m. layer, stratum, [KātyŚr.]; [Kauś.]
constituent part, ingredient (esp. [and in [RV.] only] ifc., where often = ‘fold’ e.g. tri-dhā́tu, threefold &c.; cf. triviṣṭi-, sapta-, su-), [RV.]; [TS.]; [ŚBr.] &c.
element, primitive matter (= mahā-bhūta, [L.]), [MBh.]; [Hariv.] &c. (usually reckoned as 5, viz. kha or ākāśa, anila, tejas, jala, bhū; to which is added brahma, [Yājñ. iii, 145]; or vijñāna, [Buddh.])
a constituent element or essential ingredient of the body (distinct from the 5 mentioned above and conceived either as 3 humours [called also doṣa] phlegm, wind and bile, [BhP.] [cf. purīṣa, māṃsa, manas, [ChUp. vi, 5, 1]]; or as the 5 organs of sense, indriyāṇi [cf. s.v. and [MBh. xii, 6842], where śrotra, ghrāṇa, āsya, hṛdaya and koṣṭha are mentioned as the 5 dh° of the human body born from the either] and the 5 properties of the elements perceived by them, gandha, rasa, rūpa, sparśa and śabda, [L.]; or the 7 fluids or secretions, chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, semen, [Suśr.] [[L.] rasādi or rasa-raktādi, of which sometimes 10 are given, the above 7 and hair, skin, sinews, [BhP.]])
primary element of the earth i.e. metal, mineral, ore (esp. a mineral of a red colour), [Mn.]; [MBh.] &c. element of words i.e. grammatical or verbal root or stem, [Nir.]; [Prāt.]; [MBh.] &c. (with the southern Buddhists means either the 6 elements [see above] [Dharmas. xxv]; or the 18 elementary spheres [dhātu-loka] [ib.] [lviii]; or the ashes of the body, relics, [L.] [cf. -garbha]).
a cause, [Sukh. i].
dhā́tu mfn. (√ dhe) to be sucked in or drunk (havis), [RV. v, 44, 3]
dhā́tu f. = dhenu, milch cow, [Lāṭy. vii, 5, 9.]
n. (with rauhiṇa) N. of a Sāman, [ĀrṣBr.]