Viraha: 21 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.

In Hinduism

Vaishnavism (Vaishava dharma)

Source: Pure Bhakti: Bhajana-rahasya - 2nd Edition

Viraha (विरह) refers to:—Separation (same as vipralambha). (cf. Glossary page from Bhajana-Rahasya).

Vaishnavism book cover
context information

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’).

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Vaishnavism from relevant books on Exotic India

Purana and Itihasa (epic history)

Source: archive.org: Shiva Purana - English Translation

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]. [...]”.

Purana book cover
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.

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Purana from relevant books on Exotic India

Kavya (poetry)

Source: Brill: Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions (kavya)

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 book cover
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’.

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Kavya from relevant books on Exotic India

Natyashastra (theatrics and dramaturgy)

Source: Shodhganga: Elements of Art and Architecture in the Trtiyakhanda of the Visnudharmottarapurana (natya)

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 book cover
context information

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).

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Natyashastra from relevant books on Exotic India

In Jainism

General definition (in Jainism)

Source: Encyclopedia of Jainism: Tattvartha Sutra

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.

Source: The University of Sydney: A study of the Twelve Reflections

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 (virahavirativirahaś ceti) thus decidedly issue from the mass of evil of men inspiring fear of life. [Thus ends the reflection on] the influx of karma”.

General definition book cover
context information

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.

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of General definition from relevant books on Exotic India

Languages of India and abroad

Pali-English dictionary

Source: BuddhaSasana: Concise Pali-English Dictionary

viraha : (m.) separation; emptiness.

Source: Sutta: The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary

Viraha, (adj.) (vi+raho) empty, rid of, bar, without PvA. 137, 139 (sīla°). (Page 634)

Pali book cover
context information

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.

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Pali from relevant books on Exotic India

Marathi-English dictionary

Source: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and 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.

Source: DDSA: The Aryabhusan school dictionary, Marathi-English

viraha (विरह).—m Separation; the anguish of separation.

context information

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.

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Marathi from relevant books on Exotic India

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English 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).

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary

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 .

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary

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.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Viraha (विरह).—[masculine] abandonment, separation from ([instrumental] or —°); absence, want.

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

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.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Viraha (विरह):—[vi-raha] (haḥ) 1. m. Separation, especially of lovers; absence; forbearance; relinquishment.

Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)

Viraha (विरह) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Viraha.

[Sanskrit to German]

Viraha in German

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.

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Sanskrit from relevant books on Exotic India

Hindi dictionary

Source: DDSA: A practical Hindi-English 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).

context information

...

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Hindi from relevant books on Exotic India

Prakrit-English dictionary

Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi 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.

context information

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.

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Prakrit from relevant books on Exotic India

Kannada-English dictionary

Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpus

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.

context information

Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.

Discover the meaning of viraha in the context of Kannada from relevant books on Exotic India

See also (Relevant definitions)

Relevant text

Like what you read? Consider supporting this website: