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. .)
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.
vara—ruci mfn. taking pleasure in boons (N. of Śiva), [Śivag.]
vara—ruci m. N. of a grammarian (also a poet, lexicographer, and writer on medicine, sometimes identified with Kātyāyana, the reputed author of the Vārttikas or supplementary rules of Pāṇini; he is placed by some among the nine gems of the court of Vikramāditya, and by others among the ornaments of the court of Bhoja; he was the author of the Prākṛt grammar called Prākṛta-prakāśa, and is said to be the first grammarian who reduced the various dialects of Prākṛt to a system), [Pañcat.]; [Kathās.] &c.
vara—da—rāja m. (also with ācārya, colapaṇḍita, bhaṭṭa, bhaṭṭāraka) N. of various authors and other persons, [Cat.] (-campū f. -daṇḍaka m., -pañcāśat f. -maṅgala n., -mahiṣī-stotra n. -mūla n. -śataka n. -su-prabhāta m., -stava m. -stotra n.; °jāṣṭaka n. °jāṣṭottara-śata n. N. of works.; °jīya mfn. coming from or relating to or composed by Varada-rāja; n. N. of wk.)