Viraha, Vīrahā: 26 definitions
Introduction:
Viraha means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, Buddhism, Pali, Marathi, Hindi. 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 Hinduism
Vaishnavism (Vaishava dharma)
Viraha (विरह) refers to:—Separation (same as vipralambha). (cf. Glossary page from Bhajana-Rahasya).
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’).
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Viraha (विरह) refers to “separation”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.3.4.—Accordingly, as Umā (Durgā/Satī) spoke to the Gods:—“[...] Ever since I cast off my body born of Dakṣa on seeing my lord’s disrespect at the hands of my father at the altar of sacrifice, my lord Rudra is tormented by thoughts about me. He saw my anger at the altar of my father’s sacrifice. Thinking that the virtuous lady had cast-off her body out of love for him he became a Yogin and abandoned home-life. He assumed an unearthly form and features. But he could not bear my separation [i.e., viraha]. [...]”.
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.
Kavya (poetry)
Viraha (विरह) refers to “separation (from the external objects of the senses)”, according to Kālidāsa’s Raghuvaṃśa verse 8.88-90.—Accordingly: “The wise say that death is the natural state of embodied creatures and life is a change in that state. If a being remains breathing even for a moment it is surely fortunate. The foolish man regards the loss of his dear one as a dart shot into his heart. Another man looks on the same as a dart that has been pulled out, for it is a door to beatitude. When we are taught that our own body and soul unite and then separate, tell me which wise person should be tormented by separation (viraha) from the external objects of the senses?”.
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’.
Natyashastra (theatrics and dramaturgy)
Viraha (विरह) or “love in separation” refers to one of the varieties of Śṛṅgāra (“the erotic sentiment”) which represents one of the nine kinds of Rasa (“soul of Drama”), according to the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, an ancient Sanskrit text which (being encyclopedic in nature) deals with a variety of cultural topics such as arts, architecture, music, grammar and astronomy.—Rasa or Sentiment is a very important component in poetry. Because, Sanskrit poetics advices to portray either śṛṇgāra or vīra as the predominant sentiment in a Sanskrit drama. It is the sentiment of love and desire where the manifestation of the activities of Kāmadeva i.e the god of love can be noticed. Rati i.e erotic emotion is the sthāyībhāva or permanent feeling of śṛṇgāra. Śyāma i.e dark blue is the colour of this sentiment. Viṣṇu is the God of this sentiment. It is of two kinds viz., saṃbhoga i.e., love in union and viraha i.e., love in separation.
Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa both the terms viraha and vipralambha are used to denote the second variety of śṛṇgāra sentiment. But most of the Rhetoricians of Sanskrit poetics like Mammaṭa and Viśvanāthakavirāja use the term vipralambha only.
Natyashastra (नाट्यशास्त्र, nāṭyaśāstra) refers to both the ancient Indian tradition (shastra) of performing arts, (natya—theatrics, drama, dance, music), as well as the name of a Sanskrit work dealing with these subjects. It also teaches the rules for composing Dramatic plays (nataka), construction and performance of Theater, and Poetic works (kavya).
Pancaratra (worship of Nārāyaṇa)
Vīrahā (वीरहा) is the name of a deity associated with the fifth court (āvaraṇa) of the temple, as discussed in the ninth chapter of the Īśvarasaṃhitā (printed edition), a Pāñcarātra work in 8200 verses and 24 chapters dealing with topics such as routines of temple worship, major and minor festivals, temple-building and initiation.—Description of the chapter [dvārāvaraṇa-devatālakṣaṇa-ādi-vidhi]: This chapter concerns the daily ritual obligations owed to the deities whose abodes are fixed in the temple doorways—[...] In the fifth āvaraṇa are the eight deities: Lohitākṣa, Mahāvīrya, Aprameya, Suśobhana, Vīrahā, Vikrama, Bhīma and Śatāvarta (139-153); the entrance to this round is guarded by Vajranābha, Harīśa, Dharmādhyakṣa and Niyantrīśa, Vāsunātha and Sudhānanda (154-168).
