Nihshanka, Niḥśaṅka, Nissaṅka, Nissanka, Nissamka, Nishshanka, Nishshamka, Nihshamka, Ni-sanka: 23 definitions
Introduction:
Nihshanka means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, Marathi, 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.
The Sanskrit term Niḥśaṅka can be transliterated into English as Nihsanka or Nihshanka, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).
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In Hinduism
Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)
Niḥśaṃka (निःशंक) refers to “being free from doubt”, 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 19.110-113, while describing the king’s consecration]—“[The mantrin] who is free from doubt (niḥśaṃka) should consecrate [the king] in a solitary place at night and on a day of auspicious protection. With auspicious cries like "victory!" and the sounds of the auspicious Veda, he should consecrate [the king] with water and make oblations of white mustard seeds [while he] proclaims the name [of the king] [...]”.
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.
Vedanta (school of philosophy)
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क) refers to “one who is free from doubts”, according to the Aṣṭāvakragītā (5th century BC), an ancient text on spirituality dealing with Advaita-Vedānta topics.—Accordingly, [as Aṣṭavakra says to Janaka]: “[...] The man who is free from doubts (niḥśaṅka) and whose mind is free does not bother about means of liberation. [na muktikārikāṃ dhatte niḥśaṅko yuktamānasaḥ] Whether seeing, hearing, feeling smelling or tasting, he lives at ease. He whose mind is pure and undistracted from the simple hearing of the Truth sees neither something to do nor something to avoid nor a cause for indifference. [...]”.
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).
In Buddhism
Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)
See Kittinissanka.
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).
In Jainism
General definition (in Jainism)
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क) means “freedom from fear” and refers to an aspect of samyaktva (right belief) classified under the aṅga heading, according to various Jain authors (e.g., Pūjyapāda, Samantabhadra, Cāmuṇḍarāya, Somadeva and Amṛtacandra). This meaning is preferred by Samantabhadra (Ratna-karaṇḍa-śrāvakācāra verse 1.2), who sees in it a determination “rigid as the temper of steel” to follow the path of righteousness, and by Cāmuṇḍarāya, who lists the seven types of fear (bhaya) in his Caritrasāra.
Amṛtacandra (Puruṣārthasiddhyupāya 23), however, prefers to interpret niḥśaṅka as freedom from doubt about the truths proclaimed by the Jina. Somadeva offers both explanations: doubt, in his view, would mean an inability to choose between one doctrine and another, one vow andanother, and one divinity and another.
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क) refers to “fearless”, according to the 11th century Jñānārṇava, a treatise on Jain Yoga in roughly 2200 Sanskrit verses composed by Śubhacandra.—Accordingly, “One who is restrained who is intent on stopping the influx of karma fearlessly (niḥśaṅka) drives away the discharge of the poison of non-restraint with the nectar waters of true restraint. A bad birth is hard to be accomplished even in a dream for him whose judgment, which is extremely skilful at examination like a door-keeper, shines in the mind”.
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
Marathi-English dictionary
Niśśaṅka (निश्शङ्क).—a (S) Confident, decided, determined, unhesitating. 2 as ad Boldly, fearlessly, confidently.
niḥśaṅka (निःशंक).—See niśśaṅka.
Niśśaṅka (निश्शङ्क).—a Confident, decided. ad Boldly, fearlessly.
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
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क).—a. Free from fear, careless, secure.
-ṅkam ind. Fearlessly, easily; निःशङ्कं दीयते लोकैः पश्य भस्मचये पदम् (niḥśaṅkaṃ dīyate lokaiḥ paśya bhasmacaye padam).
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क).—mfn.
(-ṅkaḥ-ṅkā-ṅkaṃ) Fearless. E. nir and śaṅkā apprehension.
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क).—[adjective] fearless, not afraid of (—°), confident; °— & [neuter] [adverb]
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Niḥśaṅkā (निःशङ्का).—[feminine] fearlessness; [instrumental] = [preceding] [adverb]
1) Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क):—[=niḥ-śaṅka] [from niḥ] mf(ā)n. free from fear or risk, not afraid of ([compound])
2) [v.s. ...] careless, secure, [Harivaṃśa; Kāvya literature] etc. (also nikita, [Pañcatantra])
3) [=niḥ-śaṅka] [from niḥ] m. (in music) a kind of measure or dance
4) Niḥśaṅkā (निःशङ्का):—[=niḥ-śaṅkā] [from niḥ-śaṅka > niḥ] f. absence of fear or hesitation
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क):—[niḥ-śaṅka] (ṅkaḥ-ṅkā-ṅgaṃ) a. Fearless.
