Vanka, Vaṅka, Vamka, Vāṅkā: 22 definitions
Introduction:
Vanka means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Marathi, Jainism, Prakrit, Hindi, Tamil. 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.
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In Buddhism
Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)
A king of Savatthi. For his story see the Ghata Jataka (No. 355). He is identified with Ananda. J.iii.170.
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)
Vaṅka (वङ्क) is the name of a forest to which prince Viśvantara and his family were exiled to according to a note from the 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra (chapter XX).—“At the cost of a thousand sufferings, the exiled family finally arrived at the forest of Vaṅka chosen for his exile. They lived there in a hut, eating roots and wild fruits. The trees, moved by compassion, bent down their branches to offer their fruit to the two children of Viśvantara and Madrī. But a new brahmin named Jūjaka arose and demanded that the father give him the two children to be his servants. Despite their terror, despite the desolation, he gave them. The god Indra, disguised as an ascetic, came and demanded his wife as slave: he gave her also. Finally Indra made himself known and gave back to the hero his family and his goods”.

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.
Languages of India and abroad
Pali-English dictionary
vaṅka : (adj.) bent; crooked; dishonest. (nt.) a hook; a fish-hook.
Vaṅka, (adj. -n.) (cp. Vedic vaṅka & vakra bending; also Ved. vaṅku moving, fluttering, walking slant; vañcati to waver, walk crooked. Cp. Lat. con-vexus “convex, ” Ags. wōh “wrong, ” Goth. wāhs; Ohg. wanga cheek, and others.—The Dhtp 5 gives “koṭilya” as meaning of vaṅk. Another Pāli form is vakka (q. v.). The Prk. forms are both vakka & vaṅka: Pischel, Prk. Gr. § 74), I. (adj.).—1. crooked, bent, curved M. I, 31 (+jimha); S. IV, 118 (read v-daṇḍā); Vin. II, 116 (suttā vaṅkā honti); J. I, 9 (of kāja); IV, 362 (°daṇḍa), PvA. 51. With ref. to a kind of vīṇā at VvA. 281.—2. (fig.) crooked, deceitful, dishonest J. III, 313 (of crows: kākānaṃ nāmaṃ C.); VI, 524; Pv IV. 134 (a°); Sn. 270 (probably to be read dhaṅka as SnA 303, =kāka).—3. doubtful, deceitful, deceptive, i.e. haunted Vv 843, cp. VvA. 334.—II. (m.) — 1. a bend, nook, curve (of ponds) J. II, 189; VI, 333 (sahassa°).—2. a hook J. V, 269.—3. a fishhook D. II, 266; Th. 1, 749; J. VI, 437.—On vaṅka in similes see J. P. T. S. 1907, 131.
—aṅgula a crooked finger A. III, 6.—âtivaṅkin having curves upon curves (in its horns), with very crooked antlers J. I, 160 (said of a deer).—gata running in bends or crooked (of a river) J. I, 289.—ghasta (a fish) having swallowed the hook D. II, 266; J. VI, 113.—chidda a crooked hole DA. I, 112.—dāṭha having a bent fang (of a boar) J. II, 405. (Page 591)
1) vaṅka (ဝင်္က) [(na) (န)]—
[vi+aṅka]
[ဝိ+အင်္က]
2) vaṅka (ဝင်္က) [(ti) (တိ)]—
[vaṅka+a.vaṅka koṭille.vaṅkati vaṅkaṃ.nīti,dhātu.12.kuṭilatāya vaṅko.vaṅkatīti vaṅko.vaṅkakoṭilye,a.ṭī.6va6,674,7va9.vakra,vaṅka-saṃ.vaṃka-prā,addhamāgadhī.]
