Padmaka; 9 Definition(s)

Introduction

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

Vastushastra (architecture)

1) Padmaka (पद्मक):—One of the eight types of villages, according to Chapter 9 of the Mānasāra (called the grāmalakṣaṇam). The Mānasāra is one of the traditional authorative Hindu treatises on Vāstuśāstra (science of architecture). The form of this village is said to be tattadrūpeṇa, which means it represents the form of the meaning of its Sanskrit name.

2) Padmaka (पद्मक):—The Sanskrit name for a classification of a ‘temple’, according to the Viśvakarmaprakāśa and the 2nd century Matsyapurāṇa, both featuring a list of 20 temple types. In the Matsyapurāṇa however, the name for this temple category is Padma. This list represents the classification of temples in South-India.

Padmaka is found in another list in the Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra, chapter 63, where it is listed in the group named Nāgara, containing 20 different prāsādas (temples/buildings).

context information

Vastushastra (वास्तुशास्त्र, vāstuśāstra) refers to the ancient Indian science (shastra) of architecture (vastu), dealing with topics such architecture, sculpture, town-building, fort building and various other constructions. Vastu also deals with the philosophy of the architectural relation with the cosmic universe.

Ayurveda (science of life)

Padmaka (पद्मक ) is a Sanskrit word referring to “Bird cherry”, a small tree from the Rosaceae family, and is used throughout Āyurvedic literature such as the Caraka-saṃhitā. It is also known as Padmagandhi. Its official botanical name is Prunus cerasoides, Prunus puddum or Prunus majestica. It typically grows south of the Arctic Circle. The word Padmaka also translates to “red spots (on the skin of an elephant)”.

This plant (Padmaka) is also mentioned as a medicine used for the treatment of all major fevers (jvara), as described in the Jvaracikitsā (or “the treatment of fever”) which forms the first chapter of the Sanskrit work called Mādhavacikitsā. In this work, the plant is also known by the name Paṭha.

Padmaka (पद्मक).—The Sanskrit name for an important Āyurvedic drug.—The wood of Padmaka is bitter, astringent, cold and eliminates disorders of kapha, pitta and blood. It is useful in skin diseases, thirst, burning sensation and raktapitta.

context information

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.

Purana

Padmaka (पद्मक).—A palace with three bhūmikas and sixteen sides;¹ also Śrivṛkṣaka; the toraṇa is of 20 hastas.²

• 1) Matsya-purāṇa 269. 39, 43.
• 2) Ib. 269. 49.

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)

Padmaka (पद्मक) is the name of an ancient king mentioned in various Avadānas and Jātakas, according to a note attached to the Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra chapter 51.

According to the Avadānaśataka: “King Padmaka gave up his body and became the red fish.—In olden times, the Bodhisattva was Padmaka, king of Benares. An autumnal epidemic, the yellow sickness (pāṇduroga), broke out in the city. The king himself began to take care of his subjects, but all remedies were in vain. The doctors advised him to capture the fish called Rohita to cure the sickness but no one succeeded in capturing it”.

According to the Khotanese Jātakastava: “As King Padmaka, you saw the people in distress, ill with hunger, without refuge, troubled. A red fish you became like a mountain of flesh. The people ate you; they became quite well”.

Other sources include the Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā (Padmakāvdāna) and Daridrajātaka.

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.

Languages of India and abroad

Pali-English dictionary

Padmaka, (m. & nt.) (Sk. padmaka) N. of a tree, Costus speciosus or arabicus J. V, 405, 420; VI, 497 (reading uncertain), 537. (Page 411)

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.

Sanskrit-English dictionary

Padmaka (पद्मक).—

1) An army arrayed in the form of a lotusflower.

2) The coloured spots on the trunk and face of an elephant.

3) A particular posture in sitting.

4) A kind of wood (of Cerasus Puddum); Rām. 2.76.16; Mb.4.

5) Name of a particular constellation.

Derivable forms: padmakam (पद्मकम्).

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