Samala, Śamala, Śamālā, Samālā, Shamala: 18 definitions
Introduction:
Samala means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, the history of ancient India, Marathi, Jainism, Prakrit, biology. 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 terms Śamala and Śamālā can be transliterated into English as Samala or Shamala, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).
In Buddhism
Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)
One of the two chief women disciples of Vessabhu Buddha. Bu.xxii.24; J.i.42.
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).
Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)
Samala (समल, “stained”) refers to one of the three kinds of Ārūpyasamāpatti (“formless absorptions”), according to the 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra chapter 32. Accordingly, “the thirty-one bad propensities (anuśaya) contained in the four ārūpyas and the formations associated with the mind arising within these propensities are stained (samala)”.

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.
India history and geography
Śamālā (शमाला) is the name of a river mentioned in the Nīlamatapurāṇa. Śamālā is identified with the river Hanal whose course lies through the pargana named after it.

The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as mythology, zoology, royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.
Biology (plants and animals)
Samala in India is the name of a plant defined with Vitex negundo in various botanical sources. This page contains potential references in Ayurveda, modern medicine, and other folk traditions or local practices It has the synonym Vitex negundo f. laxipaniculata Pei (among others).
Example references for further research on medicinal uses or toxicity (see latin names for full list):
· Symb. Sin. (1936)
· Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique (1788)
· Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, (1883)
· Acta Horti Gothoburgensis (1934)
· Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences. Plant Sciences (1988)
· Revisio Generum Plantarum (1891)
If you are looking for specific details regarding Samala, for example pregnancy safety, chemical composition, extract dosage, diet and recipes, side effects, health benefits, have a look at these references.

This sections includes definitions from the five kingdoms of living things: Animals, Plants, Fungi, Protists and Monera. It will include both the official binomial nomenclature (scientific names usually in Latin) as well as regional spellings and variants.
Languages of India and abroad
Pali-English dictionary
samala : (adj.) impure; contaminated.
Samala, (adj.) (BSk. samala) impure, contaminated Vin. I, 5; samalā (f.) dustbin S. II, 270 (=gāmato gūthanikkhamana-magga, i. e sewer K. S. II. 203); see sandhi°. (Page 684)