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क):—(nis + śaṅkā) adj. f. ā frei von Besorgniss, furchtlos, der Nichts zu befürchten hat, kein Bedenken habend [Harivaṃśa 3741.] [Rāmāyaṇa.5,38,39.] [?ad Bhartṛhari.3,4 bei Lebensbeschreibung Śākyamuni’s und WEBER. Kathāsaritsāgara 22,197. Pañcatantra 24,13. (ed. orn. 21,5). 124,1. Hitopadeśa II,94. Mārkāṇḍeyapurāṇa 21,15. Vetālapañcaviṃśati in Lassen’s Anthologie.4,15. Sāhityadarpana 34,1. Oxforder Handschriften 91,b,9.] antarātman [Rāmāyaṇa 6, 101, 32.] manas [Pañcatantra 213, 24.] (vraṇaḥ) rohati ca niḥśaṅkaḥ so v. a. ohne Weiteres [Suśruta 2, 14, 9.] wobei man Nichts zu besorgen —, Nichts ängstlich zu bedenken braucht: niḥśaṅkāṅgavikarṣaṇa [Bhartṛhari 1, 25.] śaṅkam adv. ohne Zagen, unbesorgt, ohne sich ängstlich zu bedenken, ohne Weiteres [Mahābhārata 1, 3012.] [Rāmāyaṇa 4, 15, 24.] [Bhartṛhari 3, 15.] [Ṛtusaṃhāra 6, 4.] [Kathāsaritsāgara 26, 257.] [Pañcatantra I, 299.] abhiṣicyatām [Rājataraṅgiṇī 3, 189.] ruroda [2, 43.] am Anfange eines comp. ohne Casuszeichen: niḥśaṅkasupta unbesorgt —, ruhig schlafend [Spr. 406.]
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Niḥśaṅkā (निःशङ्का):—f. Abwesenheit aller Scheu: niḥśaṅkayā ohne alle Scheu, ohne Bedenken [Spr. 2079.]
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क):——
1) Adj. (f. ā) — a) frei von Besorgniss , furchtlos , der Nichts zu befürchten hat , — von (im Comp. vorangehend) [232,10]), kein Bedenken habend. m und niḥśaṅka Adv. ohne Zagen , unbesorgt , ohne sich ängstlich zu bedenken , ohne Weiteres. — b) wobei man Nichts zu besorgen — , Nichts ängstlich zu bedenken hat. ( vraṇaḥ) rohati ca niḥśaṅkaḥ so v.a. (die Wunde) heilt ohne Weiteres. —
2) m. — a) ein best. Tact [Saṃgitasārasaṃgraha 214.] — b) eine Art Tanz [Saṃgitasārasaṃgraha 260.]
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Niḥśaṅkā (निःशङ्का):—f. Abwesenheit aller Scheu. Instr. ohne alle Scheu , ohne Bedenken.
Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Ṇissaṃka.
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
Niśśaṃka (निश्शंक) [Also spelled nishshank]:—(a) unhesitating; unapprehensive; dauntless, intrepid, fearless; hence ~[tā] (nf).
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Prakrit-English dictionary
Ṇissaṃka (णिस्संक) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit word: Niḥśaṅka.
Prakrit is an ancient language closely associated with both Pali and Sanskrit. Jain literature is often composed in this language or sub-dialects, such as the Agamas and their commentaries which are written in Ardhamagadhi and Maharashtri Prakrit. The earliest extant texts can be dated to as early as the 4th century BCE although core portions might be older.
Kannada-English dictionary
Niḥśaṃka (ನಿಃಶಂಕ):—[noun] = ನಿಃಶಂಕೆ [nihshamke].
Niśśaṃka (ನಿಶ್ಶಂಕ):—
1) [noun] = ನಿಶ್ಶಂಕೆ [nishshamke].
2) [noun] a man not having doubts; he who is certain (about something).
3) [noun] he who is fearless.
