# आसुरि (āsuri)

Canonical page: https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/asuri

आसुरि (āsuri) is a Sanskrit word meaning name of a teacher. Its 4 recorded definitions are grouped into 2 contexts, among them Teacher in Vedic and Upanishadic Texts, Maharṣi in Epic/Puranic Lore and Sāṃkhya.

- **SLP1:** `Asuri`  **IAST:** āsuri  **Devanagari:** आसुरि
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asuri_%28Samkhya%29
- **Declensions:** 72 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/asuri/declensions.md
- **Other headwords romanised the same way:** आसुरी (āsurī), असुरी (asurī), असुरि (asuri)

## Meanings by context

### Teacher in Vedic and Upanishadic Texts (3 definitions)
- name of a teacher  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2) [Printed book page 160,3] आसुरि (āsuri) m. [ f( ई (ī) )., Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) ], ( fr. असुर (asura) ), N. of a teacher, Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa (Title); Bṛhad-āraṇyaka-upaniṣad (Title) &c. [ ID=28064 ]
- the name of a teacher  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872)*
  > आसुरि (āsuri) [Printed book page 0135-c ] Āsuri, is, m. (patron. fr. asura ), N. of a teacher. —Āsuri-vāsin, ī, m. an epithet of Prāśnīputra. [ ID=9666 ]
- A Vedic teacher and ritual authority mentioned in the Upanishads and Shatapatha Brahmana.  
  *The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects*
  > आसुरि (āsuri) [Printed book page 1-072 ] Āsuri occurs in the first two Vaṃśas 1 (lists of teachers) of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad as a pupil of Bhāradvāja and teacher of Aupajandhani, but in the third 2 as a pupil of Yājñavalkya and teacher of Āsurāyaṇa. He appears as a Page1-073+ 42 ritual authority in the first four books of the Śatapatha Brāh- maṇa, 3 and as an authority on dogmatic, specially noted for his insistence on truth, in the last book. 4 [ Footnote: 1) ii. 6, 3; iv. 6, 3.] [ Footnote: 2) vi. 5, 2.] [ Footnote: 3) i. 6, 3, 26; ii. 1, 4, 27; 3, 1, 9; 4, 1, 2; 6, 1, 25. 33; 3, 17; iv. 5, 8, 14.] [ Footnote: 4) xiv. 1, 1, 33, and notes 1, 2. Cf. Weber, Indische Studien, 1, 430 et seq., whose suggestion of the identity of this teacher and the founder of the Sāṃkhya system is not, however, ac- ceptable. See Garbe, Sāṃkhya Philo- sophie, 29, 30.] [ ID=297 ]

### Maharṣi in Epic/Puranic Lore and Sāṃkhya (1 definition)
- Name of a teacher, a pupil of Panchashikha.  
  *Index to the Names in the Mahabharata*
  > आसुरि (āsuri) [Printed book page 099-1 ] Āsuri. § 668 b (Pañcaśikhavākya): XII, 218, 7890 ( Ā°eḥ prathamaṃ śiṣyaṃ i.e. Pañcaśikha), 7893, 7894 (his wife was Kapilā).—§ 707 (Mokṣadh.): XII, 319 β, 11784. [ ID=921 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Index to the Names in the Mahabharata; Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872); Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899); The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

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