Tājika denotes the treatise composed by Yavanācārya in the Persian language, comprising one area of astrology and having for its outcome the prediction of the various kinds of results (nānāvidha-phala) of annual [horoscopy] and so on. That same treatise was rendered into the Sanskrit language by those born after him, Samarasiṃha and other Brahmans versed in grammar, and that [work], too, is denoted by the word Tājika”.
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.
Vedanta (school of philosophy)
Nānāvidha (नानाविध) refers to “various”, “endless” or “diverse (opinions)”, according to the Aṣṭāvakragītā (5th century BC), an ancient text on spirituality dealing with Advaita-Vedānta topics.—Accordingly, [as Janaka says to Aṣṭavakra]: “Using the tweezers of the knowledge of the truth I have managed to extract the painful thorn of endless (nānāvidha) opinions from the recesses of my heart. [nānāvidhaparāmarśaśalyoddhāraḥ kṛto mayā] For me, established in my own glory, there is no religion, sensuality, possessions, philosophy, duality or even non-duality. For me established in my own glory, there is no past, future or present. There is no space or even eternity. [...]”.
Vedanta (वेदान्त, vedānta) refers to a school of orthodox Hindu philosophy (astika), drawing its subject-matter from the Upanishads. There are a number of sub-schools of Vedanta, however all of them expound on the basic teaching of the ultimate reality (brahman) and liberation (moksha) of the individual soul (atman).
Ayurveda (science of life)
Kalpa (Formulas, Drug prescriptions and other Medicinal preparations)
Nānāvidha (नानाविध) or Nānāvidhalepa refers to one of the topics discussed in the Yogāmṛta, a Sanskrit manuscript collected in volume 4 of the catalogue “Notices of Sanskrit Manuscripts (first series)” by Rajendralal Mitra (1822–1891), who was one of the first English-writing historians dealing with Indian culture and heritage.—The Yogāmṛta is a large Ayurvedic compilation dealing with the practice of medicine and therapeutics authored by Gopāla Sena, Kavirāja, of Dvārandhā. It is dated to the 18th century and contains 11,700 ślokas.—The catalogue includes the term—Nānāvidha-lepa in its ‘subject-matter list’ or Viṣaya (which lists topics, chapters and technical terms). The complete entry reads: (1) nānāvidhalepāḥ (2) kṣudrarogādhikāre,—nānāvidhayogāḥ (3) sukhaprasavārthaṃ nānāvidhayogakathanaṃ (4) nānāvidharasasindūrakathanaṃ .
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)
1) Nānāvidha (नानाविध) refers to “many (types of punishments)”, according to Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra (chapter 21).—Accordingly, “[...] Finally, the immoral person is always fearful, like a sick man who constantly fears the approach of death, or a person guilty of the five sins leading to immediate damnation and who always says he is the enemy of the Buddha. He hides himself and lies like a brigand fearful of being taken. Years, months and days pass; he never finds any safety. Although the immoral man may get honors and benefits, his happiness is impure: it is as though madmen had dressed and adorned a corpse, and wise people, who know it, do not want to look at it. These are the many (nānāvidha) innumerable (apramāṇa) punishments of immorality; all of them could not be enumerated. The ascetic will therefore carefully observe the precepts”.
2) Nanavidha (ननविध) refers to a “nine-fold classification” of dharmas, according to the 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra chapter XLIX. Taken individually (pratyeka), dharmas are ninefold (nanavidha):
- They have existence (bhava),
- Each has its own attribution,
- Each has its own power (bala),
- They each have their own causes (hetu).
- They each have their own object (ālambana).
- They each have their own effect (phala).
- They each have their own essence (prakṛti).
- They each have their own limits (paryanta).
- They each have their own opening up (udghāṭana) and preparations (prayoga).
When the dharmas arise, their existence and their other attributes make up nine things in all.
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.
Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)
Nānāvidha (नानाविध) refers to “various sorts (of marks)”, according to the Guru-maṇḍala-arcana [i.e., “Guru Mandala Worship]” ritual often performed in combination with the Cakrasaṃvara Samādhi, which refers to the primary pūjā and sādhanā practice of Newah Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhists in Nepal.—Accordingly, “A vermillion colored body equal radiance as six heroic Vīriṇī, loving mouth, Naked in arm (nagnabhuja) from the Vasu, a seizer of bodies, with various sorts of marks (nānāvidha-lāñchana)”.
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.
In Jainism
General definition (in Jainism)
Nānāvidha (नानाविध) refers to “various kinds” (of paths of meditation), according to the 11th century Jñānārṇava, a treatise on Jain Yoga in roughly 2200 Sanskrit verses composed by Śubhacandra.—Accordingly, “Who is able to explain the inconceivable power of this [self]? And that [power] is from traversing the path of meditation which is of various kinds (nānāvidha-dhyānapadavī)”.
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
nānāvidha : (adj.) various; divers.
