Shalya, aka: Śalya, Salya; 15 Definition(s)

Introduction

Shalya means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, Marathi. 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 Śalya can be transliterated into English as Salya or Shalya, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).

In Hinduism

Ayurveda (science of life)

Śalya (शल्य) refers to a type of fish (matsya) according to the Dhanvantari-nighaṇṭu 165.383-85. In the science of Āyurveda (ancient Indian healthcare), the meat of a fish is used and prepared in balanced diets. The Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu is a 10th-century medicinal thesaurus (nighaṇṭu) containing characteristics and synonyms of various herbal plants and minerals.

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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)

1a) Śalya (शल्य).—Appointed commander of the Kuru army after Karṇa's death, for half a day when Yudhiṣṭhira killed him. His army was defeated by Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa. Went to Syamantapañcaka for solar eclipse.^*

• * Bhāgavata-purāṇa I. 15. 15; X. 78. [95 (V) 38]: 82. 25.

1b) A son of Vipracitti.^*

• * Viṣṇu-purāṇa I. 21. 11.

1c) A son of Somadatta.^*

• * Viṣṇu-purāṇa IV. 20. 32.

Śalya (शल्य) is a name mentioned in the Mahābhārata (cf. I.61.6) and represents one of the many proper names used for people and places. Note: The Mahābhārata (mentioning Śalya) is a Sanskrit epic poem consisting of 100,000 ślokas (metrical verses) and is over 2000 years old.

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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.

General definition (in Hinduism)

Salya was the brother of Madri, the mother of the Pandavas Nakula and Sahadeva. He was the king of the Madra kingdom.

He was very fond of his nephews, the Pandavas. When the call to arms for the great battle was sounded, he travelled with his retinue to join them, but was tricked into joining the army of the Kauravas instead. He was one of the greatest warriors of his age, and acquited himself nobly. Skilled in horse-lore, he was also charioteer to Karna for a while in the battle, till Karna's death.

Shalya (शल्‍य): Ruler of Madradesa and brother of Madri and uncle of the Pandavas who because of having received hospitality from Duryodhana went over to his side.

Śalya (शल्य).—The King of Madras. His sister was Mādrī who was married to Pāṇḍu. He wanted to join the side of the Pāṇḍavas during the Kurukṣetra war, but was tricked by Duryodhana into offering him his services. He was killed by Yudhiṣṭhira during the Kurukṣetra war.

In Buddhism

Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)

Śalya (शल्य, “arrow”) refers to one of the eight kinds of contemplations (anupaśyanā) among the Buddha’s disciples, according to the 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra (chapter XVI). Accordingly, “for them, everything is impermanent (anitya), suffering (duḥkha), empty (śūnya), egoless (anātmaka), like a sickness (roga), an ulcer (gaṇḍa), like an arrow (śalya) stuck in one’s body, like an agony (agha)”.

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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.

In Jainism

General definition (in Jainism)

Śalya (शल्य) is the generic name for three defects of character, viz., deceit, desire for worldly enjoyment in return for one’s pious performances, and wrong faith.

Śalya (शल्य).—Closely associated with samyaktva (right faith) is the category of the three śalyas which the Digambara writers Pūjyapāda (Sarvārtha-siddhi v7.18) generally define before discussing the vratas. These are the harmful stimuli or ‘stings’ which distract the person who has attained to right belief.

1. māyā (deceit),
2. nidāna (hankering for wordly pleasures and fame),
3. mithyātva (false belief).

And, unless he rids himself of these śalyas, he cannot properly observe the vratas. The Śvetāmbaras do not seem to employ theterm śalya in this sense but Abhayadeva, in his commentary on the Upāsaka-daśāḥ, quotes a verse in which the śalyas seem to be equated with the aticāras of samyaktva.

Śalya (शल्य) participated in the war between Rāma and Rāvaṇa, on the side of the latter, as mentioned in Svayambhūdeva’s Paumacariu (Padmacarita, Paumacariya or Rāmāyaṇapurāṇa) chapter 57ff. Svayambhū or Svayambhūdeva (8th or 9th century) was a Jain householder who probably lived in Karnataka. His work recounts the popular Rāma story as known from the older work Rāmāyaṇa (written by Vālmīki). Various chapters [mentioning Śalya] are dedicated to the humongous battle whose armies (known as akṣauhiṇīs) consisted of millions of soldiers, horses and elephants, etc.

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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

śalya (शल्य).—n (S) A peg, a pin, a spike, a thorn, a stub or snag, any similar thing considered as a piercing body. Note. This is rather the proper or primitive than the common sense of the word. The following are the current senses and applications. 1 A splint, splinter, or fragment remaining in the flesh. 2 A dead fœtus remaining in the womb. 3 fig. An injury or insult rankling and festering; an occurrence or an act of which the remembrance is pungently painful; a troublesome or an afflictive occurrence; a plague, pest, bore: a thorn in all its figurative senses. 4 Any mischiefworking thing (as a corpse, a bone &c.) left below the ground on which a house is rising. This must be dug up, or the house will be haunted &c.

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sāḷyā (साळ्या).—a C Epithet of the sesamum which is raised in the dry weather. Generally in plural; as sāḷē tīḷa. Whilst gōḍē tīḷa designates the monsoon-crop of sesamum, sāḷē tīḷa indicates the dry weather crop.

śalya (शल्य).—n A peg. A thorn. A dead fætus remaining in the womb.

Sanskrit-English dictionary

Śalya (शल्य).—[śal-yat]

1) A spear, javelin, dart.

2) An arrow, a shaft; शल्यं निखातमुदहारयतामुरस्तः (śalyaṃ nikhātamudahārayatāmurastaḥ) R.9.78; शल्यप्रोतम् (śalyaprotam) 9.75; अवगच्छति मूढचेतनः प्रयनाशं हृदि शल्यमर्पितम् (avagacchati mūḍhacetanaḥ prayanāśaṃ hṛdi śalyamarpitam) R.8.88; Ś.6.8; V.2.1.

3) A thorn, splinter.

4) A pin, peg, stake (said to be m. also in these four senses).

5) Any extraneous substance lodged in the body and giving it very great pain; आलातशल्यम् (ālātaśalyam) U.3. 35; अपनीताशेषशल्यः (apanītāśeṣaśalyaḥ) Dk.

6) (Fig.) Any cause of poignant or heart-rending grief; उद्धृतविषादशल्यः कथयिष्यामि (uddhṛtaviṣādaśalyaḥ kathayiṣyāmi) Ś.7.

7) A bone.

8) Difficulty, distress.

9) Sin, crime.

1) Poison.

11) Abuse, defamation.

12) Aegle Marmelos (bilva).

-lyaḥ 1 A porcupine, hedge-hog; Bhāg. 8.2.22.

2) The thorny shrub.

3) Extraction of splinters.

4) A fence, boundary.

5) The Bilva and Madana trees.

6) A kind of fish.

7) Name of a king of Madra and brother of Mādrī, the second wife of Pāṇḍu, and thus maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva. (In the great war he at first intended to fight on the side of the Pāṇdavas, but he was artfully won over by Duryodhana and subsequently fought in his behalf. He acted as charioteer to Karṇa when he was generalissimo of the Kaurava forces, and after his death was appointed commander. He maintained the field for one day, but was at last slain by Yudhi- ṣṭhira).

-lyā A kind of dance (mentioned with lāsya and calita).

Derivable forms: śalyam (शल्यम्).

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