Nupura, Nūpura: 26 definitions

Introduction
Image gallery
In Hinduism
In Buddhism
1. General definition
Languages
1. Pali
2. Marathi
3. Sanskrit
4. Hindi
5. Kannada
See also

Introduction:

Nupura means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, 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.

Alternative spellings of this word include Nupur.

Images (photo gallery)

In Hinduism

Natyashastra (theatrics and dramaturgy)

Source: Wisdom Library: Nāṭya-śāstra

1) Nūpura (नूपुर).—One of the 108 karaṇas (minor dance movement) mentioned in the Nāṭyaśāstra chapter 4. The instructions for this nūpura-karaṇa is as follows, “the Trika to be gracefully turned round, [in the Bhramarī Cārī] the two hands to show respectively Latā and Recita gestures, and the Nūpurapāda Cārī with the feet.”.

A karaṇa represents a minor dance movements and combines sthāna (standing position), cārī (foot and leg movement) and nṛttahasta (hands in dancing position).

2) Nūpura (नूपुर) refers to a type of ornament (ābharaṇa) for the ankels (gulpha) to be worn by females, according to Nāṭyaśāstra chapter 23. Nūpura is classified as an prakṣepya, or “ornaments that are to be worn”. Such ornaments for females should be used in cases of human females and celestial beings (gods and goddesses).

Ābharaṇa (‘ornaments’, eg., kalāpa) is a category of alaṃkāra, or “decorations”, which in turn is a category of nepathya, or “costumes and make-up”, the perfection of which forms the main concern of the Āhāryābhinaya, or “extraneous representation”, a critical component for a successful dramatic play.

Source: Shodhganga: Elements of Art and Architecture in the Trtiyakhanda of the Visnudharmottarapurana (natya)

Nūpura (नूपुर) refers to one of the 108 kinds of Karaṇa (“coordination of precise movements of legs and hands”), according to the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, an ancient Sanskrit text which (being encyclopedic in nature) deals with a variety of cultural topics such as arts, architecture, music, grammar and astronomy.—According to the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, karaṇas are the coordination of precise movements of legs and hands performed in a particular posture. The Nāṭyaśāstra also gives its view point in the same spirit. In the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, one hundred and eight kinds of karaṇas are accepted, e.g., Nūpura.

context information

Natyashastra (नाट्यशास्त्र, nāṭyaśāstra) refers to both the ancient Indian tradition (shastra) of performing arts, (natya—theatrics, drama, dance, music), as well as the name of a Sanskrit work dealing with these subjects. It also teaches the rules for composing Dramatic plays (nataka), construction and performance of Theater, and Poetic works (kavya).

Shilpashastra (iconography)

Source: Shodhganga: Vaisnava Agamas And Visnu Images

Nūpura (नूपुर) refers to an “anklet” and represents a type of “ornaments of leg” (padabhūṣaṇa), as defined in treatises such as the Pāñcarātra, Pādmasaṃhitā and Vaikhānasa-āgamas, extensively dealing with the technical features of temple art, iconography and architecture in Vaishnavism.—The ornaments for the legs and feet are common in Indian sculptures as well in day-to-day life. Bharata (cf. Nāṭyaśāstra 23.38-39) mentions some of the ornaments [viz. nūpura (anklet) for the upper part of the ankle (gulpha)].

context information

Shilpashastra (शिल्पशास्त्र, śilpaśāstra) represents the ancient Indian science (shastra) of creative arts (shilpa) such as sculpture, iconography and painting. Closely related to Vastushastra (architecture), they often share the same literature.

Shaktism (Shakta philosophy)

Source: Google Books: Manthanabhairavatantram

Nūpura (नूपुर) refers to “anklets” and is used to visualize Bhairava, according to the Manthānabhairavatantra, a vast sprawling work that belongs to a corpus of Tantric texts concerned with the worship of the goddess Kubjikā.—Accordingly, “[...] His body is adorned on the left (by his consort) and he is adorned with a garland of wild flowers. He wears earrings made of snakes and his sacred thread is Vāsuki. The Lord is adorned with tinkling anklets [i.e., kiṅkiṇī-dhāra-nūpura] and sits on a ghost in the lotus posture. He is adorned with the five insignia and a garland of severed heads that hangs from his neck up to his feet. He dances with the bliss of wine and is accompanied by heroes and Bhairavas. Sixty-four Yoginīs and great mothers encompass him. He is endowed with sixty-four energies and adorned with ghosts and demons. O Śambhu, Bhairava is said to have as his seat (āsana) the Supreme Goddess”.

