vy-āsa m. severing, separation, division, [Sarvad.]
a kind of drawl (as a fault in pronunciation), [APrāt.]
extension, diffusion, prolixity, detailed account (instr.; abl. and -tas ind. in detail, at length, fully), [MBh.]; [Suśr.]; [BhP.]
width, breadth, the diameter of a circle, [Śulbas.]; [VarBṛS.]
‘distributing, disjoining’, N. of the Pada-pāṭha or ‘disjoined text’, [APrāt.]
‘arranger, compiler’, N. of a celebrated mythical sage and author (often called Veda-vyāsa and regarded as the original compiler and arranger of the Vedas, Vedānta-sūtras &c.; he was the son of the sage Parāśara and Satyavatī, and half-brother of Vicitra-vīrya and Bhīṣma; he was also called Vādarāyaṇa or Bādarāyaṇa, and Kṛṣṇa from his dark complexion, and Dvaipāyana because he was brought forth by Satyavatī on a Dvīpa or island in the Jumnā; when grown up he retired to the wilderness to lead the life of a hermit, but at his mother's request returned to become the husband of Vicitra-vīrya's two childless widows, by whom he was the father of the blind Dhṛtarāṣṭra and of Pāṇḍu; he was also the father of Vidura [q.v.] by a slave girl, and of Śuka, the supposed narrator of the Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, he was also the supposed compiler of the Mahā-bhārata, the Purāṇas, and other portions of Hindū sacred literature; but the name Vyāsa seems to have been given to any great typical compiler or author), [MBh.]; [Hariv.]; [Pur.] cf. [IW. 371 n. 2]; [373] &c.
a Brāhman who recites or expounds the Purāṇas &c. in public (= pāṭhaka-brāhmaṇa), [MW.]
vy-āsa n. a bow weighing 100 Palas, [L.]
vy-āsa &c. See p. 1035, col. 2.