Varishtha, Variṣṭha, Variṣṭhā: 18 definitions
Introduction:
Varishtha means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi, 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 Variṣṭha and Variṣṭhā can be transliterated into English as Varistha or Varishtha, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).
Alternative spellings of this word include Varishth.
In Hinduism
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ).—The son of Manu Cākṣuṣa. The following story, how Variṣṭha cursed the hermit Grtsamada, occurs in Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 18. Indra once performed a sacrifice which lasted for a thousand years. Variṣṭha and Gṛtsamada, as friends of Indra were present at the sacrifice. Gṛtsamada committed some mistakes in the recitation of Sāmans. Variṣṭha got angry and cursed Gṛtsamada that he would wander in the forest as an animal for ten thousand one hundred and eighteen years. Accordingly Gṛtsamada wandered through forests in the form of an animal for a very long time.
1) Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ) refers to “foremost” (of the eloquent), according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.3.12.—Accordingly, after Himācala (i.e., Himālaya) brought his daughter (Pārvatī) before Śiva: “Then Śiva looked at her in the first flush of her youth. [...] On seeing Śiva the lord of all, the chief of those devoted to penance, the lord with the moon as his ornament, who can be known through spiritual insight and who was sitting in the meditative posture closing His eyes, Himācala saluted Him again. Though he was not disheartened, he entertained some doubts. Thus he, the lord of mountains, foremost of the eloquent [i.e., variṣṭha—vākyavidāṃ variṣṭhaḥ], spoke to Śiva, the sole kinsman of the universe”.
2) Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ) refers to the “most excellent one” and is used to describe Śiva, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.3.49 (“The delusion of Brahmā”).—Accordingly, as the Gods eulogised Śiva: “[...] Obeisance to Thee, the five-faced Rudra. Obeisance to thee, with fifty crores of forms. Obeisance to thee, the lord of three deities. Obeisance to the most excellent one (variṣṭha). Obeisance to the principle of learning. Obeisance, Obeisance to the inexpressible, the eternal, the lightning-flamed, the flame-coloured. Obeisance to lord Śiva. Obeisance, obeisance to thee stationed in the world with the form resembling a crore of lightning streaks, consisting of eight corners and very lustrous. [...]”.
Variṣṭhā (वरिष्ठा) refers to one of the three daughters of Manu Vaivasvata: the son of Saṃjñā and Bhāskara (sun-god), according to the Vaṃśānucarita section of the 10th century Saurapurāṇa: one of the various Upapurāṇas depicting Śaivism.—Accordingly, [...] It is stated that Aditi got from Kaśyapa, Bhāskara, the Sun-god. The Sun-god had four wives [viz., Saṃjñā]. Saṃjñā gave birth to Manu from the sun-god in whose race were born the kings. [...] The daughters were Ilā, Jyeṣṭhā and Variṣṭhā.
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.
Ayurveda (science of life)
Kalpa (Formulas, Drug prescriptions and other Medicinal preparations)
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ) refers to the medicinal plant known as “Plectranthus vettiveroides (Jacob) Singh & Sharma” 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 variṣṭha] 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).
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.
Biology (plants and animals)
Varishtha in India is the name of a plant defined with Citrus aurantium in various botanical sources. This page contains potential references in Ayurveda, modern medicine, and other folk traditions or local practices It has the synonym Citrus vulgaris Risso (among others).
Example references for further research on medicinal uses or toxicity (see latin names for full list):
· Annales du muséum national d’histoire naturelle (1813)
· Proceedings of the Indian Science Congress Association (1984)
· Annales des Sciences Naturelles; Botanique (1843)
· J. SouthW. Agric. Univ. (1994)
· Caryologia (1985)
· Species Plantarum (1753)
If you are looking for specific details regarding Varishtha, for example chemical composition, side effects, health benefits, diet and recipes, extract dosage, 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
Marathi-English dictionary
variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ).—a (S) Senior, superior, excelling; surpassing in years, wisdom, dignity &c. 2 Greatest, heaviest &c.
variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ).—Superior. Senior; surpassing in years; greatest.
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
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ).—a.
1) Best, most excellent, most distinguished or pre-eminent; अयं च पार्थो बीभत्सुर्वरिष्ठो ज्याविकर्षणे (ayaṃ ca pārtho bībhatsurvariṣṭho jyāvikarṣaṇe) Mahābhārata (Bombay) 3. 35.12.
2) Largest, greatest.
3) Widest.
4) Heaviest.
5) Worst, most wicked; (superl. of uru q. v.).
-ṣṭhaḥ 1 The francoline partridge.
2) The orange tree.
-ṣṭham 1 Copper.