[ဝင်္က+အ။ ဝင်္က ကောဋိလ္လေ။ ဝင်္ကတိ ဝင်္ကံ။ နီတိ၊ ဓာတု။ ၁၂။ ကုဋိလတာယ ဝင်္ကော။ ဝင်္ကတီတိ ဝင်္ကော။ ဝင်္ကကောဋိလျေ၊ အ။ ဓာန်၊ ဋီ။ ၆ဝ၆၊ ၆၇၄၊ ၇ဝ၉။ ဝကြ၊ ဝင်္က-သံ။ ဝံက-ပြာ၊ အဒ္ဓမာဂဓီ။]
[Pali to Burmese]
1) vaṅka—
(Burmese text): (၁) ကောက်-ကွေ့-ကွေး-ကိုင်း-ကုန်း-ရွဲ့-စောင်း-သော။ (က) တစ်ဖက်ကောက် ကောက်သော၊ တစ်ဖက်ကောက်။ (ခ) နွားသေးကဲ့သို့ကောက်- နွားသေးကောက်ကောက်သော၊ နွားသေးကောက်။ (ဂ) လရေးကဲ့သို့ကောက်-လရေးကောက် ကောက်သော၊ လရေးကောက်။ (ဃ) လရေး,နွားသေးကဲ့သို့ကောက်-လရေး,နွားသေးကောက်ကောက်-သော၊ လရေးကောက်,နွားသေးကောက်။ (၂) ကောက်ကျစ်စဉ်းလဲသော။ (၃) ယုံမှားရာ-တွေးတောရာ-ယုံမှားဖွယ်-တွေးတောဖွယ်-ဖြစ်သော။ (ပု) (၄) (ကွေ့သည်၏ အဖြစ်၊ ကောက်သည်၏အဖြစ်) အကွေ့၊ အကောက်။ (၅) ငါးမျှားချိတ်။ (၆) ချိတ်၊ သံချိတ်၊ သံမျှားချိတ်၊ သံမျှားကောက်။ (၇) ဝင်္က (ဝင်္ကပါ) တောင်။ (ဂ) ကောက်ခြင်း၊ ကောက်တတ်-ကောက်ကြောင်းဖြစ်-သောတရား (ဒုစရိုက်တရား) (၉) ဒိဋ္ဌိ၊ မိစ္ဆာဒိဋ္ဌိ။ (၁ဝ) အလုံးစုံသော ကိလေသာ။ (ပု၊န) (၁၁) ထွန်၊ တွန်တုံး (၁၂) သဲမြေ။ မူရင်းကြည့်ပါ။
(Auto-Translation): (1) To dig and scoop. (a) To scoop one side, to scoop. (b) Like a small cow, to scoop small cow scooping. (c) Like a written letter, to scoop written letter scooping. (d) To scoop as written letters, small cows, and to scoop as written letters and small cows. (2) To dig through and think. (3) Regarding doubts and contemplation, it's regarding what might be misunderstood or thought. (4) (As it pertains to scoop and scrape,) to scoop, to scrape. (5) Fishhook. (6) Hook, metal hook, metal fishhook, metal scoop. (7) House (house area). (8) Scooping, the right to scoop - what one can scoop. (9) Worthless, worthless thought. (10) Overall mix or blend. (11) To dig or the process of digging. (12) Sandy ground. Please refer to the original.
2) vaṅka—
(Burmese text): ဖောက်ပြန်သော-အမှတ်-စာ။
(Auto-Translation): Revolutionary Letter.

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
vaṅkā (वंका).—See under ओ.
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vāṅka (वांक) [or वाक, vāka].—f (vaṅka S) An ornament for the arm (of females). 2 n A felloe or felly (of a wheel). A rib of a ship or boat. 4 m n Curvature or crookedness, lit. fig., perversion, obliquity, bias: also tortuousness or disingenuousness. 5 Ill-terms, misunderstanding, grudge.
vāṅka (वांक).—f An ornament for the arm. n A felly; a rib of a ship. m n Cur- vature. Grudge.
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
Vaṅka (वङ्क).—
1) The bend of a river.
2) Crookedness, bend, curve.
3) = वङ्का (vaṅkā); 'वङ्कः पल्याणभागे स्यात् (vaṅkaḥ palyāṇabhāge syāt)' इति विश्वः (iti viśvaḥ).
4) A vagabond.
-ṅkā The pummel of a saddle; वङ्कावलग्नैक- सवल्गपाणयः (vaṅkāvalagnaika- savalgapāṇayaḥ) Śiśupālavadha 12.6.
Derivable forms: vaṅkaḥ (वङ्कः).
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Vāṅka (वाङ्क).—The ocean.
Derivable forms: vāṅkaḥ (वाङ्कः).
