káraṇa m. a helper, companion, [AV. vi, 46, 2]; [xv, 5, 1]-[6]; [xix, 57, 3]
a man of a mixed class (the son of an outcast Kṣatriya, [Mn. x, 22]; or the son of a Śūdra woman by a Vaiśya, [Yājñ. i, 92]; or the son of a Vaiśya woman by a Kṣatriya, [MBh. i, 2446]; [4521]; the occupation of this class is writing, accounts &c.)
writer, scribe, [W.]
káraṇa m. (in Gr.) a sound or word as an independent part of speech (or as separated from the context; in this sense usually n.), [Kāś.] on [Pāṇ. iii, 1, 41]; [Pat.] Comm. on [RPrāt.]
káraṇa m. (in mus.) a kind of time, [Kum. vi, 40]
káraṇa n. the act of making, doing, producing, effecting, [ŚBr.]; [MBh.] &c. (very often ifc., e.g. muṣṭi-k°, virūpa-k°)
an act, deed, [RV.]
an action (esp. a religious one), [Yājñ. i, 250]; [R.]
the special business of any tribe or caste, [L.]
a calculation (esp. an astronomical one), [VarBṛS.]
an astrological division of the day (these Karaṇas are eleven, viz. vava, valava, kaulava, taitila, gara, vaṇija, viṣṭi, śakuni, catuṣpada, kintughna, and nāga, two being equal to a lunar day; the first seven are called a-dhruvāṇi or movable, and fill, eight times repeated, the space from the second half of the first day in the moon's increase to the first half of the fourteenth day in its wane; the four others are dhruvāṇi or fixed, and occupy the four half-days from the second half of the fourteenth day in the wane of the moon to the first half of the first day in its increase), [VarBṛS.]; [Suśr.] &c.
pronunciation, articulation, [APrāt.]
(in Gr.) a sound or word as an independent part of speech, separated from its context, [Pāṇ.], [Kāś.] &c., ( may be used in this way like kāra, e.g. iti-karaṇa, [ŚāṅkhŚr.])
the posture of an ascetic
a posture in sexual intercourse
instrument, means of action, [ŚvetUp.]; [Yājñ.]; [Megh.]
an organ of sense or of speech, [VPrāt.]; [PārGṛ.]
(in law) an instrument, document, bond, [Mn. viii, 51]; [52]; [154]
(in Gr.) the means or instrument by which an action is effected, the idea expressed by the instrumental case, instrumentality, [Pāṇ. i, 4, 42]; [ii, 3, 18]; [iii, 2, 45]
cause (= kāraṇa)
a spell, charm, [Kathās.] (cf. karaṇa-prayoga)
rhythm, time, [Kum.]
body, [Megh.]; [Kum.]; [Kād.]
N. of a treatise of Varāha-mihira on the motion of the planets