Source: Brill: Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions (shaktism)

Nūpura (नूपुर) refers to “(decorative) anklets”, according to the King Vatsarāja’s Pūjāstuti called the Kāmasiddhistuti (also Vāmakeśvarīstuti), guiding one through the worship of the Goddess Nityā.—Accordingly, “[...] She has braided hair. Her limbs are adorned with bracelets, earrings, necklaces, twining laces, girdles, jewels, and anklets (nūpura). Her clothes resemble Bandhūka flowers. She is full of affection, and the hue of her body is brightened up with saffron and sandal paste.. [...]”.

context information

Shakta (शाक्त, śākta) or Shaktism (śāktism) represents a tradition of Hinduism where the Goddess (Devi) is revered and worshipped. Shakta literature includes a range of scriptures, including various Agamas and Tantras, although its roots may be traced back to the Vedas.

Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)

Source: Google Books: Manthanabhairavatantram (shaivism)

Nūpura (नूपुर) refers to “anklets”, according to the Śrīmatottara-tantra, an expansion of the Kubjikāmatatantra: the earliest popular and most authoritative Tantra of the Kubjikā cult. Accordingly, “O goddess, Svacchanda is in the middle, within the abode of the triangle. Very powerful, he has five faces with three times five flaming eyes. He has ten arms and, very fierce, is adorned with many garlands, ornaments, necklaces and anklets [i.e., hāra-nūpura-maṇḍita]. He has beautiful matted hair and the half moon is his crest jewel. O beloved, the face in the east is white like cow’s milk, it shines brilliant white. Generating great energy, contemplate it thus. One should think that the northern face is like the young rising sun, the form of a pomegranate flower and (red) like a Bandhūka”.

Source: Brill: Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions

Nūpura (नूपुर) refers to a “woman’s anklet”, according to the Guhyasūtra chapter 9.—Accordingly, “[...] [The Lord spoke]:—[...] On one half, there should be a forehead mark; on one half a [forehead] eye. A ring [should be] in one ear; a [pendant] ear-ornament in one ear. He should put a trident in his right hand and a breast on his left side, a girdle on the left half, a bangle on the left arm, a woman’s anklet (nūpura) on the left leg, a man’s anklet on the right leg and a muñja-grass belt. At the hips, he should put a loin-cloth on the right and wear a woman’s garment on the left.”.

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.

Vedanta (school of philosophy)

Source: Wikisource: Ashtavakra Gita

Nūpura (नूपुर) refers to “anklets” (used in a simile to indicate the absence of distinctions regarding one’s true self), according to the Aṣṭāvakragītā (5th century BC), an ancient text on spirituality dealing with Advaita-Vedānta topics.—Accordingly, [as Aṣṭavakra says to Janaka]: “[...] Whatever you see, it is you alone manifest in it. How could bracelets, armlets and anklets (nūpura) be different from the gold? [kiṃ pṛthagbhāsate svarṇātkaṭakāṅgadanūpuram] Giving up such distinctions as ‘This is what I am’, and ‘I am not that’, recognise that ‘Everything is myself’, and be without distinction and happy. It is through your ignorance that all this exists. In reality you alone exist. Apart from you there is no one within or beyond Saṃsāra. [...]”.

context information

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

General definition (in Buddhism)

Source: Wisdom Library: Buddhism

Nūpura (नूपुर) is the name of an ancient king from the Solar dynasty (sūryavaṃśa) and a descendant of Mahāsaṃmata, according to the Dulva (the Tibetan translation of the Vinaya of the Sarvāstivādins). Nūpura is known as Nipuṇa according to the Dīpavaṃśa and the Mahāvaṃśa. Nūpura is known as Nipura according to the Mahāvastu chapter II.32 of the Mahāsaṃghikas (and the Lokottaravāda school).

Languages of India and abroad

Pali-English dictionary

Source: BuddhaSasana: Concise Pali-English Dictionary

nūpura : (nt.) anklet.

