# श्वेतकेतु (śvetaketu)

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

श्वेतकेतु (śvetaketu) is a Sanskrit word meaning a comet, a Jaina saint, an epithet of Auddalaki, of Aruneya, a son of Senajit, an epithet of Gautama Buddha as a Bodhisattva. Its 15 recorded definitions are grouped into 5 contexts, among them The Vedic Sage Śvetaketu, son of Uddālaka/Āruṇi, Śvetaketu in Jaina/Buddhist Traditions, Other Distinct Individuals Named Śvetaketu.

- **SLP1:** `Svetaketu`  **IAST:** śvetaketu  **Devanagari:** श्वेतकेतु
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Avetaketu
- **Declensions:** 72 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/shvetaketu/declensions.md

## Meanings by context

### The Vedic Sage Śvetaketu, son of Uddālaka/Āruṇi (5 definitions)
- An epithet of Auddalaki  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > N. of Auddālaki, Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa (Title) [ ID=224578.2 ]
- of Aruneya  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > of Āruṇeya, in the same place [Cologne Addition] (Title) &c. [ ID=224578.3 ]
- A sage, son of Uddalaka, who established the rule of marital fidelity.  
  *Index to the Names in the Mahabharata*
  > श्वेतकेतु (śvetaketu) [Printed book page 223-1 ] Śvetaketu 1, a muni, son of Uddālaka. § 59 (Sarpasattra): I, 53 α, 2047 (among the sadasyas at the snake sacrifice of Janamejaya).—§ 187 b (Pāṇḍu): The muni Ś., son of Uddālaka, established the present usage among men that the sin of violating matrimonial chastity is regarded like to that of killing an embryo; this Ś. established from anger, as one day, in the presence of his father, a brahman came and seized his mother by the hand and took her away; Uddālaka, however, excused the fact as it was the practice sanctioned by antiquity: I, 122, 4724, 4725, 4726, 4728, 4730, 4735 ( Uddālakasya putreṇa ).—§ 266 (Śakrasabhāv.): II, 7, 294 (in the palace of Indra).—§ 412 (Aṣṭāvakrīya): III, 132, †10597 Page223-b+ 63 ( Auddālakiḥ ), †10598, †10599 ( Auddālakiḥ ), †10609, †10614, †10615, †10617 ( Ś. was of the same age as Aṣṭāvakra, the son of Uddālaka's daughter, who regarded Ś. as his brother; Ś. informed Aṣṭāvakra that Uddālaka was not his father, then they both repaired to the sacrifice of Janaka).—§ 635 (Rājadharm.): XII, 34, 1229 (Uddālaka caused his son Ś. to be begotten by a disciple).—§ 640 (do.): XII, 57, 2056 (Uddālaka cast off Ś. because he deceived brahmans).—§ 775 (Ānuśāsanik.): XIII, 166 ζ, 7671 ( Auddālakiḥ, among the ṛṣis of the north) [ ID=2890 ]
- a Madhyamadhvaryu  
  *The Purana Index*
  > श्वेतकेतु (śvetaketu) [Printed book page 3-495 ] Śvetaketu (I) — a Madhyamādhvaryu. Br. II. 33. 16. [ ID=15034 ]
- A Vedic sage and teacher, son of Uddalaka, frequently mentioned in the Brahmanas and Upanishads as a disputant and authority on ritual.  
  *The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects*
  > श्वेतकेतु (śvetaketu) [Printed book page 2-409 ] Śveta-ketu Aruṇeya 1 (‘descendant of Aruṇa ’) or Auddālaki 2 (‘son of Uddālaka ’) is mentioned repeatedly in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. In the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad 3 he appears as Śvetaketu, son of Āruṇi, and as a Gautama. In the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa 4 he is quoted as an authority on the vexed question of the duty of the Sadasya, or the seventeenth priest, at the ritual of the Kauṣītakins, to notify errors in the sacrifice; Āruṇi, his father, is also cited. He was a person of some originality, for he insisted on eating honey despite the general prohibition of the use of that delicacy by Brahmacārins or religious students. 5 He was a contemporary of, and was instructed by the Pañcāla king Pravāhaṇa Jaivala. 6 He was also a contemporary of Janaka, of Videha, and figured among the Brahmin disputants at his court. 7 A story is told of him in the Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra: 8 Jala Jātūkarṇya was lucky enough to become the Purohita of three peoples or kings, of Kāśi, Kosala, and Videha. Seeing this, Śvetaketu felt annoyed and reproached his father with his excessive devotion to sacrifice, which merely enriched and glorified others, not himself. His father replied, forbidding him to speak thus: he had learned the true method of sacrificing, and his ambition in life had been to discuss it with every Brahmin. All the references to Śvetaketu belong to the latest period of Vedic literature. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Āpa- stamba Dharma Sūtra 9 should refer to him as an Avara, or Page2-410+ 47 person of later days, who still became a Ṛṣi by special merit. His date, however, must not be fixed too low, because the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa in which he plays so marked a part is certainly earlier than Pāṇini, and was apparently even in that grammarian's time believed to be an ancient work: hence 500 B.C. is probably rather too late than too early a period for Śvetaketu as a rough approximation to a date. 10 [ Footnote: 1) Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 2, 7, 12; 5, 4, 18; 6, 2, 1; xii. 2, 1, 9; Bṛhad- āraṇyaka Upaniṣad, iii. 7, 1; vi. 1, 1 (Mādhyaṃdina = vi. 2, 1 Kāṇva); Chān- dogya Upaniṣad, v. 3, 1; vi. 1, 1; 8, 1.] [ Footnote: 2) Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, iii. 4, 3, 13; iv. 2, 5, 14.] [ Footnote: 3) i. 1.] [ Footnote: 4) xxvi. 4.] [ Footnote: 5) Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 5, 4, 18.] [ Footnote: 6) Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, vi. 1, 1 (Mādhyaṃdina = vi. 2, 1 Kāṇva); Chān- dogya Upaniṣad, v. 3, 1.] [ Footnote: 7) Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 6, 2, 1 (it is to be noted that he came upon Janaka when travelling about with some other Brahmins: he was never settled in the Videha country, but was clearly a Kuru-Pañcāla, like his father); Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, iii. 7, 1, where he shares the usual fate of defeat in argument by Yājñavalkya.] [ Footnote: 8) xvi. 27, 6 et seq. The exact sense of kṛtsnake brahmabandhau vyajijñāsiṣi is not quite certain. But Āruṇi seems to assert the love of knowledge, not of material advantages accruing to the Purohita, to have been his concern in life.] [ Footnote: 9) i. 2, 5, 4-6.] [ Footnote: 10) See on this, Bühler, Sacred Books of the East, 2, xxxvii et seq.; Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, 12, xxxv et seq.; Max Müller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 360 et seq.; Weber, Indische Studien, 5, 65; 13, 443; Keith, Aitareya Āraṇyaka, 22 et seq. Cf. Muir, Sanskrit Texts, 1^2, 433; Max Müller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 421 et seq.; Oldenberg, Buddha, 397, n.] [ ID=3407 ]