Pancaratra (पाञ्चरात्र, pāñcarātra) represents a tradition of Hinduism where Narayana is revered and worshipped. Closeley related to Vaishnavism, the Pancaratra literature includes various Agamas and tantras incorporating many Vaishnava philosophies.
Vedanta (school of philosophy)
Viraha (विरह) refers to the “relinquishing” (the sense of rejection and acceptance), according to the Aṣṭāvakragītā (5th century BC), an ancient text on spirituality dealing with Advaita-Vedānta topics.—Accordingly, [as Janaka says to Aṣṭavakra]: “By relinquishing the sense of rejection and acceptance (heyopādeya-viraha), and with pleasure and disappointment [heyopādeyavirahādevaṃ harṣaviṣādayoḥ] ceasing today, Brahmin, I am now established. Life in a community, then going beyond such a state, meditation and the elimination of mind-made objects - by means of these I have seen my error, and I am now established. Just as the performance of actions is due to ignorance, so their abandonment is too. By fully recognising this truth, I am now established. [...]”.
Vedanta (वेदान्त, vedānta) refers to a school of orthodox Hindu philosophy (astika), drawing its subject-matter from the Upanishads. There are a number of sub-schools of Vedanta, however all of them expound on the basic teaching of the ultimate reality (brahman) and liberation (moksha) of the individual soul (atman).
In Jainism
General definition (in Jainism)
Viraha (विरह, “duration”).—What is the meaning of duration (viraha-kāla)? The duration (viraha) between cessation of right faith and its reoccurrence is called interval of time. Viraha and antara can be said to synonymous.
Viraha (विरह) refers to a “lack (of restraint)”, according to the 11th century Jñānārṇava, a treatise on Jain Yoga in roughly 2200 Sanskrit verses composed by Śubhacandra.—Accordingly, “These, that is, the passions beginning with anger, the five objects of the senses which are the companions of lust, carelessness, wrong faith, speech and mind, and the body, the two [kinds of] bad meditation having a bad end and lack of restraint (viraha—virativirahaś ceti) thus decidedly issue from the mass of evil of men inspiring fear of life. [Thus ends the reflection on] the influx of karma”.
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.
Languages of India and abroad
Pali-English dictionary
viraha : (m.) separation; emptiness.
Viraha, (adj.) (vi+raho) empty, rid of, bar, without PvA. 137, 139 (sīla°). (Page 634)
viraha (ဝိရဟ) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[vi+raha+a．viraha-saṃ,prā,addhamāgadhī．]
[ဝိ+ရဟ+အ။ ဝိရဟ-သံ၊ ပြာ၊ အဒ္ဓမာဂဓီ။]
[Pali to Burmese]
viraha—
(Burmese text): ကင်း-ဆိတ်-ကင်းရှင်း-ကင်းဆိတ်-ခြင်း။
(Auto-Translation): Clear-clear-clearance-clearance.
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
viraha (विरह).—m (S) Separation or parting; also separated state (esp. of lovers or friends). 2 The anguish of separation or of absence. 3 S Privation or want of; absence or nonbeing of unto generally.
viraha (विरह).—m Separation; the anguish of separation.
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
Viraha (विरह).—
1) Parting with, separation.
2) Especially, the separation of lovers; सा विरहे तव दीना (sā virahe tava dīnā) Gītagovinda 4; क्षणमपि विरहः पुरा न सेहे (kṣaṇamapi virahaḥ purā na sehe) ibid; कः संनद्धे विरहविधुरां त्वष्युपेक्षेत जायाम् (kaḥ saṃnaddhe virahavidhurāṃ tvaṣyupekṣeta jāyām) Meghadūta 8,12,29,87,89.
3) Absence.
4) Want.
5) Desertion, abandonment, relinquishment.
6) The feeling of love in separation; see विप्रलम्भ (vipralambha) (6).
7) Loneliness.
Derivable forms: virahaḥ (विरहः).
Viraha (विरह).—m.
(-haḥ) 1. Separation, parting, absence, especially the separation of lovers. 2. Forbearance, cessation, relinquishment. E. vi before rah to abandon, aff. ac .
Viraha (विरह).—[vi-rah + a], m. 1. Separation, [Meghadūta, (ed. Gildemeister.)] 12; [Rājataraṅgiṇī] 5, 373; separation from (with instr.), [Mānavadharmaśāstra] 5, 149. 2. Absence, Bhāṣāp. 68; want, [Hitopadeśa] 127, 5. 3. Cessation, [Vikramorvaśī, (ed. Bollensen.)] [distich] 130. 4. Relinquishment.
Viraha (विरह).—[masculine] abandonment, separation from ([instrumental] or —°); absence, want.
1) Viraha (विरह):—[=vi-raha] [from vi-rah] m. abandonment, desertion, parting, separation ([especially] of lovers), absence from ([instrumental case] or [compound]), [Mahābhārata; Kāvya literature] etc.
2) [v.s. ...] lack, want (ifc. = lacking, with the exception of), [Kāvya literature; Kathāsaritsāgara] etc.
Viraha (विरह):—[vi-raha] (haḥ) 1. m. Separation, especially of lovers; absence; forbearance; relinquishment.
Viraha (विरह):—(von rah mit vi) m. = viyoga [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 1511.] [Halāyudha 4, 57.]
1) das Getrenntsein, Trennung (vom geliebten Gegenstande): na me dya virahaḥ kṣamaḥ [Mahābhārata 3, 16737.] [Meghadūta 8. 12. 30. 83. 87. 89. 92. 109. 111.] [Spr. (II) 788.] virasaḥ saṃgamarasaḥ [2065. (I) 2834. 3101.] viraho pi saṃgamaḥ khalu parasparaṃ saṃgataṃ mano yeṣām . yadi hṛdayaṃ tu ghaṭitaṃ samāgamo pi virahaṃ viśeṣayati .. [?5019. Kathāsaritsāgara 39, 80. Rājataraṅgiṇī 2, 56. Bhāgavatapurāṇa 1, 2, 2. Vetālapañcaviṃśati in Lassen’s Anthologie (III) 6, 1. 16, 6. 21, 3. SARVADARŚANAS. 96, 16.] patyā vom Gatten [Spr. 1765.] pitrā bhartrā sutairvāpi [4538.] rājño vāsavadattayā [Kathāsaritsāgara 15, 55. 67, 21.] sītā (könnte auch zu
2) gezogen werden) [Rāmāyaṇa 2, 59, 29.] iṣṭajana [Śākuntala 60, 4.] [Vikramorvaśī 110.] [Meghadūta 85.] [Bhāgavatapurāṇa 9, 10, 30.] —
2) Abwesenheit, das Nichtdasein, Fehlen, Mangeln: eṣām (d. i. des Vaters, der Gattin oder der Söhne) [Spr. 4538.] [Rāmāyaṇa 5, 53, 13.] mama virahajaṃ duḥkham aus meiner Abwesenheit entstanden [Śākuntala 94. 180.] kiṃ yauvanena viraho yadi vallabhāyāḥ wenn keine Geliebte da ist [Spr. 2791. 4113.] [Rājataraṅgiṇī 5, 373.] [Bhāgavatapurāṇa 1, 10, 10.] sapatnī [Kathāsaritsāgara 32, 178.] vāgvirahāt [43, 11.] viveka [Spr. 2641.] svakāla [Vikramorvaśī 130.] lobha [Hitopadeśa 11, 5.] āhāra [127, 5.] pradopa Inschr. in [Journ. of the Am. Or. S. 6, 502,] [Śloka 1.] [Prabodhacandrodaja 17, 15.] [Sāhityadarpana 8, 20. 218, 21.] [SARVADARŚANAS. 16, 7. 96, 22.] vṛṣṭi [Kullūka] zu [Manu’s Gesetzbuch 8, 22.] śaṅkā [KUSUM. 28, 15. 37, 18.] [Bhāṣāpariccheda 68.] am Ende eines adj. comp.: anucitanūpura (caraṇa) [Mālavikāgnimitra 61.] an dem fehlt so v. a. mit Ausnahme von [Varāhamihira’s Bṛhajjātaka S. 100, 2.]
