Saurashtra, Saurāṣṭra: 21 definitions

Introduction
In Hinduism
In Buddhism
1. Tibetan Buddhism
India history
Languages
1. Sanskrit
2. Kannada
See also

Introduction:

Saurashtra means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, the history of ancient India. 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 Saurāṣṭra can be transliterated into English as Saurastra or Saurashtra, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).

In Hinduism

Ayurveda (science of life)

Rasashastra (Alchemy and Herbo-Mineral preparations)

Source: Wisdom Library: Rasa-śāstra

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) is a Sanskrit term for an alloy corresponding to “a kind of amalgam of zinc or copper, bell-metal, brass”.

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 and Itihasa (epic history)

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: The Purana Index

1a) Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र).—(c) the dvijas of, became vrātyas, after Puramjaya's time;¹ attacked Paraśurāma and were defeated;² ruled by a degraded caste.³

1) Bhāgavata-purāṇa XII. 1. 38; Matsya-purāṇa 114. 51.
2) Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa III. 39. 11.
3) Viṣṇu-purāṇa IV. 24. 68.

1b) The country of the.^*

* Viṣṇu-purāṇa II. 3. 16.

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.

Natyashastra (theatrics and dramaturgy)

Source: Wisdom Library: Nāṭya-śāstra

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) is the name of a country pertaining to the Āvantī local usage (pravṛtti) according to the Nāṭyaśāstra chapter 14. These pravṛttis provide information regarding costumes, languages, and manners in different countries of the world. It is mentioned that this local usage (adopted by these countries) depends on the grand style (sāttvatī) and the graceful style (kaiśikī).

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).

Kavya (poetry)

Source: Shodhganga: A critical appreciation of soddhalas udayasundarikatha

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र).—One of the various countries and cities mentioned by Soḍḍhala.—Saurāṣṭra, which is also called Ānarta, is the modern Peninsula of Kathiawar and some portion of northernmost Gujarat. Soḍḍhala has referred to Prabhāsa Kṣetra, the modem Somanātha or Prabhāsa Pāṭṭana on the coast of Kathiawara, where the demon Māyābala and Dambholi who are in search of Udayasundarī meet together. Both have arrived here to offer worship to Somanātha for the fulfilment of their desired object.

context information

Kavya (काव्य, kavya) refers to Sanskrit poetry, a popular ancient Indian tradition of literature. There have been many Sanskrit poets over the ages, hailing from ancient India and beyond. This topic includes mahakavya, or ‘epic poetry’ and natya, or ‘dramatic poetry’.

Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology)

Source: Wisdom Library: Brihat Samhita by Varahamihira

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) [=Surāṣṭra] (or Saurāṣṭrika) refers to a country (identified with Surat), belonging to “Nairṛtī (south-western division)” classified under the constellations of Svāti, Viśākhā and Anurādhā, according to the system of Kūrmavibhāga, according to the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (chapter 14), an encyclopedic Sanskrit work written by Varāhamihira mainly focusing on the science of ancient Indian astronomy astronomy (Jyotiṣa).—Accordingly, “The countries of the Earth beginning from the centre of Bhāratavarṣa and going round the east, south-east, south, etc., are divided into 9 divisions corresponding to the 27 lunar asterisms at the rate of 3 for each division and beginning from Kṛttikā. The constellations of Svāti, Viśākhā and Anurādhā represent the south-western division consisting of [i.e., Saurāṣṭra] [...]”.

context information

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.

General definition (in Hinduism)

Source: archive.org: Indian Historical Quarterly Vol. 7

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) is the name of a country classified as Kādi (a type of Tantrik division), according to the 13th century Sammoha-tantra (fol. 7).—There are ample evidences to prove that the zone of heterodox Tantras went far beyond the natural limits of India. [...] The zones in the Sammoha-tantra [viz., Saurāṣṭra] are here fixed according to two different Tantrik modes, known as Kādi and Hādi.

In Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)

Source: Wisdom Library: Countries, Cities, Sacred places and other Geographical regions

1) Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) refers to one of the Twenty-four Sacred Places which on the Indian subcontinent are considered particularly powerful for the practices of the Yogini Tantras. These twenty-four sacred sites [e.g., Saurāṣṭra] correspond to twenty-four places on the human body and act in conjunction with yogic practices.—They are known in Sanskrit as: caturviṃśati-pīṭha and in Tibetan as: gnas nyi shu rtsa bzhi.

2) Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) is the name of a sacred site (pīṭha) presided over by Śauṇḍinī, according to the vārāhyabhyudaya-maṇḍala. Śauṇḍinī is a deity situated in one of the six petals of the southern lotus, of which the presiding deity is kuleśvarī (presiding lady) named Pāṇḍaravāsinī. The central deity of the vārāhyabhyudaya-maṇḍala is the twelve-armed Vajravarāhī.

Saurāṣṭra is one of the twenty-four pīṭhas, or ‘sacred-site’ (six lotuses each having six petals), each corresponding with a part of the human body. Saurāṣṭra is to be contemplated as situated in the thighs. Besides being associated with a bodily spot, each pīṭha represents an actual place of ancient India frequented particularly by advanced tantric practitioners

Source: academia.edu: A Critical Study of the Vajraḍākamahātantrarāja (II)

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) is one of the two Upamelāpaka (‘sacred spot’) present within the Kāyacakra (‘circle of body’) which is associated with the Ḍākinī named Pātālavāsinī (‘a woman living underground’), according to the 9th-centruy Vajraḍākatantra. Vākcakra is one of three Cakras within the Tricakra system which embodies twenty-four sacred spots or districts (viz., Saurāṣṭra) resided over by twenty-four ‘sacred girls’ (ḍākinīs) whose husbands abide in one’s body in the form of twenty-four ingredients (dhātu) of one’s body.

Saurāṣṭra has the presiding Ḍākinī named Śauṇḍinī whose husband, or hero (vīra) is named Hayagrīva. The associated internal location are the ‘thighs’ and the bodily ingredient (dhātu) is the ‘blood’. According to the Vajraḍākavivṛti, the districts Lampāka, Saurāṣṭra, Oḍra and Kāmarūpa are associated with the family deity of Mohanī; while in the Abhidhānottarottaratantra there is the Ḍāka deity named Vajraḍāka standing in the center of the districts named Pretapurī (Pretādhivāsinī), Gṛhadevatā, Saurāṣṭra and Suvarṇadvīpa.

Source: OSU Press: Cakrasamvara Samadhi

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ह्ट्र) is the pīṭha associated with Sauṇḍinī and Hayagrīva, according to the Cakrasaṃvara-maṇḍala or Saṃvaramaṇḍala of Abhayākaragupta’s Niṣpannayogāvalī, p. 45 and n. 145; (Cf. Cakrasaṃvaratantra, Gray, David B., 2007).—The Cakrasaṃvara mandala has a total of sixty-two deities. [...] Three concentric circles going outward, the body, speech and mind wheels (kāya-vāka-citta), in the order: mind (blue), speech (red), and body (white), with eight Ḍākinīs each in non-dual union with their Ḍākas, "male consorts".

Associated elements of Sauṇḍinī and Hayagrīva:

Circle: kāyacakra (body-wheel) (white);
Ḍākinī (female consort): Sauṇḍinī;
Ḍāka (male consort): Hayagrīva;
Bīja: sauṃ;
Body-part: thighs;
Pīṭha: Saurāṣṭra;
Bodily constituent: lohita (blood);
Bodhipakṣa (wings of enlightenment): dharmavicayabodhyaṅga (awakening of investigation).

Source: MDPI Books: The Ocean of Heroes

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) is the name of Chandoha (category of holy sites), according to the 10th-century Ḍākārṇava-tantra: one of the last Tibetan Tantric scriptures belonging to the Buddhist Saṃvara tradition consisting of 51 chapters.—Accordingly: “Now, [the Blessed One] has taught [holy sites] such as the chandoha and upachandoha in sequence. [...] (5) Pretapurī, Gṛhadevī, Saurāṣṭra, and Suvarṇadvīpa are the chandoha [sites]. (6) The upacchandoha [sites] are Nagara, Sindhu, and Maru. Kulitā (for Kulatā or Kulutā) is also the upacchandoha. [...] Girls who are in these places are of [the nature of] the innate, born in their own birthplaces. [...]”.

Source: Rigpa Shedra: Wiki

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) refers to one of the Twenty-four Great Sacred Places (Tibetan: gnas chen nyer bzhi) according to the Cakrasaṃvaratantra (Chakrasamvara Tantra).—In the Nyingma tradition, Jigme Lingpa’s Yumka Dechen Gyalmo has incorporated this enumeration. Furthermore, Jigme Lingpa says that “as regards these places, they are entirely present internally, within our own body”.—For example, “the thighs are Saurāṣṭra”.—This correlation can also be found in the Sampuṭodbhavatantra (“Emergence from Samputa Tantra”) [e.g., “Saurāṣṭra is said to be in the thighs, While the two shanks are said To have the nature of Suvarṇadvīpa. The last two are auxiliary melāpakas”]

context information

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.

