vratá n. (ifc. f(A). ; fr. √ 2. vṛ) will, command, law, ordinance, rule, [RV.]
obedience, service, [ib.]; [AV.]; [ĀśvGṛ.]
dominion, realm, [RV.]
sphere of action, function, mode or manner of life (e.g. śuci-vr°, ‘pure manner of life’, [Śak.]), conduct, manner, usage, custom, [RV.] &c. &c.
a religious vow or practice, any pious observance, meritorious act of devotion or austerity, solemn vow, rule, holy practice (as fasting, continence &c.; vratáṃ-√ car, ‘to observe a vow’, esp. ‘to practise chastity’), [ib.]
any vow or firm purpose, resolve to (dat. loc., or comp.; vratāt or vrata-vaśāt, ‘in consequence of a vow’; cf. asi-dhārā-vrata and āsidhāraṃ vratam), [MBh.]; [Kāv.] &c.
the practice of always eating the same food (cf. madhu-vr°), [L.]
the feeding only on milk (as a fast or observance according to rule; also the milk itself), [VS.]; [Br.]; [KātyŚr.]
any food (in a-yācita-vr°, q.v.)
= mahā-vrata (i.e. a partic. Stotra, and the day for it), [Br.]; [ŚrS.];
(with gen. or ifc.) N. of Sāmans, [ĀrṣBr.] ([L.] also ‘month’; season; year; fire; ‘= Viṣṇu’; ‘N. of one of the seven islands of Antara-dvīpa’)
vráta m. (of unknown meaning), [AV. v, 1, 7]; [ĀpŚr. xiii, 16, 8]
N. of a son of Manu and Naḍvalā, [BhP.]
(pl.) N. of a country belonging to Prācya, [L.]
vratá mfn. = veda-vrata, one who has taken the vow of learning the Veda, [Gṛhyās. ii, 3] (Sch.)