शक्ति f. or
शक्ति॑f. power, ability, strength, might, effort, energy, capability (
शक्त्या or
आत्म-श्° or
स्व-श्°, ‘according to ability’;
परं शक्त्या, ‘with all one's might’;
वित्त-शक्त्या, ‘according to the capability of one's property’;
शक्तिम् अ-हापयित्वा, ‘not relaxing one's efforts, exerting all one's strength’), faculty, skill, capacity for, power over (
gen. loc. dat. , or
inf. ),
[RV.] &c. &c.
effectiveness or efficacy (of a remedy),
[ŚārṅgS.] प्रभुत्व regal power (consisting of three parts, , personal pre-eminence;
मन्त्र, good counsel, and
उत्साह, energy),
[Kām.] (
cf. [Ragh. iii, 13] )
असित the energy or active power of a deity personified as his wife and worshipped by the
शाक्त (
q.v. ) sect of
Hindūs under various names (sometimes only three, sometimes eight
शक्ति goddesses are enumerated, as follow,
इन्द्राणी,
वैष्णवी,
शान्ता,
ब्रह्माणी,
कौमारी,
नारसिंही,
वाराही, and
माहेश्वरी, but some substitute
चामुण्डा and
चण्डिका for the third and sixth of these: according to another reckoning there are nine,
viz. वैष्णवी,
ब्रह्माणी,
रौद्री,
माहेश्वरी,
नारसिंही,
वाराही,
इन्द्राणी,
कार्त्तिकी, and
प्रधाना: others reckon fifty different forms of the
शक्ति of
विष्णु besides
लक्ष्मी, some of these are
कीर्त्ति,
कान्ति,
तुष्टि,
पुष्टा,
धृति,
शान्ति,
क्रिया,
दया,
मेधा &c.; and fifty forms of the
शक्ति of
शिव or
रुद्र besides
दुर्गा or
गौरी, some of whom are
गुणोदरी,
विरजा,
शाल्मली,
लोलाक्षी,
वर्तुलाक्षी,
दीर्घ-घोणा,
सुदीर्घ-मुखी,
गो-मुखी,
दीर्घ-जिह्वा,
कुण्डोदरी,
अर्ध-केशी,
विकृत-मुखी,
ज्वाला-मुखी,
उल्कामुखी &c.;
सरस्वती is also named as a
शक्ति, both of
विष्णु and
रुद्र: according to the
वायु-पुराण the female nature of
रुद्र became twofold, one half or white, and the other
सित or black, each of these again becoming manifold, those of the white or mild nature included
लक्ष्मी,
सरस्वती,
गौरी,
उमा &c.; those of the dark and fierce nature,
दुर्गा,
काली &c.),
[Kāv.] ;
[Kathās.] ;
[Pur.] (
cf. [RTL. 181 &c.] ;
[MWB. 216] )
the female organ (as worshipped by the
शाक्त sect either actually or symbolically),
[RTL. 140] पदस्य पदार्थे the power or signification of a word (defined in the
न्याय as
सम्बन्धःi.e. ‘the relation of a word to the thing designated’),
[Bhāṣāp.] ;
[Sāh.] कारक (in
Gram. ) case-power, the idea conveyed by a case (= ),
[Pāṇ. 2-3, 7] Sch. the power or force or most effective word of a sacred text or magic formula,
[Up.] ;
[Pañcar.] the creative power or imagination (of a poet),
[Kāvyâd.] help, aid, assistance, gift, bestowal,
[RV.] शक्ती a spear, lance, pike, dart,
[RV.] &c. (also
g. बह्व्-आदि)
a sword,
[MW.] रथ-श्° (
prob. ) a flag-staff (See )
a
partic. configuration of stars and planets (when the latter are situated in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th astrological house),
[VarBṛS.] शक्ति m. m.N. of a
मुनि or sage (the eldest of
वसिष्ठ's hundred sons;
accord. to
[VP.] he was father of
पराशर, and was devoured by king
कल्माष-पाद, when changed to a man-eating
राक्षस, in consequence of a curse pronounced upon him by the sage; he is represented as having overcome
विश्वामित्र at the sacrifice of king
सौदास; he is regarded as the author of
[RV. vii, 32, 26; ix, 97, 19-21; 108, 3; 14-16] ;
शक्ति is also identified with one of the
व्यासs, and with
अवलोकितेश्वर, and has elsewhere the
patr. जातूकर्ण and
सांकृति),
[Pravar.] ;
[MBh. &c.]