Ushira, Usīra, Uśīra, Usira, Uṣīra: 29 definitions
Introduction:
Ushira means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, Buddhism, Pali, 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 Uśīra and Uṣīra can be transliterated into English as Usira or Ushira, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).
In Hinduism
Ayurveda (science of life)
Kalpa (Formulas, Drug prescriptions and other Medicinal preparations)
Uṣīra (उषीर) refers to a medicinal plant known as Vetiveria zizanioides Linn., and is mentioned in the 10th century Yogaśataka written by Pandita Vararuci.—The Yogaśataka of Pandita Vararuci is an example of this category. This book attracts reader by its very easy language and formulations which can be easily prepared and have small number of herbs (viz., Uṣīra). It describes only those formulations which are the most common and can be used in majority conditions of diseases.
Uśīra (उशीर) refers to the medicinal plant known as “Vetiveria zizanioides (Linn.) Nash” and is dealt with in the 15th-century Yogasārasaṅgraha (Yogasara-saṅgraha) by Vāsudeva: an unpublished Keralite work representing an Ayurvedic compendium of medicinal recipes. The Yogasārasaṃgraha [mentioning uśīra] deals with entire recipes in the route of administration, and thus deals with the knowledge of pharmacy (bhaiṣajya-kalpanā) which is a branch of pharmacology (dravyaguṇa).
Uśīra (उशीर) or Uśīrādi refers to one of the topics discussed in the Madhumatī, a Sanskrit manuscript ascribed to Nṛsiṃha Kavirāja collected in volume 12 of the catalogue “Notices of Sanskrit Manuscripts (second series)” by Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad Shastri.—The Madhumatī manuscript, consisting of 5,586 ślokas (metrical verses), is housed in Dhaka with Babu Bhagavancandra Dasa Kaviraja. It seemingly addresses topics related to Medicinal, Herbal, and Iatrochemical preparations. The catalogue includes the term Uśīra-ādi in its ‘subject-matter list’ or Viṣaya (which lists topics, chapters and technical terms). The complete entry reads—uśīrādividhānam.
Cosmetics, Perfumery, Skin care and other Ayurvedic Beauty treatments
Uṣīra (उषीर) is the name of a medicinal plant known as Vetiveria zizanoides, and used in Ayurveda to promote skin care and enhance the beauty of the skin (varṇya).
Toxicology (Study and Treatment of poison)
Uśīra (उशीर) is the name of an ingredient used in the treatment of snake-bites such as those caused by the Mahāmaṇḍalī-snakes, according to the Kāśyapa Saṃhitā: an ancient Sanskrit text from the Pāñcarātra tradition dealing with both Tantra and Viṣacikitsā, which represents the Ayurvedic study on Toxicology (Viṣavidyā or Sarpavidyā).—Accordingly, one of the treatments is mentioned as follows: “Paste of plaintain stem root, mango, Darbha, Uśīra and Mastukā is to be applied on the veins. A drink prepared out of the said ingredients can also be administered”.
Veterinary Medicine (The study and treatment of Animals)
Uśīra (उशीर) is identified with Andropogon muricatus, and is used in a recipe for subjugation elephants, according to the 15th century Mātaṅgalīlā composed by Nīlakaṇṭha in 263 Sanskrit verses, dealing with elephantology in ancient India, focusing on the science of management and treatment of elephants.—[Cf. chapter 10, “on the catching of elephants”]: “9. With honey, the root of Andropogon muricatus [e.g., uśīra], and nata (said to be Tabernaemontana coronaria), mixed with wine or with elephant’s urine, such an ointment applied to the hind-quarters of the cow is an excellent seductive of male elephants. Likewise with seeds produced by the wood-apple tree, kukkuṭāṇḍaka (kind of rice), and Pongamia glabra, and with the fruit of Grewia elastica, mixed together, this ointment (applied to cows) will bring noble elephants into subjection”.