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Nissaṃka (ನಿಸ್ಸಂಕ):—[noun] = ನಿಸ್ಸಂಕೆ [nissamke].
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
1) Niḥśaṅka (निःशङ्क):—adj. 1. doubtless; 2. fearless; adv. without any doubt or hesitation; doubtlessly; indisputably;
2) Niśśaṅka (निश्शङ्क):—adj. doubtless;
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
nissaṅka (နိဿင်္က) [(ti) (တိ)]—
[ni+saṅka ( gaṅka-saṃ,ṇissaṃka-prā)]
[နိ+သင်္က (နီး ဂင်္က-သံ၊ ဏိဿံက-ပြာ)]
[Pali to Burmese]
nissaṅka—
(Burmese text): ကင်းသော-ယုံမှား-သံသယဖြစ်-ခြင်းရှိသော၊ ယုံမှားခြင်း-သံသယဖြစ်ခြင်း-မရှိ-ကင်း-သော။
(Auto-Translation): Free from delusion and doubt, without any delusion or doubt present.
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: Shanka, Nih, Nish, Mi, Ni, Nikaya.
Starts with: Nihshamkate, Nihshankalila, Nihshankam, Nihshankasupta, Nihshankaya.
Full-text (+62): Nihshankam, Nihshankalila, Nissanka-malla, Nihshankasupta, Nishshank, Nissankalata, Nissankadanavinoda, Nissankavihara, Nikkankha, Nicankam, Nihshankaya, Nihshakta, Nissankasamudra, Ni:shanka, Ni:shakta, Ni:shabda, Nihshankita, Nissandeh, Brahmanasatra, Bauddhasatra.
Relevant text
Search found 32 books and stories containing Nihshanka, Ni-sanka, Ni-saṅka, Niḥ-śaṃka, Nih-samka, Nih-sanka, Niḥ-śaṅka, Niḥ-śaṅkā, Nih-śaṅka, Nih-shamka, Nih-shanka, Nihsamka, Niḥśaṃka, Niḥśaṅka, Niḥśaṅkā, Nihsanka, Nihśaṅka, Nihshamka, Ṇis-saṃka, Niś-śaṃka, Nis-saṃka, Nis-samka, Nis-sanka, Nis-saṅka, Niś-śaṅka, Ṇis-saṅka, Nish-shamka, Nish-shanka, Nishshamka, Nishshanka, Ṇissaṃka, Niśśaṃka, Nissaṃka, Nissamka, Niśśaṅka, Ṇissaṅka, Nissaṅka, Nissanka; (plurals include: Nihshankas, sankas, saṅkas, śaṃkas, samkas, śaṅkas, śaṅkās, shamkas, shankas, Nihsamkas, Niḥśaṃkas, Niḥśaṅkas, Niḥśaṅkās, Nihsankas, Nihśaṅkas, Nihshamkas, saṃkas, Nishshamkas, Nishshankas, Ṇissaṃkas, Niśśaṃkas, Nissaṃkas, Nissamkas, Niśśaṅkas, Ṇissaṅkas, Nissaṅkas, Nissankas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Dictionaries of Indian languages (Kosha)
Page 59 < [Hindi-Bengali-English Volume 2]
Page 124 < [Hindi-Kannada-English Volume 2]
Page 124 < [Hindi-Sindhi-English Volume 2]
Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences
An analytical study on the efficacy of Anantadi Yoga in purifying... < [Vol. 10 No. 3 (2025)]
Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of Traditional Ayurvedic Herbal Body... < [Vol. 9 No. 6 (2024)]
Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī)
Verse 2.4.161 < [Part 4 - Transient Ecstatic Disturbances (vyābhicāri-bhāva)]
Verse 3.3.15 < [Part 3 - Fraternal Devotion (sakhya-rasa)]
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts, Madras (by M. Seshagiri Sastri)
A Short history of Lanka (by Humphry William Codrington)
Chapter IV - The Polonnaruwa Kings (1070 AD—1215 AD)
Chapter III - The medieval kingdom to the Chola conquest in the eleventh century (479 AD—1070AD)
Chaitanya Bhagavata (by Bhumipati Dāsa)
Verse 1.13.74 < [Chapter 13 - Defeating Digvijayī]