Vishvakarma, Viśvakarmā, Viśvakarma: 13 definitions

Introduction

Introduction
In Hinduism
India history
Languages
1. Marathi
2. Sanskrit
3. Kannada
See also

Introduction:

Vishvakarma means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, the history of ancient India, Marathi. 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 Viśvakarmā and Viśvakarma can be transliterated into English as Visvakarma or Vishvakarma, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).

In Hinduism

Vaishnavism (Vaishava dharma)

Source: humindian: 108 names of Lord Krishna

One of the 108 names of Krishna; Meaning: "Creator Of The Universe"

Source: ISKCON Press: Glossary

Viśvakarmā (विश्वकर्मा).—The architect of the devas or demigods. He built the city of Indraprastha for the Pāṇḍavas at the request of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

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’).

Purana and Itihasa (epic history)

Source: archive.org: Puranic Encyclopedia

Viśvakarmā (विश्वकर्मा).—The architect of the Devas. Birth. Viśvakarmā is the son of Prabhāsa, the eighth of the Eight Vasus. Varastrī, the sister of Bṛhaspati, a celibate woman who had attained Yogasiddhi (union with the Universal Soul) and travelled all over the world was the wife of Prabhāsa. Prajāpati Viśvakarmā was born to Prabhāsa by Varastrī. This Viśvakarmā was the inventor of innumerable kinds of handicrafts, the architect of the gods, maker of all kinds of ornaments, and the most famous sculptor. He was the maker of all the aerial chariots of the Devas. (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Aṃśa 1, Chapter 15). (See full article at Story of Viśvakarmā from the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani)

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: The Purana Index

1a) Viśvakarmā (विश्वकर्मा).—A Prajāpati. His daughter Barhiṣmatī was the wife of Priyavrata.¹ A son of Vāstu and Āṅgirasī; wife was Kṛti (Akṛti, Bhāgavata-purāṇa). Father of Manu Cākṣuṣa.² The divine architect skilled in making weapons. Made vajra of Dadhīci's body and built Indra's abode and erected Sutalam.³ Fought with Maya in Devāsura war. Two more daughters of his were Samjñā and Chāyā who were married to the Sun god.⁴ Was ordered by Kṛṣṇa to build a city for the Pāṇḍavas;⁵ built Garuḍa's abode;⁶ an author on architecture;⁷ father of four sons; originator of all śilpas, arts and crafts;⁸ presented Śrī with jewels.⁹

1) Bhāgavata-purāṇa V. 1. 24.
2) Ib. VI. 6. 15.
3) Ib. VI. 9. 54: 10. 13. VII. 4. 8; VIII. 15. 15; 22. 32. Matsya-purāṇa 5. 27-8; 58. 33.
4) Bhāgavata-purāṇa VIII. 10. 29; 13. 8. Viṣṇu-purāṇa III. 2. 2, 8, 10-12.
5) Bhāgavata-purāṇa X. 58. 24.
6) Matsya-purāṇa 163. 68: 203. 7.
7) Ib. 252. 2; Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa IV. 31. 6-7.
8) Viṣṇu-purāṇa I. 15. 119-20; III. 2. 11.
9) Ib. I. 9. 104; Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa IV. 9. 81; 14. 4; 15. 20; 20. 46; 29. 84.

1b) A son of Tvaṣṭā and Yaśodharā; father of Maya, and his daughter was Sureṇu; originator of arts and crafts.^*

* Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa I. 2. 19; 5. 27. III. 1. 87. 7. 195; 32. 7: 59. 17-21: Vāyu-purāṇa 65. 85.

1c) Divided the earth into seven islands, oceans and hills, bhūḥ and other worlds; created the people as in the previous kalpas; but the whole was clouded in smoke, in five forms like a light enveloped by a pot; finding no light and all in their place (Nyāsa) was pondering over when a cross current passed that way and resulted in a second universe.^*

* Vāyu-purāṇa 6. 33-45. 109. 4.

1d) One of the seven important rays of the sun on the south; helps the growth of the Budha planet.^*

* Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa II. 24. 66-69.

1e) A Vaṃśavartin god; a son of Prabhāta and Bhuvanā; Lord of Prajāpatis.^*

* Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa II. 36. 29; III. 3. 29.

Source: JatLand: List of Mahabharata people and places

Viśvakarmā (विश्वकर्मा) is a name mentioned in the Mahābhārata (cf. III.114.17) and represents one of the many proper names used for people and places. Note: The Mahābhārata (mentioning Viśvakarmā) is a Sanskrit epic poem consisting of 100,000 ślokas (metrical verses) and is over 2000 years old.

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.