2) Pepper.
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ).—mfn.
(-ṣṭhaḥ-ṣṭhā-ṣṭhaṃ) 1. Largest, greatest, most large. 2. Heaviest, mightiest. 3. Best, dearest, most preferable or beloved. n.
(-ṣṭhaṃ) 1. Copper. 2. Pepper. m.
(-ṣṭhaḥ) 1. The Francoline partridge. 2. The orange tree. E. var substituted for uru large, or vara best, iṣṭhan aff. of the irr. superlative.
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ).—and varīyaṃs varīyaṃs, see uru.
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ).—1. ([superlative]) widest, broadest, largest.
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Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ).—2. ([superlative]) most excellent, best, chief among ([genetive] or —°); better than ([ablative]); the worst of ([genetive]).
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Vāristha (वारिस्थ).—[adjective] reflected (standing) in water (sun).
1) Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ):—[from vara] 1. variṣṭha mfn. (superl. of uru q.v.) widest, broadest, largest, most extensive, [Ṛg-veda; Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā; Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa; Rāmāyaṇa]
2) [from vara] 2. variṣṭha mf(ā)n. (superl. of 2. vara) the most excellent or best, most preferable among ([genitive case] or [compound]), [Ṛg-veda] etc. etc.
3) [v.s. ...] better than ([ablative]), [Manu-smṛti vii, 84]
4) [v.s. ...] chief (in a bad sense) = worst, most wicked, [Mahābhārata xiv, 879; iii, 12590.]
5) Vāristha (वारिस्थ):—[=vāri-stha] [from vāri > vār] mfn. standing in water, reflected in the w°, [Manu-smṛti iv, 37.]
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ):—[(ṣṭhaḥ-ṣṭhā-ṣṭhaṃ) a.] Largest, heaviest, best. m. Francoline partridge. n. Copper; pepper.
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ):—1. (superl. zu uru) adj. der weiteste, breiteste, umfassendste [Amarakoṣa 3, 2, 61.] [Hemacandra’s Anekārthasaṃgraha 3, 177.] [Medinīkoṣa ṭh. 15.] [Halāyudha 4, 14.] [Ṛgveda 4, 56, 1.] dhīti [5, 25, 3. 48, 3. 6, 37, 4. 41, 2.] variṣṭhe na indra va.dhure dhāḥ [47, 9.] tadvāryaṃ vṛṇīmahe.variṣṭhaṃ (= varṣiṣṭhaṃ [Yāska’s Nirukta 5, 1]) gopa.atyam [8, 25, 13.] kratvā.variṣṭham [86, 10.] variṣṭhā.anu sa.batam [Vājasaneyisaṃhitā 11, 12.] sūryo.variṣṭho a.ṣabhi.vi bhāti [Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa 3, 7, 7, 1.] atīva (vimāna) [Rāmāyaṇa 5, 13, 6.] Vgl. auch u. uru, wo aber das Beispiel [Mahābhārata 14, 879.] zu streichen ist.
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Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ):—2. (superl. zu 4. vara)
1) adj. der vorzüglichste, beste [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa 3, 3, 108. fg.] = varatama [Hemacandra’s Anekārthasaṃgraha 3, 177.] [Medinīkoṣa ṭh. 15.] = vatsa [AJAYA im Śabdakalpadruma] iṣṭāpūrtaṃ manyamānā variṣṭham [Muṇḍakopaniṣad 1, 2, 10. 2, 2, 1.] [Praśnopaniṣad 2, 3.] [Ṛgveda] [Prātiśākhya 15, 4.] [Mahābhārata 1, 2096. 2, 540. 3, 15594. 5, 3823. 6, 2976.] [Harivaṃśa 11526.] [Rāmāyaṇa 2, 61, 15.] adhamasamavariṣṭhāni [Varāhamihira’s Bṛhajjātaka 13, 1.] [Mārkāṇḍeyapurāṇa 73, 13. 78, 4.] [PAÑCAR. 1, 7, 91] (fälschlich varīṣṭha) gedr.). [Oxforder Handschriften 47,a, No. 103, Z. 12.] [Scholiast] zu [Jaimini.1,2,12.] kaḥ punareṣāṃ variṣṭhaḥ [Praśnopaniṣad 2, 1.] puṇyakṛtām [Mahābhārata 1, 2096.] brāhmaṇo dvipadāṃ śreṣṭho gaurvariṣṭhā catuṣpadām [3044. 3, 10599. 5, 511. 12, 5163.] sarvayajñānām [13, 3809.] [Harivaṃśa 1032. 8812.] [Rāmāyaṇa 3, 3, 11. 5, 44, 13. 48, 15. 6, 6, 32.] [Bhāgavatapurāṇa 1, 10, 1. 3, 25, 11. 5, 11, 1.] ākhyāna die vorzüglichste unter allen Erzählungen [Mahābhārata 1, 18. 55.] loka [Rāmāyaṇa Gorresio 2, 108, 15.] deva [5, 7, 34.] nṛpa (so ist zu verbinden) [WEBER, KṚṢṆAJ. 230.] mit einem abl. besser als: variṣṭhamagnihotrebhyo brāhmaṇasya mukhe hutam [Manu’s Gesetzbuch 7, 84.] [Bhāgavatapurāṇa 7, 9, 10.] unter Schlechten vornan stehend, der schlimmste, ärgste: doṣa [Mahābhārata 14, 879] (unter uru zu streichen). pāpakṛtām [3, 12590.] —