Viraha (विरह) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Viraha.
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
Viraha (विरह) [Also spelled virah]:—(nm) separation (from loved one); ~[janita/janya] caused by separation; —[jvara] the anguish of separation; —[vedanā/vyathā] pangs of separation, agony of separation; —[kī āṃca] agony of separation; —[meṃ jalanā] to suffer the agony of separation (from the loved one).
...
Prakrit-English dictionary
1) Viraha (विरह) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit word: Virah.
2) Viraha (विरह) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Viraha.
3) Viraha (विरह) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Viratha.
4) Virāha (विराह) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Virādha.
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
Viraha (ವಿರಹ):—
1) [noun] the fact of being separated.
2) [noun] separation of lovers from each other.
3) [noun] a giving up (of something) completely or foreever; abandonment; relinquishment.
4) [noun] the fact of dissaociating from others and being alone.
5) [noun] the pining for one’s sweetheart.
--- OR ---
Vīraha (ವೀರಹ):—[noun] a householder who has lost the perpetual sacriicial fire, used in his daily sacrifice.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Viraha (विरह):—n. separation; parting; estrangement; loss;
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): Raha, Vi, A.
Starts with (+15): Virahaa, Virahadhigama, Virahaga, Virahagni, Virahagranthi, Virahagunita, Virahaja, Virahajanita, Virahajvara, Virahakatara, Virahamukta, Virahan, Virahana, Virahanala, Virahanta, Virahantra, Viraharipralapa, Viraharshana, Viraharta, Virahartta.
Full-text (+146): Virahita, Paravirahan, Virahajvara, Virahanala, Virahati, Lobhaviraha, Virahotkanthita, Virahavyapad, Virahaja, Virahavastha, Viraharta, Virahin, Prathamaviraha, Virahotsuka, Priyaviraha, Virahissanti, Virahashayana, Virahagunita, Virah, Virahajanita.
Relevant text
Search found 58 books and stories containing Viraha, Vi-raha, Vi-raha-a, Vīrahā, Virāha, Vīraha; (plurals include: Virahas, rahas, as, Vīrahās, Virāhas, Vīrahas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Dictionaries of Indian languages (Kosha)
Page 709 < [Kannada-English-Malayalam (1 volume)]
Page 853 < [Malayalam-English-Kannada (1 volume)]
Page 64 < [Hindi-Malayalam-English Volume 3]
Chaitanya Bhagavata (by Bhumipati Dāsa)
Verse 2.26.79 < [Chapter 26 - Descriptions of the Mercy Bestowed on Śuklāmbara and Vijay and the Lord’s Desire to Accept Sannyāsa]
Verse 1.17.121 < [Chapter 17 - The Lord’s Travel to Gayā]
Verse 2.28.82 < [Chapter 28 - The Lord’s Pastime of Accepting Sannyāsa]
Sahitya-kaumudi by Baladeva Vidyabhushana (by Gaurapada Dāsa)
Text 10.207 < [Chapter 10 - Ornaments of Meaning]
Text 7.135 < [Chapter 7 - Literary Faults]
Text 10.112 < [Chapter 10 - Ornaments of Meaning]
Dramaturgy in the Venisamhara (by Debi Prasad Namasudra)
Vipralambha-Śṛṅgāra (Disunion) < [Chapter 4 - Dramaturgy in Veṇīsaṃhāra]
Garga Samhita (English) (by Danavir Goswami)
Verse 5.14.3 < [Chapter 14 - The Meeting of King Nanda and Uddhava]
Verse 5.16.13 < [Chapter 16 - Comforting Sri Radha and the Gopis]
Verse 5.16.9 < [Chapter 16 - Comforting Sri Radha and the Gopis]
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts, Madras (by M. Seshagiri Sastri)