várā (ā), f. N. of various plants and vegetable products (accord. to [L.] ‘the three kinds of myrobalan’; Clypea Hernandifolia; Asparagus Racemosus; Cocculus Cordifolius; turmeric; Embelia Ribes; a root similar to ginger; = brāhrnī and reṇukā), [Suśr.]
cl. 10. P. vardhayati (also vardhāpayati; cf. below), to cut, divide, shear, cut off, [Dhātup. xxxii, 111]; to fill, [ib.] (in this sense rather Caus. of √ vṛdh).
vára m. (fr. √ vṛ), ‘environing’, ‘enclosing’, circumference, space, room, [RV.]; [AV.]; [TS.] (vára ā́ pṛthivyā́ḥ, on the wide earth)
stopping, checking, [RV. i, 143, 5.]
vará mf(A)n. (fr. √ vṛ) choosing (see patiṃ-varā, svayaṃ-varā)
vará m. ‘chooser’, one who solicits a girl in marriage, suitor, lover, bridegroom, husband (rarely ‘son-in-law’), [RV.] &c. &c.
a bridegroom's friend, [MW.]
a dissolute man (= vita or ṣiḍga), [L.]
vára (vára), mf(A)n. ‘select’, choicest, valuable, precious, best, most excellent or eminent among (gen. loc. abl., or comp.) or for (gen.), [ŚrS.]; [MBh.] &c.
(ifc.) royal, princely, [Jātakam.]
better, preferable, better than (abl., rarely gen.) or among (abl.), [Mn.]; [MBh.] &c.
eldest, [W.]
vára m. (rarely n.; ifc. f(A). ) ‘act or object of choosing’, election, wish, request
vára m. boon, gift, reward, benefit, blessing, favour (várāya, váram ā́, práti váram or váraṃ varam, ‘according to wish, to one's heart's content’; mad-varāt, ‘in consequence of the boon granted by me’; váraṃ-√ vṛ, ‘to choose a boon’; varaṃ-√ yāc or ā-√ kāṅkṣ or √ brū or Caus. of pra-√ arth, ‘to prefer a request’; váraṃ√ dā, ‘to grant a boon or blessing’; varam pra-√ dā or pra-√ yam id.; varaṃ-√ labh, ‘to receive a boon or reward’), [RV.] &c. &c.
a benefit, advantage, privilege, [Daś.]
charity, alms, [VarBṛS.]
a dowry, [Pañcat.]
a kind of grain (= varata), [KātyŚr.], Sch.
bdellium, [L.]
a sparrow, [L.]
N. of a son of Śvaphalka, [VP.]
vára n. saffron, [BhP.] (In comp. not always separable from 1. .)
barh or (cf. √ bṛh, vṛh) cl. 1. Ā. barhate (only [Dhātup. xvi, 39]), to speak; to hurt; to give or cover (dāna v.l. chādana); cl. 10. P. [xxxiii, 96] to speak; to shine.
(accord. to [Sāy.]) N. of a man, [RV. viii, 23, 28]; [24, 28]; [25, 2] (only in varo, which is always followed by suṣāmṇe, and should be a voc., but accord. to others, ought to form the one word varosuṣāman a proper N.)
colour = race, species, kind, sort, character, nature, quality, property (applied to persons and things), [RV.] &c. &c.
class of men, tribe, order, caste (prob. from contrast of colour between the dark aboriginal tribes and their fair conquerors; in [RV.] esp. applied to the Āryas and the Dāsas; but more properly applicable to the four principal classes described in Manu's code, viz. Brāhmans, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Śūdras; the more modern word for ‘caste’ being jāti; cf. [IW. 210 n. 1]), [ib.]
a letter, sound, vowel, syllable, word, [Br.]; [Prāt.] &c.
a musical sound or note (also applied to the voice of animals), [MBh.]; [R.]; [Pañcat.]
váram (am), ind. (g. svar-ādi) preferably, rather, better (also = preferable, sometimes with abl. which in Veda is often followed by ā, e.g. agníbhyo váram, ‘better than fires’, [RV.]; sákhibhya ā́ váram, ‘better than companions’, [ib.]; exceptionally with acc., e.g. śiṣyaiḥ śata-hutān homān, ekaḥ putra-huto varam, ‘better one sacrifice offered by a son than a hundred offered by disciples’, [ṢaḍvBr.]), [RV.] &c. &c.
