dhárma m. (rarely n. g. ardharcādi; the older form of the [RV.] is dhárman, q.v.) that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, ordinance, law
usage, practice, customary observance or prescribed conduct, duty
right, justice (often as a synonym of punishment)
virtue, morality, religion, religious merit, good works (dhármeṇa ind. or °māt ind. according to right or rule, rightly, justly, according to the nature of anything; cf. below; °mesthita mfn. holding to the law, doing one's duty), [AV.] &c. &c.
Law or Justice personified (as Indra, [ŚBr.] &c.; as Yama, [MBh.]; as born from the right breast of Yama and father of Śama, Kāma and Harṣa, [ib.]; as Viṣṇu, [Hariv.]; as Prajā-pati and son-in-law of Dakṣa, [Hariv.]; [Mn.] &c.; as one of the attendants of the Sun, [L.]; as a Bull, [Mn. viii, 16]; as a Dove, [Kathās. vii, 89], &c.)
the law or doctrine of Buddhism (as distinguished from the saṅgha or monastic order, [MWB. 70])
the ethical precepts of Buddhism (or the principal called sūtra, as distinguished from the abhi-dharma or ‘further dharma’ and from the vinaya or ‘discipline’, these three constituting the canon of Southern Buddhism, [MWB. 61])
the law of Northern Buddhism (in 9 canonical scriptures, viz. Prajñā-pāramitā, Gaṇḍa-vyūha, Daśa-bhūmīśvara, Samādhirāja, Laṅkāvatāra, Saddharma-puṇḍarīka, Tathā-gata-guhyaka, Lalita-vistara, Suvarṇa-prabhāsa,[ib.] [69])
nature, character, peculiar condition or essential quality, property, mark, peculiarity (= sva-bhāva, [L.]; cf. daśa-dh°arma-gata, [ŚBr.] &c. &c.; upamānopameyayor dh°, the tertium comparationis, [Pāṇ. ii, 1, 55], Sch.)
a partic. ceremony, [MBh. xiv, 2623]
sacrifice, [L.]
the ninth mansion, [Var.]
an Upaniṣad, [L.]
associating with the virtuous, [L.]
religious abstraction, devotion, [L.]
= upamā, [L.] (cf. above)
a bow, [Dharmaś.]
a thing, [Sukh. i]
a Soma-drinker, [L.]
N. of the 15th Arhat of the present Ava-sarpiṇī, [L.]
of a son of Anu and father of Ghṛta, [Hariv.]
of a son of Gāndhāra and father of Dhṛta, [Pur.]
of a son of Haihaya and father of Netra, [BhP.]
of a son of Pṛthu-śravas and of Uśanas, [ib.]
of a son of Su-vrata, [VP.] (cf. dharma-sūtra)
of a son of Dīrgha-tapas, [VāyuP.]
of a king of Kaśmīra, [Rāj. iv, 678]
of another man, [ib.] [vii, 85]
of a lexicographer &c. (also -paṇḍita, -bhaṭṭa and -śāstrin), [Cat.]
[cf. Lat. firmus, Lith. dermė́.]
Nom. P. °mati, to become, law, [Vop.]
dhárma in comp. for °man, q.v.
See p. 510, col. 3.