Samayā
Samaya (Sanskrit: समय, romanized: Samayā, lit. 'Time')[1] or Samayam (Sanskrit: समयम्, romanized: Samayaṃ)[2] is a Sanskrit term referring to the "appointed or proper time, [the] right moment for doing anything."[3] In Indian languages, samayam, or samay in Indo-Aryan languages, is a unit of time.
Meaning[edit]
In contemporary usage, samayam means time in Dravidian languages such as Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil,[4] and samay in Indo-Aryan languages such as Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati.
Jainism[edit]
Meaning[edit]
Samaya represents the most infinitesimal part of time that cannot be divided further.[5] The blink of an eye, or about a quarter of a second, has innumerable samaya in it. For all practical purposes a second happens to be the finest measurement of time. Jainism, however, recognizes a very small measurement of time known as samaya, which is an infinitely small part of a second.
Measurements[edit]
The following are measures of time as adopted by Jainism:
- indivisible time = 1 samaya
- innumerable samaya = 1 avalika
- 16,777,216 avalika = 1 muhurta
- 30 muhurtas = 1 day and night
- 15 days and nights = 1 paksha (fortnight)
- 2 pakshas = 1 month
- 12 months = 1 year
- innumerable years = 1 palyopam
- 10 million million palyopams = 1 sāgaropam
- 10 million million sāgaropams = l utsarpiṇī or 1 avasarpiṇī
- 1 utsarpiṇī + avasarpiṇī = 1 kālchakra (one time cycle)
Example[edit]
When an Arihant reaches the stage of moksha (liberation), the soul travels to the Siddhashila (highest realm in universe) in one samaya.
Hinduism[edit]
Samayam is the basic unit of time in Hindu mythology. It is stated to be an epithet of Shiva in the Agni Purana.[6]
Other uses[edit]
The samayachakra is the great chariot wheel of time which turns relentlessly forward.
Samayam is a term used in Indian classical music to loosely categorize ragas into times of day. Each raga has a specific period of the day (praharam) when it is performed.
In Gandharva-Veda the day is divided into three-hour-long intervals: 4–7 a.m., 7–10 a.m., etc. The time concept in Gandharva-Veda is more strictly adhered to than it would be, for example, in Carnatic music.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ www.wisdomlib.org (2014-08-03). "Samaya, Samayā, Samāya, Shamaya: 30 definitions". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
- ^ Bodhi (2017-09-26). The Suttanipata: An Ancient Collection of the Buddha's Discourses Together with Its Commentaries. Simon and Schuster. p. 1531. ISBN 978-1-61429-454-2.
- ^ Monier-Williams, Sir Monier; Leumann, Ernst; Cappeller, Carl (1999). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymological and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages. Asian Educational Services. p. 1164. ISBN 978-81-206-0369-1.
- ^ Andronov, Mikhail Sergeevich (2003). A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 258. ISBN 978-3-447-04455-4.
- ^ Jain, Vijay K. (2018). Ācārya Kundakunda's Pravacanasāra – Essence of the Doctrine आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित "प्रवचनसार". Vikalp Printers. p. 180. ISBN 978-81-932726-1-9.
- ^ Books, Kausiki (2021-07-12). Agni Purana 1 : English Translation only. Kausiki Books. p. 460.