India history and geography

Source: What is India: Inscriptions of the Śilāhāras

Saurāṣṭra is the name of a village mentioned in the “Ṭhāṇā stone inscription of Aparāditya II”. Saurāṣṭra is the same as modern Kāṭhiāwāḍ.

This stone inscription (mentioning Saurāṣṭra) was apparently found in the Ṭhāṇā District. It records that Lakṣmaṇanāyaka, son of Bhāskaranāyaka, the Mahāmātya of Aparāditya, made gifts to the god Somanātha in Saurāṣṭra. It is dated in the Śaka year 1107, Sunday, the 15th tithi of the bright fortnight of Caitra, the cyclic year being Viśvāvasu.

Source: Singhi Jain Series: Ratnaprabha-suri’s Kuvalayamala-katha (history)

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) is the name of a country included in an international list of students participating in universities of ancient India, as depicted in the Kathās (narrative poems) such as Uddyotanasūri in his 8th-century Kuvalayamālā (a Prakrit Campū, similar to Kāvya poetry).—Page 150.17 f. & 151.1-5: There is described an educational institution which included students from [e.g., Saurāṣṭra] [...]. The courses of study comprised Vyākaraṇa, Buddhism, Sāṃkhya, Nyāya, Anekānta or Jaina and Lokāyata or Cārvāka philosophies. At another place (151.6-11) the prince came across persons who cultivated the seventy-two arts and sixty-four sciences, [...].

context information

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.

Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र).—a. (-ṣṭrā or -ṣṭrī f.) Coming from or relating to the district called Surāṣṭra (or Surat).

-ṣṭraḥ The district of Surāṣṭra. -m. pl. The people of Surāṣṭra.

-ṣṭram Brass, bell-metal.

-ṣṭrī A kind of fragrant earth.

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

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र).—m.

(-ṣṭraḥ) Surat. f. (-ṣṭrī) A fragrant sort of earth. n.

(-ṣṭraṃ) Bell metal. f. (-ṣṭrā or -ṣṭrī) Relating to the district of Surashtra. E. su good or much, rāṣṭra dominion, añ aff.; or surāṣṭra the same, aṇ pleonasm.

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

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र).—[adjective] coming from Surāṣṭra; [masculine] [plural] the inhabitants of Surāṣṭra.

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

1) Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र):—mf(ā, or ī)n. ([from] surāṣṭra) belonging to or coming from the country of Surāt, [Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā]

2) m. the resin of Boswellia Thurifera, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]

3) m. [plural] the inhabitants of Surāt, [Atharva-veda.Pariś.; Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā; Rājataraṅgiṇī]

4) f(ā or ī). a sort of fragrant earth found in S°, [Suśruta; cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]

5) n. a kind of amalgam of zinc or copper, bell-metal, brass, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]

6) a kind of metre, [Colebrooke]

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

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र):—(ṣṭraḥ) 1. m. Surat. f. (ī) Fragrant earth. n. Bell-metal.

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

Saurāṣṭra (सौराष्ट्र) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Soraṭṭha.

[Sanskrit to German]

Saurashtra 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.

Kannada-English dictionary

Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpus

Saurāṣṭra (ಸೌರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ):—

1) [noun] the name of a country, forming a part of the present Gujarāt; Sūrat.

2) [noun] (mus.) in Karnāṭaka system, a rāga (musical mode) derived from the main mode Cakravāka.

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 76 books and stories containing Saurashtra, Saurāṣṭra, Saurastra; (plurals include: Saurashtras, Saurāṣṭras, Saurastras). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Sanskrit Inscriptions (B): The Maitrakas < [Chapter 3]

Mingling of Cultures (R): The Saindhavas < [Chapter 4]

Chart: Movement of Vedic Brāhmaṇas < [Chapter 3]

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Works of Jhaverchand Meghani

Life of Jhaverchand Meghani

Evaluations of the Translated Stories

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Natural Abodes of Elephants: Forests and woods < [Chapter 3]

Appendix III: Elephant on other Coins

Ancient trade in Ivory and Elephant-tusks < [Chapter 5]

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