1. A Vedic meter of twenty-four syllables, usually in three lines.
2. A sacred Vedic verse personified as a goddess and wife of Brahma.
3. A kind of mimosa plant.
गायत्री (gāyatrī) [Printed book page 288]
गायत्री (gāyatrī) f. (-त्री (-trī))
गायत्री (gāyatrī) f. (-त्री (-trī))
1 A measure of verse in the Vedas, a stanza usually of twenty-four syllables, variously arranged, but most commonly in three lines.
2 A sacred verse from the Vedas to be recited only mentally; this is usually personified and considered as a goddess, the wife of BRAHMĀ; the metaphorical mother of the three first classes, in their capacity of twice born, investiture with the sacred and distinguishing string, &c. being regarded as a new birth; there is but one Gāyatrī of the Vedas, but according to the system of the Tāntrikas, a number of mystical verses are called Gāyatrīs; each deity has one in particular.
3 A kind of mimosa, (M. catechu:) see the preceding, &c.
E. गायन् (gāyan) who sings, and त्रै (trai) to preserve, affixes क (ka) and ङीष् (ṅīṣ); this applies especially to the mystical verse, the repetition of which is necessary for salvation; the word is also written गायत्त्री (gāyattrī).
[ID=13486]— Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary
