# श्येन (śyena)

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

श्येन (śyena) is a Sanskrit word meaning a hawk, falcon, eagle, or any bird of prey, firewood laid in the shape of an eagle, a kind of battle array, a particular part of the sacrificial victim, a particular Ekaha, a horse. Its 27 recorded definitions are grouped into 9 contexts, among them Bird of Prey (Hawk, Falcon, Eagle), Female Hawk / Mythological Mother Śyenī, Proper Names (Persons, Sāman).

- **SLP1:** `Syena`  **IAST:** śyena  **Devanagari:** श्येन
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shyena_%28Hinduism%29
- **Declensions:** 48 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/shyena/declensions.md
- **Other headwords romanised the same way:** श्येना (śyenā)

## Meanings by context

### Bird of Prey (Hawk, Falcon, Eagle) (10 definitions)
- a hawk, falcon, eagle, or any bird of prey  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2) [Printed book page 1095,2] श्येन (śyena) m. a hawk, falcon, eagle, any bird of prey ( esp. the eagle that brings down Soma to man), Ṛg-veda (Title) &c. &c. [ ID=222256 ]
- 1. An eagle, falcon, or hawk. 2. A kind of ritual. 3. A kind of battle array. 4. Eagle-like.  
  *Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 319-3 ] श्येन (śyena) śyená, m. eagle ( that brings down Soma to man; V. ); falcon, hawk; kind of ekāha ( S. ); kind of battle-array ( C. ); a. eagle-like ( breast; Br., S. ): -jīvin, m. falconer; ( á ) -patvan, a. flying with eagles ( car; RV.¹ ); -avapātam, ad. swooping down like an eagle or hawk. [ ID=18233 ]
- 1. A hawk or falcon. 2. White. 3. Whiteness or paleness. 4. Violence. 5. The female hawk. 6. A species of the Trishtubh metre.  
  *Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 861 ] श्येन (śyena) m. ( - नः (-naḥ) ) 1 A hawk, a falcon. 2 White, (the colour.) 3 Whiteness, paleness. 4 Violence, desperation. f. ( - नी (-nī) ) 1 The female hawk. 2 A species of the Triṣṭubh metre. E. श्यै (śyai) to go, इञ् (iñ) Uṇādi aff. [ ID=39087 ]
- 1. A hawk or falcon. 2. Whiteness or violence.  
  *Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 780-a ] श्येन (śyena) ( नः ) ((naḥ)) 1. m. A hawk, a falcon; whiteness, violence f. ( - ई (-ī) ) A female hawk; a kind of metre. [ ID=38744 ]
- 1. A hawk or falcon. 2. White color or paleness. 3. Violence or desperation. 4. A female hawk. 5. A species of the Trishtubh metre.  
  *Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 732-a ] श्येन (śyena) m. ( - नः (-naḥ) ) 1. A hawk, a falcon. 2. White, (the colour.) 3. Whiteness, paleness. 4. Violence, desperation. f. ( - नी (-nī) ) 1. The female hawk. 2. A species of the Trishṭubh-metre. E. श्यै (śyai) to go, इनन् (inan) Unādi aff. [ ID=40976 ]
- 1. An eagle, falcon, or hawk. 2. A form of military array. 3. The mythical mother of eagles.  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 558 ] श्येन (śyena) m. eagle, falcon, hawk; a form of military array, N. of a man; f. श्येन (śyena) ी (śyenī) the mythol. mother of eagles etc. [ ID=33246 ]
- eagle, falcon, or hawk  
  *Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 260-b ] śyená, m. eagle; falcon; hawk. [ cf. ἰ-κτῖνο-ς, ‘kite.’] [ ID=4272 ]
- hawks  
  *Index to the Names in the Mahabharata*
  > *Śyena, pl. ( °āḥ ) (“hawks”). § 126 (Aṃśāvat.): I, 66, 2621 (the offspring of Śyenī). [ ID=2905 ]
- eagles  
  *The Purana Index*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 3-473 ] Śyenas — eagles, born of Syenī; 1 of the Tāmara line. 2 [ Footnote: 1) M. 6. 31.] [ Footnote: 2) Vi. I. 21. 16.] [ ID=14849 ]
- An eagle, falcon, or hawk.  
  *The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 2-401 ] Śyena is the name in the Rigveda 1 of a strong bird of prey, most probably the ‘eagle’; later 2 (as in post-Vedic Sanskrit) it seems to mean the ‘falcon’ or ‘hawk.’ It is the swiftest of birds, 3 and a source of terror to smaller birds. 4 It is the strongest of birds, 5 and even attacks herds. 6 It watches over men ( nṛ-cakṣas ), 7 a reference, no doubt, to its lofty flight in air. It brings the Soma from heaven. 8 [ Footnote: 1) i. 32, 14; 33, 2; 118, 11; 163, 1; 165, 2, etc.] [ Footnote: 2) Av. iii. 3, 4; vii. 41, 2; xi. 9, 9, etc.] [ Footnote: 3) Taittirīya Saṃhitā, ii. 4, 7, 1; v. 4, 11, 1; Ṣaḍviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, iii. 8.] [ Footnote: 4) Rv. ii. 42, 2; Av. v. 21, 6.] [ Footnote: 5) Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xxxvii. 14.] [ Footnote: 6) Rv. iv. 38, 5. This corresponds well enough with the eagle's known habit of carrying off young lambs.] [ Footnote: 7) Av. vii. 41, 2.] [ Footnote: 8) See Bloomfield, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 16, 1-24, who cites all relevant passages. Cf. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 87, 88, who points out that the epithet ṛjipya, ‘flying upwards,’ applied to the eagle, appears as an actual name of the eagle in Iranian.] [ ID=3369 ]

