1. Making perfect, perfecting, completing, finishing, polishing, refining, perfection, refinement, education, accomplishment
2. Forming in the mind, conception, idea, notion
3. Impression, form, mould, impression on the mind or memory
4. The power of memory, faculty of recollection, self-reproductive quality, instinct
5. Operation, influence
6. Preparation, making ready, cooking, dressing, compounding
7. Decoration, embellishment, ornament, elegance
8. Making sacred, hallowing, consecration, dedication
9. Making pure, purification, purity
10. A sanctifying or purificatory rite or essential ceremony
11. Funeral obsequies
12. A polishing stone
संस्कार (saṃskāra) [Printed book page 1041-b] Saṃs-kāra, as, m. forming well or thoroughly,
making perfect, perfecting, completing, finishing,
polishing, refining, perfection, refinement, education,
accomplishment; forming in the mind, conception,
idea, notion; impression, form, mould; impression
on the mind or memory; the power of memory,
faculty of recollection, self-reproductive quality (one
of the twenty-four qualities enumerated in the Vai-
śeṣika branch of the Nyāya phil.); any faculty,
capacity, instinct; operation, influence; preparation,
making ready, preparation of food, &c., cooking,
dressing, compounding; decoration, embellishment,
ornament, elegance; making sacred, hallowing, con-
secration, dedication; consecration of a king, &c.
making pure, purification, purity; a sanctifying or
purificatory rite or essential ceremony (enjoined on
all the first three or twice-born classes; the following
are the twelve purificatory rites given in Manu II. 27,
but of these ten only are enjoined according to some
authorities, the tenth and eleventh being omitted:
1.
garbhādhāna, ‘embryo-reception,’ on the first
sigh of conception, sometimes on a woman's attain-
ing maturity: 2.
puṃ-savana, ‘male-production,’
on the first signs of vitality in the embryo: 3.
sī- mantonnayana, ‘parting the hair’ of a pregnant
woman in the fourth, sixth, or eighth month of her
first pregnancy: 4.
jāta-karman, ‘birth-ceremony,’
i. e. giving the infant butter out of a golden spoon
before cutting the navel-string: 5.
nāma-karman or
nāma-karaṇa, ‘naming-rite’ on the tenth or
twelfth day after birth: 6.
niṣkramaṇa, ‘taking
out’ the child when three months old to see the sun
or, according to some, to look at the moon: 7.
an- na-prāśana, ‘feeding with boiled rice’ in the sixth
month after birth: 8.
cūḍā-karman or
cūḍā-ka- raṇa, ‘tonsure-rite,’ i. e. shaving the head all but
the
cūḍā or one lock in the first or third year after
birth: 9.
upa-naya or
upa-nayana, ‘investiture’
with the sacrificial thread, see
upa-naya; this is
the most important of all the Saṃskāras: 10.
ke- śānta, ‘cutting off the hair:’ 11.
sam-āvartana, ‘returning,’ a rite performed on the student's return
home after completing his studies: 12.
vivāha, Page1041-c+ 79 ‘marriage:’ other Saṃskāras are mentioned as peculiar
to various parts of India, e. g.
an-avalobhana, per-
formed by a pregnant woman to prevent disappointment
or miscarriage;
Viṣṇu-bali, an offering to Viṣṇu
on the seventh month of pregnancy;
svargārohaṇa, sūrya-vilokana, karṇa-vedha, q. q. v. v.); any
rite or ceremony; funeral obsequies; a polishing
stone.
—Saṃskāra-ja, as, ā, am, produced by
purificatory rites.
—Saṃskāra-tattva, am, n., N. of
part of Raghu-nandana's Smṛti-tattva.
—Saṃskāra- pūta, as, ā, am, rendered pure by sacred rites,
purified by refinement.
—Saṃskāra-bhāskara, as, m., N. of a work on the Saṃskāras by Saṅkara.
—Saṃskāra-rahita or
saṃskāra-varjita = saṃskā- ra-hīna below.
—Saṃskāra-vat, ān, atī, at, possess-
ing refinement, cultivated.
—Saṃskāravat-tva, am, n. the being possessed of refinement.
—Saṃskāra- vidhi, is, m. the rules of Saṃskāra, the law concern-
ing purificatory rites.
—Saṃskāra-hīna, as, ā, am, destitute of purificatory rites; (
as), m. a man of
one of the three classes who has not been invested
with the sacred thread or received the other purifica-
tory ceremonies (in consequence of which neglect he
becomes a Vrātya or outcast).
—Saṃskārādhikārin (°ra-adh°), ī, iṇī, i, one who has a right to receive
or observe all the purificatory ceremonies.
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