मुनिmuni

मुनि (muni) is a Sanskrit word meaning impulse or eagerness, an inspired or ecstatic person or enthusiast, a saint, sage, or ascetic, a Brahman of the highest order, a son of Kuru, of a son of Dyuti-mat. Its 41 recorded definitions are grouped into 11 contexts, among them Sage, Ascetic, Holy Person (General), Mythological/Genealogical Male Figures Named Muni, Mythological Female Figure Named Muni / Female Saint.

Root: मन् (man)
Etymology: E. मन् to be revered, Unādi aff. इन्, and उ substituted for the radical vowel
Definitions: 41

View Declension Tables , 72 forms

Meanings by context

Sage, Ascetic, Holy Person (General)

12 definitions

a saint, sage, or ascetic

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

1. An inspired or ecstatic man. 2. A sage, seer, ascetic, or hermit, especially one who has taken a vow of silence. 3. Conscience. 4. The seven sages or stars of the Great Bear. 5. The mango tree, Artemisia indica, Butea frondosa, Buchanania latifolia, and Agati grandiflora.

— Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1. A holy sage, pious and learned person, or inspired writer. 2. An ascetic or devotee. 3. A Jaina deified teacher. 4. The saint Agastya. 5. The palasha tree. 6. Another tree, Buchanania latifolia.

— Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary

A holy sage

— Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1. A sage, holy man, or recluse. 2. The mango tree. 3. An epithet of Agastya. 4. An epithet of Buddha. 5. The number seven.

— Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1. A holy sage, pious and learned person, or inspired author. 2. An ascetic or devotee. 3. A Jaina deified teacher or Arhat. 4. The saint Agastya. 5. The Palasha tree. 6. The Buchanania latifolia tree.

— Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1. A holy sage or ascetic. 2. A particular saint such as Agastya or Vyasa. 3. The name of two plants. Feminine: A female saint.

— Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1. An inspired saint, seer, ascetic, or monk. 2. The seven stars of the Great Bear in the plural.

— Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1. Pressure or impetus. 2. A person in religious ecstasy. 3. A distinguished sage, ascetic, or hermit.

— Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary

1. An inspired saint, holy man, sage, seer, ascetic, devotee, or monk. 2. A recluse who lives alone and has taken the vow of silence. 3. The internal monitor or conscience. 4. Various plants, including Agati grandiflora, the mango tree, and others. 5. The seven stars of Ursa Major.

मुनि (muni) [Printed book page 0785-a]
मुनि (muni) muni, is, m. (said to be fr. rt. man,

to think or perceive, Uṇādi-s. IV. 122; perhaps

connected with μόνος, alone, whence the Eng. monk

is said to be derived; cf. also μία fr. εἷς), impulse

(Ved. ?); an inspired saint, holy man endowed with

divine inspiration or one who has attained more or

less of a divine nature by mortification and abstraction;

a sage, seer, ascetic, devotee, monk; (especially) a

recluse who lives alone and has taken the vow of

silence [cf. mauna]; epithet of Agastya; of Vyāsa;

of Pāṇini, &c. [cf. muni-traya]; of a Buddha or

Arhat [cf. śākya-muni]; of a son of Kuru; of a

son of Dyuti-mat, &c. the internal monitor or

conscience, (according to Kullūka on Manu VIII. 91

= paramātman, the Supreme Spirit); N. of various

plants, Agati Grandiflora (= agasti, agastya); Bu-

chanania Latifolia; Butea Frondosa; Terminalia

Catappa; the mango tree; Artemisia Indica; (ayas),

m. pl. ‘the celestial Munis, the seven Munis,’ an

epithet of the seven stars of Ursa Major; a symbo-

lical expression for the number seven; (is or munī),

f. a female Muni; (is), f., N. of a daughter of

Dakṣa and wife of Kaśyapa, mother of a class of

Gandharvas and Apsarasas, (see mauneya.) —Muni-

keśa, as, ā or ī, am, Ved. ‘monk-haired,’ wearing

long hair like a Muni. —Muni-kharjūrikā, f. a

species of date. —Muni-cita, see Gaṇa Sutaṅgamādi

to Pāṇ. IV. 2, 80. —Muni-cchada, as, m. ‘seven-

leaved,’ N. of a plant (= sapta-cchada). —Muni-

jñāna-jyanta, as, m., N. of a scribe. —Muni-

taru, us, m. Agati Grandiflora. —Muni-tā, f. or

muni-tva, am, n. the state or character of a

Muni, saintship, monkhood. —Muni-traya, am,

n. ‘the Muni-triad,’ i. e. Pāṇini, Kātyāyana, and

Patañjali. —Muni-deśa, as, m., N. of a place.

