# कल्पना (kalpanā)

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

कल्पना (kalpanā) is a Sanskrit word meaning forming, fashioning, making, performing, inventing or forming in the imagination, cutting or working with edge tools, name of a religious ceremony, anything put on for ornament, making, manufacturing, or preparing. Its 16 recorded definitions are grouped into 8 contexts, among them Making, Performing, Arranging, and Action, Mental Creation, Imagination, and Assumption, Cutting and Cutting Tools.

- **SLP1:** `kalpanA`  **IAST:** kalpanā  **Devanagari:** कल्पना
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpana_%28imagination%29
- **Declensions:** 24 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/kalpana/declensions.md
- **Other headwords romanised the same way:** कल्पन (kalpana)

## Meanings by context

### Making, Performing, Arranging, and Action (4 definitions)
- forming, fashioning, making, performing  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2) [Printed book page 263,1] कल्पन (kalpana) n. forming, fashioning, making, performing, L. [ ID=46176 ]
- making, manufacturing, or preparing  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2B) [Printed book page 263,1] कल्पना (kalpanā) f. making, manufacturing, preparing, Suśr.; BhP. [ ID=46181 ]
- fixing, settling, arranging  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > fixing, settling, arranging, Manu-smṛti (Title) ix, 116; Yājñ. [ ID=46183 ]
- a deed, work, or act  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a deed, work, act, Mṛcch. [ ID=46188 ]

### Mental Creation, Imagination, and Assumption (4 definitions)
- inventing or forming in the imagination  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > ‘forming in the imagination, inventing’, composition of a poem, Prab. [ ID=46177 ]
- creating in the mind, feigning, or assuming something to be real  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > creating in the mind, feigning, assuming anything to be real, fiction, KapS. &c. [ ID=46184 ]
- hypothesis  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > hypothesis, Nyāyam. [ ID=46185 ]
- 1. Fixing or settling. 2. Performing. 3. Forming or arranging. 4. Decorating or ornamenting. 5. Fabrication. 6. Composition. 7. Invention. 8. Forgery. 9. A fancy, idea, or mental image. 10. Contrivance. 11. A specific principle of postulation in Mimansa philosophy. 12. Imagination.  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > कल्पना (kalpanā) [Printed book page 175-11 ] कल्पना (kalpanā) f. 1. Fixing, settling, अनेकपितृकाणां तु पितृतो भागकल्पना (kalpanā) (anekapitṛkāṇāṃ tu pitṛto bhāgakalpanā) Yaj. ii.120, M. ix.116; 2. performing; 3. forming, arranging; 4. decorating, ornamenting; 5. fabrication; 6. composition; 7. invention; 8. forgery; 9. a fancy, an idea, an image formed in the mind, Sant.S. ii.8; 10. contrivance; 11. Arthāpatti q.v. (in Mīmānsa phil.); 12. imagination, e.g. कल्पना (kalpanā) या अपोढः (kalpanāyā apoḍhaḥ). [ ID=8662 ]

### Cutting and Cutting Tools (2 definitions)
- cutting or working with edge tools  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > cutting, clipping, working with edge-tools, VarBṛS. [ ID=46178 ]
- a pair of scissors or shears  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2B) [Printed book page 263,1] कल्पनी (kalpanī) f. a pair of scissors or shears, L. [ ID=46189 ]

### Ornamentation and Decoration (2 definitions)
- anything put on for ornament  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > anything put on for ornament, Mahābhārata (Title) xiii, 2784 [ ID=46180 ]
- caparisoning an elephant  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > caparisoning an elephant, Daś. [ ID=46186 ]

### Form, Shape, or Image (1 definition)
- form, shape, image  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > form, shape, image [ ID=46187 ]

### Practice or Custom (1 definition)
- practice  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > practice, Car. [ ID=46182 ]

### Proper Name (Mythological Figure) (1 definition)
- a mindborn mother  
  *The Purana Index*
  > कल्पना (kalpanā) [Printed book page 1-336 ] Kalpanā — a mindborn mother. M. 179. 25. [ ID=2674 ]

### Religious Ceremony (1 definition)
- Name of a religious ceremony  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > N. of a religious ceremony [ ID=46179 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899); The Purana Index; Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

The Sanskrit Lexicon app for iPhone, iPad and Mac: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sanskrit-lexicon-dictionary/id6746787546