Unclassified Ayurveda definitions
Uśīra (उशीर):—A Sanskrit word referring to “Cuscus grass”, a perennial species of grass from the Poaceae (or Gramineae) family of flowering plants. It is used throughout Ayurvedic literature such as the Caraka-saṃhitā. It is also known by the names Sevya and Sugandhimūla. In the Prakrit language it is also known as Osīra. Its official botanical name is Chrysopogon zizanioides and is commonly known in english as “Cuscus grass”, “Khus” and “Vetiver” (Vetiveria zizanioides). It is native to India but is widely cultivated in the tropical regions of the world. Cuscus grass is used to fashion objects such as hats, baskets, cushions and other ornaments. The roots of the plant are used for making scented oils.
Uśīra (उशीर) refers to “cuscus”, mentioned in verse 3.52-53 of the Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā (Sūtrasthāna) by Vāgbhaṭa.—Accordingly, “[...] when hungry, one shall turn to bitter, sweet, astringent, and light food, [...]; to water [...] devoid of dirt, (and) destructive of dirt [...] (and that is) neither causative of effusions nor rough, (but) nectar-like among the beverages etc.; (and)—beautifully adorned) with sandal, cuscus [viz., uśīra], camphor, pearls, garlands, and (fine) clothes— [...]”.
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)
Uśīra (उशीर) is the name of a plant, the root of which is used in ritualistic worship, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.1.11, while explaining the mode of worshipping Śiva:—“[...] fragrant root of the plant Uśīra and sandal-paste shall be put in the water for washing feet. Fine powders of Jātī, Kaṃkola, Karpūra, root of Vaṭa and Tamālaka should be put in the water intended for sipping. Sandal powder shall be put in all these nine vessels. Nandīśa, the divine Bull of Śiva shall be worshipped beside the lord Śiva. The latter shall be worshipped with scents, incense and different. [...]”.
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.
Sports, Arts and Entertainment (wordly enjoyments)
Uśīra (उशीर) refers to “khaskhas root” (used in the treatment of Hawks), according to the Śyainika-śāstra: a Sanskrit treatise dealing with the divisions and benefits of Hunting and Hawking, written by Rājā Rudradeva (or Candradeva) in possibly the 13th century.—Accordingly, [while discussing the treatment of hawks]: “[...] If the disease is produced by the derangement of the bile, a pill made of camphor, cloves, khaskhas root (uśīra), sandal paste, and flesh, is to be given discriminately before a meal, and after that, quail’s flesh in small quantities: water should be given. [...]”.
This section covers the skills and profiencies of the Kalas (“performing arts”) and Shastras (“sciences”) involving ancient Indian traditions of sports, games, arts, entertainment, love-making and other means of wordly enjoyments. Traditionally these topics were dealt with in Sanskrit treatises explaing the philosophy and the justification of enjoying the pleasures of the senses.
Biology (plants and animals)
Ushira in India is the name of a plant defined with Vetiveria zizanioides in various botanical sources. This page contains potential references in Ayurveda, modern medicine, and other folk traditions or local practices It has the synonym Andropogon festucoides J. Presl (among others).
Example references for further research on medicinal uses or toxicity (see latin names for full list):
· Contributions from the United States National Herbarium (1925)
· Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden (1994)
· Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique (1783)
· Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniae (1864)
· Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon (1931)
· Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae (1810)
If you are looking for specific details regarding Ushira, for example extract dosage, health benefits, chemical composition, side effects, diet and recipes, pregnancy safety, 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
usīra : (nt.) fragrant root of Andhropogon Muricantum.
Usīra, (m. & nt.) (Sk. uśīra) the fragrant root of Andropogon Muricatum (cp. bīraṇa) Vin. I, 201; II, 130 (°mayā vijanī); S. II, 88 (°nāḷi); A. II, 199 (id.); Dh. 337; J. V, 39; Th. 1, 402 (°attho). (Page 156)
[Pali to Burmese]
1) usira—
(Burmese text): (၁) ပန်းရင်းပင်၊ ပန်းရင်းမြက်။ (၂) ဗြိတ်-မြက်မွှေး-ရှင်မွေးလွန်း-မြက်ပင်၏အမြစ်၊ ပန်းရင်း။ (အမရကောသဘာသာဋီကာ၌ ဗီရဏ-ကို ဗြိတ်၊ မြက်မွှေး၊ ရှင်မွေးလွန်း-ဟုပြန်ဆိုသည်။
(Auto-Translation): (1) Flowering plants, flowering grass. (2) The root of liturgical grass, flowering plant. (In Amarakotthaka, the term is translated as liturgical plant, flowering grass, and liturgical flowering plant.)
2) usīra—
(Burmese text): (၁) ပန်းရင်းပင်၊ ပန်းရင်းမြက်။ (၂) ဗြိတ်-မြက်မွှေး-ရှင်မွေးလွန်း-မြက်ပင်၏အမြစ်၊ ပန်းရင်း။ (အမရကောသဘာသာဋီကာ၌ ဗီရဏ-ကို ဗြိတ်၊ မြက်မွှေး၊ ရှင်မွေးလွန်း-ဟုပြန်ဆိုသည်။
(Auto-Translation): (1) Flowering plant, flowering grass. (2) The root of the betel vine, grass; flowering plant. (In the Amarakosa, the betel vine is referred to as betel, grass, flowering plant.)
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
uśīra (उशीर).—m Lateness, time far advanced. 2 Delay. 3 Time yet wanting; time before or until. Ex. arē ajhūna bhōjanāsa kitī u0 āhē. uśirāvara dharaṇēṃ To keep till late; to detain long. u0 dharaṇēṃ To wait a while; to stop a little.
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uśīra (उशीर).—m S A grass, Andropogon muricatum.
uśirā (उशिरा).—ad Late; with delay.
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uśīra (उशीर).—m Lateness. Delay. Time yet wanting.
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
Uśīra (उशीर) or Uṣīra (उषीर).—The fragrant root of the plant Andropogon Muricatus (variṇamūla, Mar. kāḷāvāḷā); स्तनन्यस्तोशीरम् (stananyastośīram) Ś.3.9.
-rī A sort of grass, a small sort of Saccharum.
Derivable forms: uśīraḥ (उशीरः), uśīram (उशीरम्), uṣīraḥ (उषीरः), uṣīram (उषीरम्).
See also (synonyms): uśīraka.
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Uṣīra (उषीर).—= उशीर (uśīra) q. v.
Uśīra (उशीर).—mn.
(-raḥ-raṃ) The root of a fragrant grass, (Androdogon muricatum.) f. (-rī) A sort of grass, a small sort of Saccharum. E. vaś ta desire, īran Unadi affix; also with kan added uśīraka.
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Uṣīra (उषीर).—mn.
(-raḥ-raṃ) The root of the Andropogon muricatum. E. vaś to desire, īran affix, śa becomes ṣaḥ see uśīra.
Uśīra (उशीर).—m. and n. The root of a fragrant grass, Andropogon muricatum, [Rāmāyaṇa] 2, 55, 14.
Uśīra (उशीर).—[masculine] [neuter] a kind of fragrant root.
1) Uśīra (उशीर):—[from uśat] mn. ([Uṇādi-sūtra iv, 31]), the fragrant root of the plant Andropogon Muricatus, [Suśruta; Śakuntalā; Hemādri’s Caturvarga-cintāmaṇi] etc.
2) Uṣīra (उषीर):—[varia lectio] for uśīra q.v.
1) Uśīra (उशीर):—[(raḥ-raṃ)] 1. m. n. A root of a fragrant grass, (Andropogon.)
2) Uṣīra (उषीर):—[(raḥ-raṃ)] 1. m. n. Andropogon.
Uśīra (उशीर):—[Śāntanācārya’s Phiṭsūtrāṇi 3, 18. Die Uṇādi-Affixe. 4, 31.]
