The Sanskrit term Vinaṣṭaka can be transliterated into English as Vinastaka or Vinashtaka, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).

In Hinduism

Kavya (poetry)

Source: Wisdom Library: Kathāsaritsāgara

Vinaṣṭaka (विनष्टक) is the name of a child, whose story is told by Yaugandharāyaṇa, according to Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 14. After king Udayana got married to Vāsavadattā, he ordered Yaugandharāyaṇa and Rumaṇvat to “confer appropriate distinctions on the kings who had come to visit him”. Finding it a difficult task, Yaugandharāyaṇa related the “story of the clever deformed child”, which centers around Vinaṣṭaka, later to be called Bālavinaṣṭaka.

The Kathāsaritsāgara (‘ocean of streams of story’), mentioning Vinaṣṭaka, is a famous Sanskrit epic story revolving around prince Naravāhanadatta and his quest to become the emperor of the vidyādharas (celestial beings). The work is said to have been an adaptation of Guṇāḍhya’s Bṛhatkathā consisting of 100,000 verses, which in turn is part of a larger work containing 700,000 verses.

context information

Kavya (काव्य, kavya) refers to Sanskrit poetry, a popular ancient Indian tradition of literature. There have been many Sanskrit poets over the ages, hailing from ancient India and beyond. This topic includes mahakavya, or ‘epic poetry’ and natya, or ‘dramatic poetry’.

Purana and Itihasa (epic history)

Source: archive.org: Shiva Purana - English Translation

Vinaṣṭaka (विनष्टक) refers to the “corpses (of the gods and Asuras)”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.4.7 (“Commencement of the War”).—Accordingly, as Brahmā narrated to Nārada: “[...] The fight between the gods and the Asuras desirous of victory over each other was very tumultuous. It was pleasing to the brave and terrible to the others. The battle ground became impassable and awful with the corpses (vinaṣṭaka) of the gods and Asuras lying there in thousands but it was very pleasing to the brave”.

context information

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.

Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Vinaṣṭaka (विनष्टक):—[=vi-naṣṭaka] [from vi-naṣṭa > vi-naś] See bāla-viṇaṣṭaka.

context information

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.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Vinashta, Nastaka, Vi, Ka.

Ends with: Balavinashtaka.

Full-text: Vinashta, Balavinashtaka, Rudrasharman.

Relevant text

Search found 1 books and stories containing Vinashtaka, Vi-naṣṭaka, Vinaṣṭaka, Vi-nashtaka, Vinastaka, Vi-nastaka, Vinashta-ka, Vinaṣṭa-ka, Vinasta-ka; (plurals include: Vinashtakas, naṣṭakas, Vinaṣṭakas, nashtakas, Vinastakas, nastakas, kas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Kathasaritsagara (the Ocean of Story) (by Somadeva)

Chapter XIV < [Book II - Kathāmukha]

Foreword to volume 7 < [Forewords]

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