Upadhyaya, Upādhyāya, Upadhyāya: 20 definitions
Introduction:
Upadhyaya means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, the history of ancient India, 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.
Images (photo gallery)
In Hinduism
Vaishnavism (Vaishava dharma)
Source: ISKCON Press: GlossaryUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय).—A teacher who makes a living teaching Sanskrit grammar.

Vaishnava (वैष्णव, vaiṣṇava) or vaishnavism (vaiṣṇavism) represents a tradition of Hinduism worshipping Vishnu as the supreme Lord. Similar to the Shaktism and Shaivism traditions, Vaishnavism also developed as an individual movement, famous for its exposition of the dashavatara (‘ten avatars of Vishnu’).
In Buddhism
Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)
Source: academia.edu: A Study and Translation of the GaganagañjaparipṛcchāUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय) refers to “paying respect (to teachers and preceptors)”, according to the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: the eighth chapter of the Mahāsaṃnipāta (a collection of Mahāyāna Buddhist Sūtras).—Accordingly, “How then, son of good family, does the Bodhisattva who has attained memory never forget? Son of good family, the Bodhisattva attains memory (dhāraṇī) by purifying his memory. What then is the purification of memory? Son of good family, there are thirty-two purifications of memory. What are the thirty-two? [...] (5) disposition to the dharma; (6) honoring, serving, and worshiping the learned; (7) paying respect to teachers and preceptors (ācārya-upādhyāya) without pride; (8) non-satisfaction in searching for the dharma; [...]”.

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.
Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)
Source: Google Books: The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical SystemsUpadhyāya (उपध्याय) (Sanskrit; in Tibetan: mkhan po) — (lit. “Preceptor”) — At the time of monastic ordination, the officiating monk who actually confers the vows. In Tibetan tradition, it is the most common term for the abbot of a monastic community

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.
In Jainism
General definition (in Jainism)
Source: Google Books: Jaina IconographyUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय).—Upādhyāyas are those who teach the scriptures, consisting of the eleven aṅgas and the fourteen pūrvas (now lost). They are endowed with 25 chief qualities.
Source: archive.org: TrisastisalakapurusacaritraUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय) refers to the “preceptor” and represents one of the ten persons suitable for rendering services, according to chapter 1.1 [ādīśvara-caritra] of Hemacandra’s 11th century Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra: an ancient Sanskrit epic poem narrating the history and legends of sixty-three illustrious persons in Jainism.—Accordingly, “[...] Vajranābha acquired strong Tirthakṛt-body-making and family-karma by the twenty sthānakas as follows:—[...] The sixteenth sthāna is the rendering of service by food, drink, etc., to the ten persons, Ācārya, etc. [viz., Upādhyāya] [...]”.
Note: The 10 persons entitled to service are; [viz., Upādhyāya (preceptor);].—(cf. Aupapātikasūtra 20, p. 43. Sthānāṅgasūtra 397, p. 299. Āvaśyakasūtra 176-78, p. 161b). [...] These 10 persons are entitled to 13 kinds of service: giving of food; of drink; giving a seat; supplying anything that may be lacking in his equipment; cleansing the feet; giving of clothes; giving of medicine; escort on the road; protection from rogues, thieves, etc.; taking the staff when he enters the house; and 3 kinds of sanitary service.—(cf. Āvaśyakasūtra p. 161b).
Source: Encyclopedia of Jainism: Tattvartha Sutra 9: Influx of karmasUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय).—One of the ten types of ‘nursing services’ (vaiyāvrata)? Who is a ‘teacher ascetic’ (upādhyāya)? An ascetic who is himself well versed with the Jain canonical texts himself and teachers other ascetics to learn the same is a teacher ascetic.

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.
India history and geography
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Indian Epigraphical GlossaryUpādhyāya.—(CII 4), a teacher; epithet of Brāhmaṇas. (IA 19), Jain; an Ācārya who has the right of reading the sacred text, but not of explaining it. (IE 8-3; EI 7), epithet of teachers; mentioned as a Pātra. (CII 3), a sub-teacher who is the instructor in only a part of the Veda, or in grammar and the other Vedāṅgas. Note: upādhyāya is defined in the “Indian epigraphical glossary” as it can be found on ancient inscriptions commonly written in Sanskrit, Prakrit or Dravidian languages.