1) m. n. [Siddhāntakaumudī.249], b, [4.] die wohlriechende Wurzel von Andropogon muricatus Retz. [Amarakoṣa 2, 4, 5, 29.] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 1158.] [Suśruta 1, 139, 10. 140, 16. 145, 21. 314, 16. 344, 5. 2, 24, 6. 53, 1.] [Yāska’s Nirukta 2, 5.] [Rāmāyaṇa 2, 55, 14.] uśīrānulepana [Śākuntala 31, 7.] stananyastośīra (vapus; v.l. stauśīra) [57.] —
2) f. uśīrī eine best. Grasart (laghukāśa, vulg. choṭakāśyā) [Rājanirghaṇṭa im Śabdakalpadruma]
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Uṣīra (उषीर):—= uśīra [RĀYAM.] zu [Amarakoṣa 2, 4, 5, 29.] [Śabdakalpadruma]
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Uśīra (उशीर):—
1) [Varāhamihira’s Bṛhajjātaka S. 54, 100. 121. 77, 12. fg. 29.]
Uśīra (उशीर):——
1) m. n. die wohlriechende Wurzel von Andropogon muricatus. Am Ende eines adj. Comp. f. ā [Hemādri’s Caturvargacintāmaṇi 1,53,3.] —
2) *f. ī eine best. Grasart.
Uśīra (उशीर) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Usīra.
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
Usīra (उसीर) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit word: Uśīra.
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
Uśīra (ಉಶೀರ):—
1) [noun] the plant Sorghum nitidum ( = Andropogon serratus) of Poaceae family.
2) [noun] its fragrant root.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches: Ira, Vaca, Vasa, Vassa.
Starts with: Ushirabija, Ushirabindu, Ushiradhvaja, Ushiradi, Ushiradipacana, Ushiragiri, Ushiraka, Ushiram, Ushirasava, Ushiravanamahatmya, Ushiravija.
Full-text (+81): Ushiragiri, Kuntaloshira, Ushirabija, Aushira, Ushiravija, Ushiram, Usiratina, Usirapaduka, Usirakalapaka, Usirattha, Usiramaya, You shi luo, Ushirika, Ushiraka, Wa shi luo, Usiranali, Jalamoda, Varisambhava, Jalavasa, Wu shi luo.
Relevant text
Search found 83 books and stories containing Ushira, Usīra, Uśīra, Usira, Uśirā, Uṣīra, Uśira, Vasa-ira, Vasa-īra, Vasa-ira, Vasa-īra; (plurals include: Ushiras, Usīras, Uśīras, Usiras, Uśirās, Uṣīras, Uśiras, iras, īras). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Amarakoshodghatana of Kshirasvamin (study) (by A. Yamuna Devi)
Flora (13): Grasses < [Chapter 5 - Aspects of Nature]
Daily Life (3): Perfumes < [Chapter 3 - Social Aspects]
Agni Purana (by N. Gangadharan)
Chapter 279 - The description of the potent remedies (siddha-auṣadha)
Chapter 149 - Mode of performing Lakṣa and Koṭihoma
Chapter 298 - The treatment for the poison due to snakes such as the Gonasa
Brihat Samhita (by N. Chidambaram Iyer)
Appendix 6 - Glossary of Botanical terms
Chapter 77 - Preparation of Perfumes (gandhayukti)
World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
Conceptual study of asrugdara and its ayurvedic management < [2021: Volume 10, October issue 12]
Aaharvidhividhan in jwara < [2023: Volume 12, November issue 19]
Effect of Ushira on burning micturition in summer season. < [2018: Volume 7, September issue 16]
International Research Journal of Ayurveda and Yoga
Utility of Shadangapaniya in Various Ailments – A Review < [Vol. 7 No. 1: Jan (2024)]
Scope of Varnya Mahakashaya Drugs as A Key Component to Health From A... < [Vol. 5 No. 3: March (2022)]
Lepas Mentioned Under Ritucharya – A Short Review < [Vol. 4 No. 11: nov (2021)]
Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences
A Critical Review on Khadiradi Vati - An Ayurvedic Formulation < [Vol. 9 No. 8 (2024)]
Critical review of Swetha Chandana (Santalum album l.) in Nighantus and... < [Vol. 9 No. 3 (2024)]
Review on Chandrakala Rasa - A Kharaliya Rasayana < [Vol. 9 No. 2 (2024)]
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