2) m. a) Rebhuhn [Hemacandra’s Anekārthasaṃgraha] [Medinīkoṣa] — b) Orangenbaum [Rājanirghaṇṭa im Śabdakalpadruma] — c) Nomen proprium α) eines Sohnes des Manu Cākṣuṣa [Mahābhārata 13, 1315.] — β) einer der 7 Weisen im 11ten Manvantara [Mārkāṇḍeyapurāṇa 94, 19.] — γ) eines Daitya [Harivaṃśa 12942.] —
3) f. ā Polanisia icosandra W. et. A. [Rājanirghaṇṭa im Śabdakalpadruma] —
4) n. a) Kupfer [Amarakoṣa 2, 9, 98.] [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 1040.] [Hemacandra’s Anekārthasaṃgraha] [Medinīkoṣa] — b) Pfeffer [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa] [Hemacandra’s Anekārthasaṃgraha] [Medinīkoṣa]
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Variṭṭha.
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
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ) [Also spelled varishth]:—(a) senior; best, most preferable; ~[tā] seniority; ~[tā-krama] order of seniority; —[vidvāna] a senior scholar; —[sadasya] a senior member.
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Kannada-English dictionary
Variṣṭha (ವರಿಷ್ಠ):—
1) [adjective] of the most excellent sort; surpassing all others; best.
2) [adjective] big; large; huge.
3) [adjective] wide; broad.
4) [adjective] heavy; weighty; ponderous.
5) [adjective] of higher rank or standing or longer in service; senior.
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Variṣṭha (ವರಿಷ್ಠ):—
1) [noun] a most excellent man.
2) [noun] the quality of being big, large; huge; largeness; hugeness.
3) [noun] a man of higher or higest rank or standing; a senior or seniormost man.
4) [noun] the red-metal; copper.
5) [noun] the pungent condiment obtained from the dried fruits of Piper nigrum; pepper.
6) [noun] the greyish bird Francolinus pondicerianus of Phasianidae family, with red bill and legs, the francolin partridge.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Variṣṭha (वरिष्ठ):—adj. best; most excellent; most distinguished; pre-eminent;
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 (+0): Stha, Vari.
Starts with (+0): Varishtha-adhivakta, Varishtha-uparikshaka, Varishthaka, Varishthashrama.
Full-text (+23): Varishtha-adhivakta, Varishtha-uparikshaka, Tapovarishtha, Aaru, Arjuna, Govara, Varishthaka, Rakshodaivata, Madhyamdini, Varishthashrama, Varisht, Varisht-adhivaktaa, Varisht-upareekshak, Varittha, Hamsatma, Adhyarhaniya, Varittam, Labdhashrut, Labdhashruta, Nitkalika.
Relevant text
Search found 52 books and stories containing Varishtha, Vari-stha, Vāri-stha, Varistha, Variṣṭha, Vāristha, Variṣṭhā; (plurals include: Varishthas, sthas, Varisthas, Variṣṭhas, Vāristhas, Variṣṭhās). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Rig Veda (translation and commentary) (by H. H. Wilson)
The Sun-Worshipping Sakadvipiya Brahmanas (by Martina Palladino)
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Phaladeepika by Mantreswara (text and translation) (by Panditabhushana V. Subrahmanya Sastri)
Mundaka Upanishad (Madhva commentary) (by Srisa Chandra Vasu)
Brahmanda Purana (by G.V. Tagare)
Chapter 36 - The Lineage of Manu: Manvantaras < [Section 2 - Anuṣaṅga-pāda]
Mundaka Upanishad with Shankara’s Commentary (by S. Sitarama Sastri)
Verse 2.2.1 < [Mundaka II, Khanda II]
Verse 1.2.10 < [Mundaka I, Khanda II]
Verse 3.1.4 < [Mundaka III, Khanda I]