váram ind. it is better that, it would be best if (with pres., e.g. varaṃ gacchāmi, ‘it is better that I go’; or with Impv., e.g. varaṃ naye sthāpyatām, ‘it would be better if he were initiated into our plan’, [Kathās.]; or without any verb, e.g. varaṃ siṃhāt, ‘better [death caused] by a lion’, [Pañcat.]; sometimes with Pot., e.g. varaṃ tat kuryāt, ‘better that he should do that’, [Kām.]), [Kāv.]; [Kathās.] &c.
it is better than, rather than (in these senses is followed by na, na ca, na tu, na punaḥ, tad api na or tathāpi na, with nom., e.g. varaṃ mṛtyur nacākīrtiḥ, ‘better death than [lit. ‘and not’] infamy’; exceptionally with instr., e.g. varam eko guṇī putro na ca mūrkha-śatair api, ‘better one virtuous son than hundreds of fools’, [Hit.]; na hi-varam, ‘by no mean — but rather’), [Mn.]; [MBh.] &c.
várga m. (accented only in [Nigh.]) (fr. √ vṛj) one who excludes or removes or averts, [KauṣUp.]
(ifc. f(A). ) a separate division, class, set, multitude of similar things (animate or inanimate), group, company, family, party, side (mostly ifc., e.g. catur-, tri-v°, q.v.; often pl. for sg.), [KātyŚr.]; [Prāt.] &c.
(esp.) any series or group of words classified together (as manuṣya-vanas-pati-v° &c.), or a class or series of consonants in the alphabet (seven such classes being given, viz. ka-varga, ‘the class of Guttural letters’ ca-kāra-v°, or ca-v°, ‘the Palatals’ ; ṭa-v° ‘the Cerebrals’; ta-v° ‘the Dentals’; pa-v° ‘the Labials’; ya-v° ‘the Semivowels’; śa-v° ‘the Sibilants’, and the aspirate h cf. varga-dvitīya and -prathama), [Prāt.]; [VarBṛS.]; [Vop.]
everything comprehended under any department or head, everything included under a category, province or sphere of [VarBṛS.]
= tri-varga (q.v.), [BhP.]
a section, chapter, division of a book, (esp.) a subdivision of an Adhyāya in the Ṛg-veda (which accord. to the mere mechanical division, contains 8 Āṣṭakas or 64 Adhyāyas or 2006 Vargas; cf. maṇḍala) and a similar subdivision in the Bṛhad-devatā
(in alg.) the square of a number, [Col.] (e.g. pañca-v°, square of five, cf. bhinna-v°)
pl. (exceptionally sg.) the rains, rainy season, monsoon (lasting two months accord. to the Hindū division of the year into six seasons [see ṛtu], the rains falling in some places during Śrāvaṇa and Bhādra, and in others during Bhādra and Āśvina, and in others for a longer period), [TS.] &c. &c.
varṣá mf(A)n. (fr. √ vṛṣ) raining (ifc., e.g. kāma-v°, raining according to one's wish), [BhP.]
varṣá m. and (older) n. (ifc. f(A). ) rain, raining, a shower (either ‘of rain’, or fig. ‘of flowers, arrows, dust &c.’; also applied to seminal effusion), [RV.] &c. &c.
(pl.) the rains, [AV.] (cf. varṣā f.)
a cloud, [L.]
a year (commonly applied to age), [Br.] &c. &c. (ā varṣāt, for a whole year; varṣāt, after a year; varṣeṇa within a year; varṣe every year)
a day (?), [R. vii, 73, 5] (Sch.)
a division of the earth as separated off by certain mountain ranges (9 such divisions are enumerated, viz. Kuru, Hiraṇmaya, Ramyaka, Ilāvṛta, Hari; Ketu-mālā, Bhadrāśva, Kiṃnara, and Bhārata; sometimes the number given is 7), [MBh.]; [Pur.] (cf. [IW. 420])
várcas n. (√ ruc) vital power, vigour, energy, activity, (esp.) the illuminating power of fire or the sun i.e. brilliance, lustre, light, [RV.] &c. &c.