—Muni-druma, as, m. ‘the sage Agastya's tree,’

Agati Grandiflora; Calosanthes Indica. —Muni-nir-

mita, as, m. a species of plant (= ḍiṇḍiśa). —Muni-

padī, f., see Gaṇa Kumbhapadyādi to Pāṇ. V. 4,

139. —Muni-paramaparā, f., Ved. a tradition

handed down from one Muni to another in regular

succession. —Muni-pittala, am, n. copper. —Muni-

puṅgava, as, m. an eminent sage. —Muni-putra,

as, m. Artemisia Indica. —Muni-putraka, as, m.

a wagtail. —Muni-puṣpaka, am, n. the blossom

of Agati Grandiflora. —Muni-pūga, as, m. Areca

Triandra. —Muni-bheṣaja, am, n. ‘sage's medi-

cine,’ fasting; the fruit of the yellow Myrobalan;

Agati Grandiflora; Terminalia Chebula or Citrina.

—Muni-maraṇa, am, n., N. of a district. —Muni-

vana, am, n. a hermit's grove, a wood inhabited by

ascetics. —Muni-vara, as, m. an excellent Muni,

best of ascetics or holy sages. —Muni-vākya, am,

n. the saying or sentence of a holy sage. —Muni-

vīrya, as, m., N. of a divine being reckoned

among the Viśve Devāḥ. —Muni-vrata, as, ā, am,

observing the vow of a Muni, i. e. keeping perpetual

silence. —Muni-śreṣṭha, as, m. an excellent sage,

eminent saint. —Muni-sattra, am, n., Ved., N. of

an Iṣṭi, q. v. —Muni-suvrata, as, m., N. of the

twelfth Arhat of the past Ut-sarpiṇī; of the twen-

tieth of the present Ava-sarpiṇī, (also called simply

Muni.) —Muni-sthala, see Gaṇa Kumudādi to

Pāṇ. IV. 2, 80. —Muni-sthāna, am, n. an abode

of ascetics, the hermitage of a recluse or holy sage.

—Muni-hata, as, m. an epithet of king Puṣpa-

mitra. —Munīndra (°ni-in°), as, m. ‘chief of sages

or ascetics,’ a great sage or ascetic; epithet of a

Buddha; of Śākya-muni; of Bharata; of Śiva; of

a Dānava. —Munīndra-tā, f. the rank of a great

Muni. —Munī-vatī, f., see Gaṇa Śarādi to Pāṇ.

VI. 3, 120. —Munī-vaha, see Scholiast on Pāṇ. VI.

3, 121. —Munīśa (°ni-īśa), as, m. ‘chief of sages

or ascetics,’ a great sage or ascetic. —Munīśvara

(°ni-īś°), as, m. ‘chief of sages or ascetics,’ a great

sage or ascetic; an epithet of Viṣṇu; of Buddha;

N. of a commentator on the Siddhānta-Śiromaṇi.
Page0785-b+ 69

—Muny-anna, āni, n. pl. the food of ascetics

(consisting mostly of roots and fruits). —Muny-

ayana, am, n., N. of an Iṣṭi, q. v. —Muny-

ālaya-tīrtha, am, n., N. of a Tīrtha. [ID=37619]

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872)

sages who delight in the self, renounce even the region of Brahma, and realize the supreme spirit by overcoming the three states of non-duality of thought, action, and substance

— The Purana Index

an ascetic possessing magic powers or one who learns the nature of the absolute through study, penance, or faith

मुनि (muni) [Printed book page 2-167]
Muni occurs in one hymn of the Rigveda¹ where it seems to

denote an ascetic of magic powers with divine afflatus (deveṣita),

the precursor of the strange ascetics of later India. This

agrees with the fact that Aitaśa, the Muni, is in the Aitareya

Brāhmaṇa² regarded by his son as deranged, a view not

unjustified if the nonsense which passes as the Aitaśapralāpa.³

‘Chatter of Aitaśa,’ was really his. The Rigveda⁴ calls Indra

the ‘friend of Munis,’ and the Atharvaveda⁵ refers to a ‘divine

Muni’ (deva muni), by whom a similar ascetic may be meant.