Source: Sutta: The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary

Nūpura, (Sk. nūpura; Non-Aryan. Cp. Prk. ṇeura & nīdhura (nīyura)) an ornament for the feet, an anklet Th. 2, 268; DA. I, 50. Ne, Nesan see na³. (Page 376)

Source: Sutta: Pali Word Grammar from Pali Myanmar Dictionary

1) nupura (နုပုရ) [(pu,na) (ပု၊န)]—
[uīna+pūra (=pūra+ṇa)．uīnaṃ pādaṃ pūretīti nūpuro．vaṇṇavipariyāyo．,ṭī．288．(ṇiura-ṇūura-prā)]
[ဦန+ပူရ (=ပူရ+ဏ)။ ဦနံ ပါဒံ ပူရေတီတိ နူပုရော။ ဝဏ္ဏဝိပရိယာယော။ ဓာန်၊ ဋီ။ ၂၈၈။ (ဏိဥရ-ဏူဥရ-ပြာ)]

2) nūpura (နူပုရ) [(pu,na) (ပု၊န)]—
[uīna+pūra (=pūra+ṇa)．uīnaṃ pādaṃ pūretīti nūpuro．vaṇṇavipariyāyo．,ṭī．288．(ṇiura-ṇūura-prā)]
[ဦန+ပူရ (=ပူရ+ဏ)။ ဦနံ ပါဒံ ပူရေတီတိ နူပုရော။ ဝဏ္ဏဝိပရိယာယော။ ဓာန်၊ ဋီ။ ၂၈၈။ (ဏိဥရ-ဏူဥရ-ပြာ)]

[Pali to Burmese]

Source: Sutta: Tipiṭaka Pāḷi-Myanmar Dictionary (တိပိဋက-ပါဠိမြန်မာ အဘိဓာန်)

1) nupura—

(Burmese text): (၁) ခြေကျင်၊ ခြေ၌ ဝတ်ဆင်အပ်သော တန်ဆာ။ (၂) လက်ကောက်၊ (သစ်ပင်းအထူး,ခြေတန်ဆာ,ခြေကျင်။ ပြာ၊ ဓာန်း)။

(Auto-Translation): (1) Footwear, items worn on the feet. (2) Accessories for the hands, specifically made from wood, footwear accessories, and foot coverings.

2) nūpura—

(Auto-Translation): (1) Footwear, accessories worn on the feet. (2) Handbag (special for handbags, footwear, and footwear accessories).

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

Source: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionary

nūpura (नूपुर).—m n (S) An ornament for the feet (of females and children).

Source: DDSA: The Aryabhusan school dictionary, Marathi-English

nūpura (नूपुर).—m n An ornament for the feet.

context information

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

Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary

Nūpura (नूपुर).—An anklet, ornament for the feet; न हि चूडामणिः पादे नूपुरं मूर्ध्नि धार्यते (na hi cūḍāmaṇiḥ pāde nūpuraṃ mūrdhni dhāryate) H.2.71; गूढा नूपुरशब्दमात्रमपि मे कान्ता श्रुतौ पातयेत् (gūḍhā nūpuraśabdamātramapi me kāntā śrutau pātayet) V.3.15.

Derivable forms: nūpuraḥ (नूपुरः), nūpuram (नूपुरम्).

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Nūpura (नूपुर).—mn.

(-raḥ-raṃ) An ornament for the toes and feet. E. ṇu to praise or be praised, aff. kvip; or nū an ornament, pur to precede, aff. ka.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Nūpura (नूपुर).—m. and n. An ornament for the ancles or toes, [Rāmāyaṇa] 3, 58, 32.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Nūpura (नूपुर).—[masculine] [neuter] an ornament for the toes or ankles of women; p. nūpurin & nūpuravant.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1) Nūpura (नूपुर):—mn. (ifc. f(ā). ) an ornament for the toes or ankles or feet, an anklet, [Mahābhārata; Kāvya literature] etc.

2) m. Name of a descendant of Ikṣvāku, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Nūpura (नूपुर):—[nū-pura] (raḥ-raṃ) 1. m. n. An ornament for the ancles or toes.

Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)

Nūpūra (नूपूर) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Ṇiura, Ṇeura.

[Sanskrit to German]

Nupura in German

context information

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

Source: DDSA: A practical Hindi-English dictionary

Nūpura (नूपुर) [Also spelled nupur]:—(nm) an anklet; -[dhvani] melodious sound of an anklet.

context information

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Kannada-English dictionary

Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpus

Nūpura (ನೂಪುರ):—[noun] an anklet with a series of small jingling bells.

context information

Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.

Relevant text

Search found 53 books and stories containing Nupura, Nu-pura, Nū-pura, Nūpura, Ṇūpura, Nūpūra, Uina-pura, Uīna-pūra, Uina-pura, Uīna-pūra; (plurals include: Nupuras, puras, Nūpuras, Ṇūpuras, Nūpūras, pūras). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

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