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
śamala (शमल).—n S Fæces, excrement.
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samalā (समला).—m ( A) The end of a turban or a kamarband, sometimes tucked into the folds, but by bucks and dandies allowed to fly loose.
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samaḷa (समळ).—& samaḷyā Commonly sambaḷa & sambaḷyā.
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
Śamala (शमल).—[śam-kalac Uṇādi-sūtra 1.13]
1) Feces, ordure, excrement.
2) Impurity, sediment.
3) Sin, moral impurity; आशंसमानः शमलं गङ्गायां दुःखितोऽपतत् (āśaṃsamānaḥ śamalaṃ gaṅgāyāṃ duḥkhito'patat) Bhāgavata 1.13.32.
4) A calamity, misfortune. a. sinful; साध्व्यः कृताञ्जलिपुटाः शमलस्य भर्तुः (sādhvyaḥ kṛtāñjalipuṭāḥ śamalasya bhartuḥ) Bhāgavata 1.16.32.
Derivable forms: śamalam (शमलम्).
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Samala (समल).—a.
1) Dirty, foul;, filthy, impure.
2) Sinful.
-lam Excrement, ordure, feces.
Samala (समल).—(nt. or m., in Pali id., nt., wrongly given as °lā, f., in [Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary]; compare Vedic, also Bhag.P., śamala, and Sanskrit Lex. sa°), filth, or sewer (compare Dīghanikāya (Pali) commentary ii.597.2 samalaṃ nāma gūtha-niddhamana-panāḷi): nāstitā-dṛṣṭi-samale yas- mād asmin nimajjati Mūla-madhyamaka-kārikā 496.2.
Śamala (शमल).—n.
(-laṃ) 1. Fæces, ordure. 2. Sin, impurity. E. śam to be quiet, Unadi aff. kalac .
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Samala (समल).—mfn.
(-laḥ-lā-laṃ) Dirty, muddy, filthy, foul, impure. 2. Sinful. n.
(-laṃ) Fæces, ordure. E. sa for saha with, mala dirt.
Śamala (शमल).—n. Impurity, [Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, (ed. Burnouf.)] 2, 8, 5; calamity, 1, 13, 31.
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Samala (समल).—I. adj. 1. dirty. 2. sinful. Ii. n. fæces, ordure.
— Cf. (cf. malina), [Anglo-Saxon.] smere, smerian, smerwian, smyrian.
Samala is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms sa and mala (मल).
Śamala (शमल).—[neuter] stain, spot, fault, blemish.
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Samala (समल).—[adjective] stained, soiled, troubled.
1) Śamala (शमल):—[from śam] n. ([Uṇādi-sūtra i, iii]) impurity, sin, blemish, fault, harm, [Atharva-veda; Taittirīya-saṃhitā; Kāṭhaka; Kauśika-sūtra; Bhāgavata-purāṇa]
2) [v.s. ...] feces, ordure, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
3) Śamālā (शमाला):—f. Name of a place, [Rājataraṅgiṇī]
4) Samala (समल):—[=sa-mala] mfn. having stains or spots, dirty, foul, impure, [Vāsavadattā; Bhāvaprakāśa]
5) [v.s. ...] sinful, [Uṇādi-sūtra i, 109 [Scholiast or Commentator]]
6) [v.s. ...] m. Name of an Asura ([varia lectio] sṛmara), [Harivaṃśa]
7) [v.s. ...] n. (cf. śamala) excrement, feculent matter, ordure, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
1) Śamala (शमल):—(laṃ) 1. n. Fæces.
2) Samala (समल):—[sa-mala] (laḥ-lā-laṃ) a. Dirty. n. Filth, fæces.
Śamala (शमल):—[Uṇādisūtra 1, 111.] n. Befleckung, Mal; Fehler, Schaden (= viṣṭhā stercus [Amarakoṣa 2, 6, 2, 18.] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 634.] [Halāyudha 3, 15]) [Atharvavedasaṃhitā 4, 9, 6. 7, 65, 2.] yadri.raṃ śamalaṃ cakṛ.a yacca duṣkṛ.am [12, 2, 40. 3, 5. 52. 13, 1, 58. 14, 2, 66.] śamala.apaplāvayati [Taittirīyasaṃhitā 6, 4, 3, 4.] yajña [7, 3, 11, 1.] yadgarbhasya śamalaṃ taddurvarṇam [Kāṭhaka-Recension 8, 5.] gṛhīta [Aitareyabrāhmaṇa 2, 17. 4, 4.] annasya śamalaṃ surā [Kāṭhaka-Recension 14, 6.] [Kauśika’s Sūtra zum Atuarvaveda 42. 97.] [Bhāgavatapurāṇa 1, 13, 31. 2, 7, 3. 8, 5. 3, 9, 15. 23. 15, 17. 28, 22. 4, 21, 23. 5, 26, 32. 36. 10, 8, 47. 11, 5, 52. 6, 19.] — Vgl. kaśmala und mala .
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Śamālā (शमाला):—f. Nomen proprium einer Oertlichkeit [Rājataraṅgiṇī 7, 159. 8, 1005. 1266. 1519. 1587. 3214. 3231.]
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Samala (समल):—gaṇa pakṣādi, sakhyādi und saṃkāśādi zu [Pāṇini’s acht Bücher 4, 2, 80.]
1) adj. (2. sa + mala) a) fleckig, schmutzig, trübe [Jaṭādhara im Śabdakalpadruma] candra [Kathāsaritsāgara 106, 62.] — b) sündhaft [UJJVAL.] zu [Uṇādisūtra 1, 109.] —
2) m. Nomen proprium eines Asura [Harivaṃśa 14291.] sṛmara die neuere Ausg. —
3) n. = kalka [Amarakoṣa 3, 4, 1, 14.] = viṣṭhā [Śabdaratnāvalī im Śabdakalpadruma] schlechte Schreibart für śamala . — Vgl. sāmalāyana, sāmaleya, sāmalya .
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.
Prakrit-English dictionary
1) Sāmala (सामल) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit word: Śyāmala.
2) Sāmala (सामल) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Śyāmalā.
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
Śamala (ಶಮಲ):—
1) [adjective] impure; unclean; dirty.
2) [adjective] religiously unclean; defiled.
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Śamala (ಶಮಲ):—
1) [noun] anything that renders something unclean; dirt; impurity.
2) [noun] a moral or religious transgressing; a sin.
3) [noun] a defect; a fault; deficiency.
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Śāmala (ಶಾಮಲ):—[noun] a kind of cloth used as a headgear by winding round the head.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Sāmala (सामल):—n. 1. expenses or provisions for a journey; 2. daily provisions; materials for food;
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): Sha, Ca, Mala.
Starts with (+15): Camalam, Camalampam, Camalatevi, Camalavattai, Chamalai, Samala kurto, Samalabdha, Samalabh, Samalabhana, Samalacitta, Samalagna, Samalaha, Samalaia, Samalaksh, Samalakshana, Samalakshita, Samalakshya, Samalalata, Samalamb, Samalamb-chaturbhuj.
Full-text (+18): Yajnashamala, Samalamkri, Shamalagrihita, Shamaladasa, Shamalabhatta, Samalatathata, Chamalai, Bujang samalam, Shrimala, Camalam, Samala kurto, Camalatevi, Samalanirmala, Samaledara, Saanval, Sandhisamala, Shamulya, Samalamkrita, Shyamala, Samal.
Relevant text
Search found 55 books and stories containing Samala, Sa-mala, Samalā, Śamala, Śamālā, Samālā, Samaḷa, Sāmala, Śāmala, Shamala; (plurals include: Samalas, malas, Samalās, Śamalas, Śamālās, Samālās, Samaḷas, Sāmalas, Śāmalas, Shamalas). 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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