मार

Etymology

From मारना (mārnā, “to kill”).

Noun

मार • (mār) f

1. killing.
2. a beating, fight.

   Synonyms: मारपीट (mārpīṭ), लड़ाई (laṛāī)

3. target; shot, strike, goal.

   Synonym: निशाना (niśānā)

4. loss, grief.

   Synonym: दुःख (duḥkh)

Alternative forms

Noun

मार m

1. killer
2. one who frustrates other's benefaction

Adjective

मार • (māra)

1. (√ मृ) killing, destroying.

Noun

मार • (māra) m

1. death, pestilence.
2. slaying, killing (compare पशु-म्°).
3. an obstacle, hindrance.
4. the passion of love, god of love.
5. (Buddhism) the Destroyer, Evil One (who tempts men to indulge their passions and is the great enemy of the बुद्ध and his religion; four मारs are enumerated in Dharmas. 80, viz. स्कन्ध-, क्लेश-, देवपुत्र-, and मृत्यु-म्°; but the later Buddhist theory of races of gods led to the figment of millions of मारs ruled over by a chief मार).
6. the thorn-apple L.
7. pestilence (also personified as the goddess of death and identified with दुर्गा).

Descendants

• Chinese: 魔羅
  • Japanese: 魔羅
• Indonesian: mara (“calamity”)
• Khmer: មារ (miə)
• Thai: มาร (maan, “demon”)

References

• Monier William's Sanskrit-English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1899.