### Female Hawk / Mythological Mother Śyenī (3 definitions)
- a female hawk  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2B) [Printed book page 1095,2] श्येना (śyenā) ( आ (ā) ), f. a female hawk, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=222264 ]
- a female hawk  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > श्येनी (śyenī) b ( ई (ī) ), f. a female hawk, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=222265 ]
- The daughter of Kashyapa and mother of hawks.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > N. of a daughter of Kaśyapa (regarded as the mother of hawks), Mahābhārata (Title); Harivaṃśa (Title); Purāṇas (Literary category) [ ID=222266 ]

### Proper Names (Persons, Sāman) (3 definitions)
- Name of a Rishi  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > N. of a Ṛṣi (having the patr. Āgneya and author of Ṛg-veda (Title) x, 188 ), Anukramaṇikās (Literary category) [ ID=222262 ]
- An epithet of a Saman.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (with or without इन्द्रश्य (indraśya) ) N. of a Sāman, Ārṣeya-brāhmaṇa (Title); Lāṭyāyana (Author) [ ID=222263 ]
- a rishi in the palace of Indra  
  *Index to the Names in the Mahabharata*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 223-2 ] Śyena, a ṛṣi. § 266 (Śakrasabhāv.): II, 7, 293 (in the palace of Indra). [ ID=2904 ]

### Ritual, Sacrifice, and Sacred Objects (3 definitions)
- firewood laid in the shape of an eagle  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > firewood laid in the shape of an eagle, Śulba-sūtra (Literary category) [ ID=222257 ]
- a particular part of the sacrificial victim  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a partic. part of the sacrificial victim, Kauśika-sūtra (Title) [ ID=222259 ]
- a particular Ekaha  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a partic. Ekāha, Ṣaḍviṃśa-brāhmaṇa (Title); Kātyāyana-śrauta-sūtra (Title) [ ID=222260 ]

### The Colour White / Whiteness (3 definitions)
- 1. The white color. 2. A hawk or falcon. 3. Violence.  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 730-28 ] श्येन (śyena) m. 1. The white colour; 2. a hawk, a falcon; 3. violence. [ ID=38463 ]
- 1. White. 2. A hawk.  
  *Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 0967-a ] श्येन (śyena) śyena (akin to the last), I. m. 1. White (the colour). 2. A hawk, Pañc. 188, 15. II. f. nī. A female hawk. [ ID=14967 ]
- 1. Whiteness or paleness. 2. A hawk, falcon, or bird of prey. 3. Violence. 4. A horse. 5. A specific sacrificial ceremony or imprecatory rite.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872)*
  > श्येन (śyena) [Printed book page 1023-c ] Śyena, as, m. white (the colour); whiteness, paleness; a hawk, falcon, bird of prey; ‘hawk-like conduct,’ violence; a horse (Ved.); a particular sacri- ficial ceremony or imprecatory rite; N. of a Vedic Ṛṣi (author of the hymn Ṛg-veda X. 188); ( ī ), f. white, (see above under śyeta ); a female hawk; N. of a daughter of Kaśyapa (regarded as the mother of hawks); a woman (described as resembling a lily-leaf); a species of the Tṛṣṭubh metre. —Śyena- kapotīya, am, n. the story of the hawk and pigeon; [cf. śivi. ] —Śyena-karaṇa, am, n. or śyena-karaṇikā, f. acting like a hawk (i. e. rashly or desperately); burning on a separate funeral pile. —Śyena-ghaṇṭā, f. a kind of plant (= dantī). —Śyena-cit, t, m. a hawk-feeder, hawk-keeper, falconer; a receptacle shaped like a hawk (for sacri- ficial fire &c.) —Śyena-jit, t, m. a proper N. —Śyenajid-ākhyāna, am, n., N. of an episode in the Mahā-bhārata. —Śyena-jīvin, ī, m. one who lives by selling or training hawks, a falconer. —Śye- na-patvan, ā, arī, a, Ved. going like a hawk or going as fast as a horse. —Śyenopadeśa (°na-up°), as, m. recommendation or injunction to women to burn on a separate funeral pile. [ ID=47323 ]

### Eagle-like/Hawk-like Quality or Origin (2 definitions)
- eagle-like  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2B) [Printed book page 1095,2] श्येन (śyena) mfn. eagle-like, Aitareya-brāhmaṇa (Title) [ ID=222268 ]
- coming from an eagle  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > coming from an eagle (as ‘eagle's flesh’), Über die Kṛishṇajanmāshṭamī (Kṛishṇa’s Geburtsfest), 1867, by Albrecht Weber (English translation: 1874) [Cologne Addition] (Title) ( prob. w.r. for श्यैन (śyaina) ). [ ID=222269 ]

### Military Formation (Battle Array) (1 definition)
- a kind of battle array  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a kind of array (in battle), Mahābhārata (Title); Kāmandakīya-nītisāra (Title) [ ID=222258 ]

### Poetic Metre (1 definition)
- a kind of metre  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a kind of metre, Piṅgala Scholiast, i.e. Halāyudha (Author) [ ID=222267 ]

### The Animal: Horse (1 definition)
- a horse  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a horse, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=222261 ]

## Sources

Definitions from 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, University of Cologne.

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