Nānāvidha refers to: divers, various, motley PvA. 53, 96, 113, and passim;
Note: nānāvidha is a Pali compound consisting of the words nānā and vidha.
nānāvidha (နာနာဝိဓ) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[nānā+vidha．(nānāviha-addhamāgadhī)]
[နာနာ+ဝိဓ။ (နာနာဝိဟ-အဒ္ဓမာဂဓီ)]
[Pali to Burmese]
nānāvidha—
(Burmese text): (၁) အထူးထူး အပြားပြား၊ အမျိုးမျိုး အစားစား။ (တိ) (၂) အထူးထူးအပြားပြား-အမျိုးမျိုး အစားစား-ရှိသော။
(Auto-Translation): (1) Special and varied; different kinds and types. (Meaning) (2) Special and varied - having different kinds and types.
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.
Sanskrit dictionary
Nānāvidha (नानाविध).—a. of various sorts, diverse, manifold.
Nānāvidha is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms nānā and vidha (विध).
Nānāvidha (नानाविध).—mfn.
(-dhaḥ-dhā-dhaṃ) 1. In various ways. 2. Of various sorts or kinds. E. nānā, and vidha kind.
Nānāvidhā (नानाविधा).—adj. of various sorts, [Mānavadharmaśāstra] 5, 110; manifold, [Hitopadeśa] 46, 14. Pṛthagvº, i. e.
Nānāvidhā is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms nānā and vidhā (विधा).
Nānāvidha (नानाविध).—[adjective] manifold, different.
Nānāvidha (नानाविध):—[=nānā-vidha] [from nānā] mfn. of various sorts, multiform, manifold, [Manu-smṛti; Mahābhārata etc.]
Nānāvidha (नानाविध):—[nānā-vidha] (dhaḥ-dhā-dhaṃ) a. Various.
Nānāvidha (नानाविध):—(nā + vidhā) adj. verschieden, mannichfach, mancherlei [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 1469,] [Scholiast] [Manu’s Gesetzbuch 5, 110. 11, 107.] [Bhagavadgītā 11, 5.] [Rāmāyaṇa 1, 55, 5. 2, 54, 17.] [SĀṂKHYAK. 60.] [Varāhamihira’s Bṛhajjātaka S. 87, 35.] [Rājataraṅgiṇī 5, 105.]
Nānāvidha (नानाविध):—Adj. Pl. oder in Comp. mit einem Pl. verschieden , mannichfach , mancherlei [Mānavaśrautasūtra 11,4.]
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
Nānāvidha (नानाविध):—(a) varied, variegated, multifarious; miscellaneous; hence ~[tā] (nf).
...
Nepali dictionary
Nānāvidha (नानाविध):—adv. in many ways or methods; differently; variously;
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)
Partial matches (+0): Vidha, Vita, Nana.
Starts with (+0): Nana-vitam-aypo, Nanavidhacittakamma, Nanavidhacittarupa, Nanavidhadanda, Nanavidhadijaganupakujita, Nanavidhaditthika, Nanavidhakhajja, Nanavidhakimikulakula, Nanavidhaklesha, Nanavidhakunapabharita, Nanavidhakusumasamakinna, Nanavidhakusumavassa, Nanavidhalepa, Nanavidham, Nanavidhaphala, Nanavidhashanti, Nanavidhasnana, Nanavidhayoga, Nanavidhayoga.
Full-text (+6): Nanavidhashanti, Nanavidham, Nanavidhacittarupa, Nanavidhakhajja, Nanavidhacittakamma, Nanavidhadanda, Nanavidhaditthika, Vattamulakananavidhadukkhuppada, Nanavidhaklesha, Vidha, Vratashanti, Nana-vitam-aypo, Nanavidhaphala, Nanavidhalepa, Nanavidhayoga, Nana, Zhong zhong fan nao, Naanavidh, Nanavidhasnana, Abhidhyana.
Relevant text
Search found 39 books and stories containing Nanavidha, Nānāvidha, Nana-vidha, Nānā-vidha, Nānāvidhā, Nānā-vidhā; (plurals include: Nanavidhas, Nānāvidhas, vidhas, Nānāvidhās, vidhās). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Brihad Bhagavatamrita (commentary) (by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyana Gosvāmī Mahārāja)
Verse 2.4.175 < [Chapter 4 - Vaikuṇṭha (the spiritual world)]
Verse 1.5.94 < [Chapter 5 - Priya (the beloved devotees)]
Verse 2.3.158 < [Chapter 3 - Bhajana (loving service)]
Notices of Sanskrit Manuscripts (by Rajendralala Mitra)
Chaitanya Bhagavata (by Bhumipati Dāsa)
Verse 1.15.80 < [Chapter 15 - Marriage with Śrī Viṣṇupriyā]
Verse 1.15.144 < [Chapter 15 - Marriage with Śrī Viṣṇupriyā]
Verse 2.9.128 < [Chapter 9 - The Lord’s Twenty-One Hour Ecstasy and Descriptions of Śrīdhara and Other Devotees’ Characteristics]
Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī)
Verse 2.5.12 < [Part 5 - Permanent Ecstatic Mood (sthāyī-bhāva)]
Yavanajataka by Sphujidhvaja [Sanskrit/English] (by Michael D Neely)
Verse 5.3 < [Chapter 5 - Rules of Impregnation]
Verse 3.1 < [Chapter 3 - One’s Own Form of the Drekkāṇas]
Bhajana-Rahasya (by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura Mahasaya)