n. cause, reason, the cause of anything (gen., also often loc.), [KātyŚr.]; [MBh.]; [Mn.] &c.
instrument, means
motive origin, principle
a cause (in phil. i.e. that which is invariably antecedent to some product, cf. samavāyi-k°, asamavāyi-k°, nimitta-k°)
an element, elementary matter, [Yājñ. iii, 148]; [Bhag. xviii, 13]
the origin or plot of a play or poem, [Sāh.]
that on which an opinion or judgement is founded (a sign, mark; a proof; a legal instrument, document), [Mn.]; [MBh.] &c.
an organ of sense, [Ragh. xvi, 22] &c.
an action, [MBh. xii, 12070]
agency, instrumentality, condition, [Kathās. cxii, 178]
‘the cause of being’, a father, [W.]
‘cause of creation’, a deity, [W.]
the body, [L.]
a kind of musical instrument, [L.]
a sort of song, [L.]
a number of scribes or Kāyasthas, [W.]
n. killing, injury, [L.]