Vastushastra (architecture)

Source: archive.org: Bharatiya vastu-sastra

Viśvakarmā (विश्वकर्मा) refers to the “Heavenly Architect”.—Prabhāsa (eminently shining) Vasu had married the sister of Bhṛgu and through her a son named Viśvakarmā was born to him. This Viśvakarmā was endowed with consummate skill in fine arts, architecture, sculpture, painting, including both their constructive as well as decorative aspects. He was an excellent craftsman as he had constructed conveyances moving on land, sea and air. He was an expert in designing weapons of various kinds to minister to the comforts, convenience and safety of men. These and other qualities have rightly won for him the epithet commonly attributed to him-viz. the architect of gods. [...]

context information

Vastushastra (वास्तुशास्त्र, vāstuśāstra) refers to the ancient Indian science (shastra) of architecture (vastu), dealing with topics such architecture, sculpture, town-building, fort building and various other constructions. Vastu also deals with the philosophy of the architectural relation with the cosmic universe.

General definition (in Hinduism)

Source: Apam Napat: Indian Mythology

Vishwakarma is the architect of the Devas. His chief rival in architectural prowess is Maya the architect of the Asuras. He has a daughter named Sangya, who is married to Surya.

Source: WikiPedia: Hinduism

1) Viśwákarma is the personified Omnipotence and the abstract form of the creator God according to the Rigveda. He is the presiding deity of all craftsmen and architects. He is believed to be the "Principal Architect of the Universe ", and the root concept of the later Upanishadic Brahman / Purusha.

2) Viśvákarma is the Hindu presiding deity of all craftsmen and architects. He is believed by Hindus to be the "Principal Universal Architect", the architect who fabricated and designed the divine architecture of the Universe, the Lord of Creation. Vishwakarma is known as the divine engineer of the world. As a mark of reverence he is not only worshipped by the engineering and architectural community but also by all professionals. It is customary for craftsmen to worship their tools in his name.

Through the four yugas (aeons of Hindu mythology), he had built several towns and palaces for the gods. Among them were, in chronological order,

Svarga (Heaven) in the Satya Yuga,
Lanka in the Treta Yuga,
and Dwarka (Krishna's capital) in the Dwapara Yuga.

Viswakarma is also supposed to have built Dwarka, the capital of Lord Krishna. During the time of the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna is said to have lived in Dwarka, and made it his "Karma Bhoomi" or center of operation. That is why this place in western India (today's Gujarat) has become a well known pilgrimage for the Hindus.

etymology: Viśwákarma (Sanskrit: विश्वकर्मा "all-accomplishing, maker of all," "all doer"; Tamil: (விசுவகர்மன்) Vicuvakaruman; Thai: Witsawakam ;Telugu: విశ్వకర్మ ; Kannada: ವಿಶ್ವಕರ್ಮ )

India history and geography

Source: academia.edu: The Chronological History of Ancient Sri Lanka

Vishvakarma of Pulastya gotra was the earliest civil engineer of Rig Vedic period. His descendants were also known as Vishvakarma. They were also great scientists. Vishvakarma, the contemporary of Vaishravana and Ravana made a flying chariot named as Pushpaka Vimana. In all probability, Pushpaka Vimana was like a hot air balloon carrying a specially designed chariot. Rama along with Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman boarded the Pushpaka Vimana and returned to Ayodhya from Sri Lanka.

context information

The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

Languages of India and abroad

Marathi-English dictionary

Source: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionary

viśvakarmā (विश्वकर्मा).—m (S) The son of Brahma and the artist of the gods. 2 Applied, appellatively, to an ingenious mechanic or artist.

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.

Sanskrit dictionary

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

1) Viśvakarma (विश्वकर्म):—[=viśva-karma] [from viśva] a See p. 994, col. 2.

2) [=viśva-karma] [from viśva] 1. viśva-karma mfn. accomplishing everything, all-working, [Ṛg-veda x, 166, 4.]

3) [v.s. ...] 2. viśva-karma in [compound] for viśva-karman

[Sanskrit to German]

Vishvakarma 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.

Kannada-English dictionary

Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpus

Viśvakarma (ವಿಶ್ವಕರ್ಮ):—

1) [noun] = ವಿಶ್ವಕರ್ತೃ [vishvakartri].

2) [noun] the celestial architect or the artist of the gods.

3) [noun] Brahma.

4) [noun] Śiva.

5) [noun] aminister; a counsellor; an advisor.

6) [noun] the Sun-God.

7) [noun] Yama, the God of Dharma (Righteousness).

8) [noun] the three vital airs, prāṇa, apāna and samāna.

9) [noun] a cluster of stars.

10) [noun] a man belonging to the caste of goldsmiths.

context information

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

Relevant text

Search found 39 books and stories containing Vishvakarma, Viśvakarmā, Viśvakarma, Visvakarma, Vishva-karma, Viśva-karma, Visva-karma; (plurals include: Vishvakarmas, Viśvakarmās, Viśvakarmas, Visvakarmas, karmas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Chapter 99 - The Celestial Architect Builds Dvaraka < [Book 2 - Vishnu Parva]

Chapter 59 - The Laying Out of Dvarka < [Book 2 - Vishnu Parva]

Chapter 100 - Krishna’s Entrance Into Dvaraka and Reception < [Book 2 - Vishnu Parva]

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Chapter 1 - On Triśirā’s austerities < [Book 6]

Chapter 2 - On the birth of Vṛtrāsura < [Book 6]

Chapter 3 - On the Deva defeat and on Vṛtra’s tapasyā < [Book 6]

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