### Śvetaketu in Jaina/Buddhist Traditions (5 definitions)
- a Jaina saint  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a Jaina saint, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=224578.1 ]
- an epithet of Gautama Buddha as a Bodhisattva  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > of Gautama Buddha as a Bodhi-sattva, Lalita-vistara (Title) [ ID=224578.5 ]
- A Buddhist or Jaina saint.  
  *Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्वेत (śveta) केतु (ketu) (śvetaketu) [Printed book page 868 ] श्वेत (śveta) केतु (ketu) (śvetaketu) m. ( - तुः (-tuḥ) ) A Bauddha or Jaina saint. E. श्वेत (śveta) white, and केतु (ketu) a banner. [ ID=39399 ]
- A Buddhist  
  *Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्वेतकेतु (śvetaketu) [Printed book page 787-b ] श्वेत - केतु (śveta-ketu) ( तुः ) ((tuḥ)) 2. m. A Bauddha. [ ID=39061 ]
- A Buddhist or Jaina saint.  
  *Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्वेत (śveta) केतु (ketu) (śvetaketu) [Printed book page 738-b ] श्वेत (śveta) केतु (ketu) (śvetaketu) m. ( - तुः (-tuḥ) ) A Bauddha or Jaina saint. E. श्वेत (śveta) white, केतु (ketu) a banner. [ ID=41310 ]

### Other Distinct Individuals Named Śvetaketu (3 definitions)
- a son of Senajit  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > of a son of Sena-jit, Harivaṃśa (Title) [ ID=224578.4 ]
- Śvetaki  
  *Index to the Names in the Mahabharata*
  > [Printed book page 223-2 ] Śvetaketu 2 = Śvetaki: I, 223, v. 69 (the śloka is wanting in C.). [ ID=2891 ]
- a son of Langali and an avatar of the Lord  
  *The Purana Index*
  > Śvetaketu (II) — a son of Lāngali, an avatār of the Lord. Vā. 23. 200. [ ID=15035 ]

### A Man's Name (General) (1 definition)
- a man's name  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्वेतकेतु (śvetaketu) [Printed book page 565 ] श्वेतकेतु (śvetaketu) m. a man's name. [ ID=33585 ]

### Śvetaketu as a Comet (1 definition)
- a comet  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H3) [Printed book page 1106,3] श्वेत (śveta) — केतु (—ketu) ( श्वेत (śveta)- (śveta-) ), m. N. of a comet (also called Uddālaka-śvetá), Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā (Title) [ ID=224578 ]

## Sources

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

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