Vaṅka (वङ्क).—adj. (= Pali id., Sanskrit vakra, which exists side by side in [Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit], sometimes juxtaposed with vaṅka; § 3.4; compare a-vaṅka), crooked, (1) literally and physically: Saddharmapuṇḍarīka 113.11 vaṅkāś ca ye kāṇaka kuṇṭhakāś ca; 350.9 vaṅkoṣṭho, and 10 vaṅkamukho (in same context vakra- danto 8, vakranāso 9); Mahāvastu iii.283.11 kubjagopānasī-vaṅkā; both lit. and fig., Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā 58.7 (kāya-)vāk-citta-vaṅkāḥ, crooked in body, speech, and mind; (2) fig. crooked, dis- honest, deceitful: Saddharmapuṇḍarīka 48.7 vaṅkāḥ śaṭhā; 268.5 śaṭhā vaṅka- jātīyāḥ (with only 1 ms., others vañcaka-j°; but LaVallée Poussin JRAS 1911.1075 vaṅka-jātikāḥ); 272.1 durbud- dhinaś ca vaṅkāś ca śaṭhā…; Mahāvastu i.96.5 akṣa-vaṅka- dyūta-krīḍā-; 164.14 vaṅkāvakāśā (so Senart for mss. °kāśaṃ ca, unmetrical(ly)) vigato, free from possibility of deceit(?); Mahāvyutpatti 7322 (the next word is vakraḥ); Śikṣāsamuccaya 230.3 doṣa- vaṅka-śāṭhya-kuhanāṃ; (3) name of a mountain (= Pali id.) to which Viśvantara was banished: Jātakamālā 55.12 ff.
Vaṅka (वङ्क).—m.
(-ṅkaḥ) 1. The bend or elbow of a river, the winding course of a stream. 2. Crookedness. f.
(-ṅkā) The pummel of a saddle. E. vaki to curve or bend, aff. ghañ .
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Vāṅka (वाङ्क).—m.
(-ṅkaḥ) The ocean, the sea. E. vaṅka a bend or creek, aff. aṇ .
Vaṅka (वङ्क).—[vaṅk + a], I. m. 1. The bend of a river. 2. Crookedness. Ii. f. kā, The pommel of a saddle.
Vaṅka (वङ्क).—[masculine] tramper; [feminine] ā pommel (of a saddle).
1) Vaṅka (वङ्क):—[from vaṅk] a m. ‘roaming about’, a vagabond, [Bhadrabāhu-caritra]
2) [v.s. ...] crookedness, [Horace H. Wilson]
3) [v.s. ...] the bend or elbow of a river, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
4) [v.s. ...] = nadī-pātra, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
5) [v.s. ...] = f., [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
6) Vaṅkā (वङ्का):—[from vaṅka > vaṅk] f. the pummel of a saddle, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
7) Vaṅka (वङ्क):—[from vaṅk] b etc. See under √2. vak, [column]2.
8) [v.s. ...] mfn. (for vākra) crooked, deceitful, [Buddha-carita xi, 46].
9) Vāṅka (वाङ्क):—m. (cf. √2. vak, and vaṅka) the ocean, sea, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
1) Vaṅka (वङ्क):—(ṅkaḥ) 1. m. Bend of a river; obliquity. f. Pummel of a saddle.
2) Vāṅka (वाङ्क):—(ṅkaḥ) 1. m. The ocean.
Vāṅka (वाङ्क):—m. das Meer [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa 1, 2, 9.]
Vaṅka (वङ्क) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Vaṃka.
Vaṅka (in Sanskrit) can be associated with the following Chinese terms:
1) 不相應 [bù xiāng yīng]: “not concomitant with”.
2) 曲 [qū]: “bend”.
3) 諂曲 [chǎn qū]: “deceit”.
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.
Hindi dictionary
Vaṃka (वंक) [Also spelled vank]:—(a) bent, curved; hence ~[tā] (nf); ~[nāla] a nerve of the body; ~[nālī] the nerve Sushumna:.
...
Prakrit-English dictionary
Vaṃka (वंक) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit words: Vaṅka, Vakra.
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
Vaṃka (ವಂಕ):—
1) [noun] the quality ogÀ state of being crooked; crookedness.
2) [noun] a steady flow of water (as of a river, stream); a flow.
3) [noun] the main entrance (of a town, city, etc.).
4) [noun] a way, path, road, etc.
5) [noun] an ox with curved horns.
6) [noun] a loop, ring or other contrivance of metal, wood, leather, etc., suspended from the saddle of a horse to support the rideṛs foot; a stirrup.
7) [noun] a kind of military weapon.
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Vaṃka (ವಂಕ):—
1) [noun] a position or space beside one; side.
2) [noun] the state of being near; proximity; nearness; closeness.
3) [noun] one of the parties in a contest, conflict, etc.; a faction; a side.
4) [noun] one of the movable feathered or membranous paired appendages by means of which a bird, bat or insect is able to fly.
5) [noun] an external membranous process of an aquatic animal (as a fish) used in propelling or guiding the body; a fin.