In the Upaniṣads⁶ the Muni is of a more restrained type:

he is one who learns the nature of the Brahman, the Absolute,

by study, or sacrifice, or penance, or fasting, or faith (śraddhā).

It must not of course be thought that there is any absolute

distinction between the older Muni and the later: in both

cases the man is in a peculiar ecstatic condition, but the ideal

of the Upaniṣads is less material than the earlier picture of the

Muni, who is more of a ‘medicine man’ than a sage. Nor

would it be wise to conclude from the comparative rareness
Page2-168+ 39

of the mention of the Muni in the Vedic texts that he was

an infrequent figure in Vedic times: he was probably not

approved by the priests who followed the ritual, and whose

views were essentially different from the ideals of a Muni,

which were superior to earthly considerations, such as the

desire for children and Dakṣiṇās.⁷
[Footnote: 1) x. 136, 2. 4. 5. In verse I he is

described as ‘long-haired.’]

[Footnote: 2) vi. 33, 3.]

[Footnote: 3) See Bloomfield, Atharvaveda, 98

et seq.]

[Footnote: 4) viii. 17, 14. Cf. vii. 56, 8; Max

Müller, Sacred Books of the East, 32, 376.]

[Footnote: 5) vii. 74, 1. Cf. Whitney, Translation

of the Atharvaveda, 440; Śatapatha

Brāhmaṇa, ix. 5, 2, 15, and Muni-

maraṇa.]

[Footnote: 6) Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, iii. 4, 1;

iv. 4, 25; Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, ii. 20.]

[Footnote: 7) Cf. Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad,

iii. 4, 1.

Cf. Oldenberg, Religion des Veda, 406;

Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen

Gesellschaft, 49, 480; Buddha,^5 36.]
[ID=2496]

— The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects

Mythological/Genealogical Male Figures Named Muni

8 definitions

A son of Kuru

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

of a son of Dyuti-mat

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

of other men

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

son of Ahar

— Index to the Names in the Mahabharata

son of Kuru

— Index to the Names in the Mahabharata

a son of Dyutiman

— The Purana Index

a son of Vaidya

— The Purana Index

a son of Pradyumna and father of Urjavaha

— The Purana Index

Mythological Female Figure Named Muni / Female Saint

5 definitions

a female sage or ascetic

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

A daughter of Daksha and wife of Kashyapa, who was the mother of a class of Gandharvas and Apsaras.

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

mother of the Devagandharvas Mauneyas

— Index to the Names in the Mahabharata

1. A daughter of Daksha and wife of Kashyapa, who was a mother goddess and the mother of sages, Apsaras, and Gandharvas. 2. Given to Gandhashila.

— The Purana Index

One of the wives of Kashyapa, who gave birth to the Apsarasas.

— The Purana Index

Specific Renowned Sages and Authors

5 definitions

pertaining to Vyasa

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

of Bharata

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

of Agastya

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

three times

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

of various authors

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

Specific Deities Named Muni

4 definitions

an epithet of Shiva

— Index to the Names in the Mahabharata

a god of the Prasuta group

— The Purana Index

one of the twenty Amitabha gods

— The Purana Index

1. A sage of the Raivata epoch. 2. A Vishvedeva.

— The Purana Index

Specific Religious/Spiritual Roles

2 definitions

a Brahman of the highest order

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

of a Buddha or Arhat

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

Abstract Concept: Impulse/Eagerness

1 definition

impulse or eagerness

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

Celestial Group / Ursa Major / Number Seven

1 definition

The seven stars of Ursa Major

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

Geographical Name (Varṣa)

1 definition

Name of a region or division of the earth

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

Inspired/Ecstatic Person (Vedic Context)

1 definition

an inspired or ecstatic person or enthusiast

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

Names of Plants

1 definition

various plants, including the mango tree

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

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Definitions on this page come from 13 works: Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary, Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872), Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary, The Purana Index, The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon.