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Sanskrit

Alternative spellings

• कोष (koṣa) (in Classical period)

Etymology

Probably from verbal root √kuś (“‘to embrace, enfold’”), related to कुक्षि (kukṣí), “‘belly, interior’”) and कोष्ठ (koṣṭha), “‘viscera of the body’”).

Noun

कोश (kóśa) m. and n.

1. a cask, vessel for holding liquids, (metaphorically) cloud
   • RV 3.32.15

   आपूर्णो अस्य कलशः सवाहा सेक्तेव कोशं सिसिचे पिबध्यै |

   समु परिया आवव्र्त्रन मदाय परदक्षिणिदभि सोमासैन्द्रम ||

   āpūrṇo asya kalaśaḥ svāhā sekteva kośaṃ sisice pibadhyai |

   samu priyā āvavṛtran madāya pradakṣiṇidabhi somāsaindram||

   Full is his chalice: Glory! Like a pourer I have filled up the vessel for his drinking.

   Presented on the right, dear Soma juices have brought us Indra, to rejoice him, hither.

2. a pail, bucket
   • RV 9.76.5

   वर्षेव यूथा परि कोशमर्षस्यपामुपस्थे वर्षभः कनिक्रदत |

   स इन्द्राय पवसे मत्सरिन्तमो यथा जेषाम समिथे तवोतयः ||

   vṛṣeva yūthā pari kośamarṣasyapāmupasthe vṛṣabhaḥ kanikradat |

   sa indrāya pavase matsarintamo yathā jeṣāma samithe tvotayaḥ ||

   Like as a bull to herds, thou flowest to the pail, bellowing as a steer upon the water's lap.

   So, best of Cheerers, thou for Indra flowest on that we, with thy protection, may o’ercome in fight.

3. a drinking-vessel, cup
4. a box, cupboard, drawer, trunk
   • RV 6.47.22

   परस्तोक इन नु राधसस्त इन्द्र दश कोशयीर्दश वाजिनो.अदात |

   दिवोदासादतिथिग्वस्य राधः शाम्बरं वसु परत्यग्रभीष्म ||

   prastoka in nu rādhasasta indra daśa kośayīrdaśa vājino.adāt |

   divodāsādatithighvasya rādhaḥ śāmbaraṃ vasu pratyaghrabhīṣma ||

   Out of thy bounty, Indra, hath Prastoka bestowed ten coffers and ten mettled horses.

   We have received in turn from Divodāsa Śambara's wealth, the gift of Atithigva.

5. the interior or inner part of a carriage
6. a sheath, scabbard
7. a case, covering, cover
8. store-room, store, provisions
9. a treasury, apartment where money or plate is kept, treasure, accumulated wealth (gold or silver, wrought or unwrought, as plate, jewellery, etc.)
10. (medicine) a kind of bandage
11. a dictionary, lexicon or vocabulary - a kosha
12. a poetical collection, collection of sentences
13. a bud, flower-cup, seed-vessel

    बीजकोश (bīja-kośa) — seed-vessel

14. the sheath or integument of a plant, pod, nut-shell
15. a nutmeg
16. the inner part of the fruit of Artocarpus integrifolia and of similar fruits
17. the cocoon of a silk-worm
18. the membrane covering an egg (in the womb)
19. the vulva
20. a testicle or the scrotum
21. the penis
22. an egg
23. (in Vedânta philosophy) kosha: a term for the three sheaths or succession of cases which make up the various frames of the body enveloping the soul
24. (at the end of a compound) a ball or globe

    सूत्रकोश (sūtra-kośa) — a ball of thread

    नेत्रकोश (netra-kośa) — the eye-ball

25. the water used at an ordeal or judicial trial (the defendant drinks thrice of it after some idol has been washed in it)
26. an oath
27. a cup used in the ratification of a treaty of peace

    कोशंपिबति (kośaṃ-√pā) — to drink from that cup

28. name of a particular conjunction of planets
29. name of the 2nd astrological mansion
30. (Buddhism) name of a collection of Gāthā verses

Declension

Compounds

Descendants

• English: kosha

References

• Sir Monier Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English dictionary etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1898, page 0314
• Arthur A. Macdonell, A practical Sanskrit dictionary with transliteration, accentuation, and etymological analysis throughout, London: Oxford University Press, 1893, page 075
• Horace Hayman Wilson, A dictionary in Sanscrit and English, 2nd ed., Calcutta: Education Press, Circular Road, 1832, page 252
• Carl Capeller, A Sanskrit-English dictionary, based upon the St. Petersburg lexicons, London: Luzac & Co., 1891, page 134