6) [noun] any of various anatomical structures as of a flying fish or flying lemur providing means of limited flight.
7) [noun] the period from the day following a full-moonday to new moon-day during which the lighted portion of the moon is gradually reduced to a thin form.
8) [noun] either side of the stage out of sight of the audience; the side-wing.
9) [noun] the fleshy side of a person or animal between the ribs and the hip; the flank.
10) [noun] a set of two things; a pair.
11) [noun] any of the directions of the compass or the point toward which something faces or the line along which something moves; a direction.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Tamil dictionary
Vaṅkā (வங்கா) noun cf. வக்கா. [vakka.] A bird; பறவைவகை வங்காக் கடந்த செங்காற் பேடை [paravaivagai vangag kadantha sengar pedai] (குறுந்தொகை [kurundogai] 151). (தொல். எழுத். [thol. ezhuth.] 225, உரை. [urai.])
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Vaṅkā (வங்கா) noun < Urdu bāṅkā. A long winding trumpet, ram’s horn; ஊதுகொம்புவகை. [uthugombuvagai.] (W.)
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Vāṅkā (வாங்கா) noun cf. வங்கா². [vanga².] A kind of trumpet horn; ஊதுகொம்புவகை. [uthugombuvagai.] Local usage
Tamil is an ancient language of India from the Dravidian family spoken by roughly 250 million people mainly in southern India and Sri Lanka.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches (+0): Vi, A, Anka, Vanka.
Starts with (+27): Vankaani, Vankabhava, Vankabhaya, Vankaccatar, Vankaccunnam, Vankacenakam, Vankachidda, Vankacinturam, Vankadanda, Vankadasaka, Vankadattha, Vankadeva, Vankagala, Vankagati, Vankagatta, Vankaghasa, Vankaghasta, Vankagirikucchi, Vankagiva, Vankagopanasi.
Full-text (+195): Vanga, Nadivanka, Kapotavanka, Avanka, Vangasena, Kayavanka, Vankaottha, Vankaka, Vankata, Gopanasivanka, Vankaghasta, Kuvanga, Atthavanka, Vankamukha, Cinavanga, Vangaja, Vankavanka, Vangari, Bankapura, Vankagopanasi.
Relevant text
Search found 108 books and stories containing Vanka, Vaṅka, Vaṅkā, Vāṅka, Vamka, Vaṃka, Vāṅkā, Vangaa, Vanga, Vaangaa, Vi-anka, Vi-aṅka, Vanka-a, Vaṅka-a; (plurals include: Vankas, Vaṅkas, Vaṅkās, Vāṅkas, Vamkas, Vaṃkas, Vāṅkās, Vangaas, Vangas, Vaangaas, ankas, aṅkas, as). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Tirumantiram by Tirumular (English translation)
Verse 508: Do not Give to Unworthy; the Giver and the Receiver Both < [Tantra Two (irantam tantiram) (verses 337-548)]
Verse 842: Yogis Offered Themselves Entire to God < [Tantra Three (munran tantiram) (verses 549-883)]
Majjhima Nikaya (Middle Discourses)
Discourse 5: Unblemished < [Mūlapariyāya-vagga: The Chapter on the Root of All Things]
Discourse 130: Messengers of the Gods < [Suññata-vagga: The Chapter Beginning with Emptiness]
Discourse 125: The Level of the Tamed < [Suññata-vagga: The Chapter Beginning with Emptiness]
Dictionaries of Indian languages (Kosha)
Page 419 < [Gujarati-Hindi-English, Volume 3]
Page 390 < [Gujarati-Hindi-English, Volume 3]
Page 519 < [Tamil-Hindi-English, Volume 2]
Mahavamsa (by Wilhelm Geiger)
AYU (Journal of Research in Ayurveda)
Ayurveda and herbs in dental health < [Volume 32 (2); 2011 (Apr-Jun)]
Standardization of Gaja Puta and Ardha Gaja Puta in the preparation of Vanga Bhasma < [Volume 31 (4); 2010 (Oct-Dec)]
A critical study of Rasamritam and it’s applied aspects < [Volume 33 (2); 2012 (Apr-Jun)]
Studies in Indian Cultural History (by P. K. Gode)
Part 30 - The Mahasali Variety of Rice in Magadha < [Section 3 - Studies in the history of Indian Plants]
Part 39 - The Use of the White Mustard in Ancient and Mediaeval India < [Section 3 - Studies in the history of Indian Plants]