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
Marathi-English dictionary
Source: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionaryupādhyāya (उपाध्याय).—m S A spiritual preceptor. Ex. of comp. kulōpādhyāya, grāmōpādhyāya, tīrthōpādhyāya. 2 See the popular form upādhyā.
Source: DDSA: The Aryabhusan school dictionary, Marathi-Englishupādhyāya (उपाध्याय).—m A spiritual preceptor.
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 dictionaryUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय).—[upetyādhīyate asmāt, upa-adhi-i-ghañ]
1) A teacher or preceptor in general.
2) Particularly, a spiritual teacher, religious preceptor; य उदात्ते कर्तव्येऽ नुदात्तं करोति खण्डिकोपाध्यायस्तमै चपेटां ददाति (ya udātte kartavye' nudāttaṃ karoti khaṇḍikopādhyāyastamai capeṭāṃ dadāti) Mahābhārata I.1.1. (by Y.1.35 a sub-teacher who instructs for wages only in a part of the Veda and is inferior to an ācārya; ekadeśamupādhyāyaḥ); cf. Manusmṛti 2.141; एकदेशं तु वेदस्य वेदाङ्गान्यपि वा पुनः । योऽध्यापयति वृत्त्यर्थमुपाध्यायः स उच्यते (ekadeśaṃ tu vedasya vedāṅgānyapi vā punaḥ | yo'dhyāpayati vṛttyarthamupādhyāyaḥ sa ucyate) || see अध्यापक (adhyāpaka), and under आचार्य (ācārya) also.
-yā A female preceptor.
-yī 1 A female preceptor. उपेत्य अधीयते तस्या उपाध्यायी, उपाध्याया (upetya adhīyate tasyā upādhyāyī, upādhyāyā) and Vārt. या तु स्वयमेवाध्यापिका तत्र वा ङीष् वाच्यः (yā tu svayamevādhyāpikā tatra vā ṅīṣ vācyaḥ) on P.IV.1.49 Sk.
2) The wife of a preceptor.
Derivable forms: upādhyāyaḥ (उपाध्यायः).
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English DictionaryUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय).—m.
(-yaḥ) A spiritual preceptor. f.
(-yā) A female preceptor. f. (-yī or -yānī) The wife of a teacher. E. upa and adhi before iṇa to go, ghañ aff. for the fem. ṭāp aff. in the first instance, in the second ṅīṣ with or without ānuk inserted.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Benfey Sanskrit-English DictionaryUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय).—i. e. upa -adhi-i + a, m. A spiritual preceptor who gives instruction in a part only of the Veda, [Mānavadharmaśāstra] 2, 141; a spiritual preceptor in general, [Śākuntala, (ed. Böhtlingk.)] 61, 11; [Rāmāyaṇa] 1, 11, 13 (19 Gorr.).
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English DictionaryUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय).—[masculine] teacher, subteacher; dhyāyānī [feminine] the teacher’s wife.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Aufrecht Catalogus Catalogorum1) Upādhyāya (उपाध्याय) as mentioned in Aufrecht’s Catalogus Catalogorum:—a grammarian. Quoted by Kṣīrasvāmin in Amarakośodghāṭana and Kṣīrataraṅgiṇī.
2) Upādhyāya (उपाध्याय):—on alaṃk. Quoted by Arjunavarmadeva on Amaruśataka 54. 56.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary1) Upādhyāya (उपाध्याय):—[=upādhy-āya] m. (√i), a teacher, preceptor (who subsists by teaching a part of the Veda or Vedāṅgas, grammar etc.; he is distinguished from the Ācārya q.v.), [Manu-smṛti iv, 141, etc.; Yājñavalkya i, 35; Mahābhārata; Śakuntalā] etc.
2) [v.s. ...] f(ā or ī) a female teacher, [Kātyāyana on Pāṇini 3-13, 21]
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English DictionaryUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय):—[upā+dhyāya] (yaḥ-yā) 1. m. f. Spiritual teacher. (yī-yānī) Wife of a spiritual teacher.
Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)Upādhyāya (उपाध्याय) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Uvajjhaya, Uvajjhāya.
[Sanskrit to German]
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 corpusUpādhyāya (ಉಪಾಧ್ಯಾಯ):—
1) [noun] a man who teaches, esp. as a profession; an instructor; a teacher.
2) [noun] a spiritual teacher; a religious preceptor.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Source: unoes: Nepali-English DictionaryUpādhyāya (उपाध्याय):—n. masc. 1. a spiritual preceptor; teacher; 2. a family name of Brahmins;
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: Aya.
Starts with: Upadhyayani, Upadhyayanirapeksha, Upadhyayarahasya, Upadhyayarajan, Upadhyayasarvasva, Upadhyayate, Upadhyayati.
Full-text (+232): Mahopadhyaya, Pattopadhyaya, Upadhyayasarvasva, Khandikopadhyaya, Gramopadhyaya, Keshava Upadhyaya, Vishupadhyaya, Upadhyayanirapeksha, Aupadhyayaka, Upadhyayani, Shaishyopadhyayika, Vishvanatha upadhyaya, Sureshvara upadhyaya, Deveshvara upadhyaya, Jayakrishna upadhyaya, Gangeshamishra upadhyaya, Rama upadhyaya, Raghupati upadhyaya, Govardhana upadhyaya, Dharmakara upadhyaya.
Relevant text
Search found 140 books and stories containing Upadhyaya, Upadhy-aya, Upādhy-āya, Upādhyāya, Upadhyāya; (plurals include: Upadhyayas, ayas, āyas, Upādhyāyas, Upadhyāyas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi (by Ganganatha Jha)
Verse 2.141 < [Section XXV - Meaning of the Title ‘Ācārya’]
Verse 2.199 < [Section XXX - Rules to be observed by the Religious Student]
Verse 2.149 < [Section XXV - Meaning of the Title ‘Ācārya’]
Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra (by Gelongma Karma Migme Chödrön)
Part 2 - Morality of the śrāmaṇera < [Section II.2 - Morality of the monastic or pravrajita]
Appendix 4 - The traditions regarding Śāriputra-abhidharma < [Chapter III - General Explanation of Evam Maya Śruta]
Appendix 2 - The complaint of Rāhula to the Buddha < [Chapter IV - Explanation of the Word Bhagavat]
A study of the philosophy of Jainism (by Deepa Baruah)
Chapter IV.d - The classifications of the Jīva < [Chapter IV - The concept of Self]
The Navya-Nyaya theory of Paksata (Study) (by Kazuhiko Yamamoto)
Text 18 (of the Paksata-prakarana on Tattvacintama-nididhiti) < [Section 2 - The Paksata: Sanskrit Texts, English Translation, and Notes]
Text 33 (of the Paksata-prakarana on Tattvacintama-nididhiti) < [Section 2 - The Paksata: Sanskrit Texts, English Translation, and Notes]
Part 1 - Introduction to the concepts of Paksa and Paksata < [Section 1 - History and Development of the Concept of Paksata]
Blue Annals (deb-ther sngon-po) (by George N. Roerich)
Chapter 13 - Staglungpa (xvi): General Remarks on Monastic History < [Book 8 - The famous Dakpo Kagyü (traditions)]
Chapter 23 - Mind instruction lineage (v): chos dbyings pa < [Book 8 - The famous Dakpo Kagyü (traditions)]
Chapter 11 - The Chapter on the Venerable Master and his Spiritual Lineage. < [Book 5 - The Sovereign Lord (Atiśa)]
Formal Education System in Ancient India (by Sushmita Nath)
The Jagaddala university < [Chapter 3 - Centres of Learning in Vedic and Buddhist Period]
Formation of Character < [Chapter 4 - Aims and objectives of Formal Education]
Education in the Puranic period < [Chapter 1 - Introduction]
Related products