vamachara
vamachara noun: a path to bliss through practices, including meat-eating, breaking social taboos and indulging in sex and intoxicants, that are sometimes considered immoral.
Noun (1)
vamachara (countable and uncountable, plural vamacharas)
- A path to bliss through practices, including meat-eating, breaking social taboos and indulging in sex and intoxicants, that are sometimes considered immoral.
- The other vamachara does indeed exist here with all its objectionable practices, in the name of the worship of innumerable petty female deities such as Mariyamman.1977, Saiva Siddhanta, volume 12, page 65
- Within the tantric tradiion itself there is a long-standing debate about the propriety of such acts, and whereas the vamachara practice uses these elements in their actual forms, in the dakshinachara ("right-hand") practice other items are substituted for the forbidden ones.2002, Vamachara, entry in James G. Lochtefeld, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z, page 736
- Any such path, set of practices or individual practice.
- Side by side with popular saivism, which was being guided by tantras, including those of vamacharas, from a fairly earl[y] period[…].1981, Ca. Vē Cuppiramaṇiyan̲, S. V. Subramanian, Na Kaṭikācalam, editors, Literary Heritage of the Tamils, page 367
- […]he strongly reproves the yogic ideal of rejection of household life, indulgence in mortification of the body and the vamacharas for the realisation of so-called Mahasukha.1994, H. Kumar Kaul, Aspects of yoga, page 201
- Synonyms:
- vamamarga
Noun (2) capitalized: Vamachara
Vamachara (plural Vamacharas)
- Alternative form of vamachara.
- The Dravidians, mild inhabitants of India, worshipped Pitrus (forefathers) and other iconographic representations of deity, emphasizing the hierophantic side of worshipping idols, which included Vamacharas, left-hand practices of the Shakti cult, etc.1970, Curran De Bruler, Nataraja Guru, Unitive Understanding, page 58
- "The initiated Bhatta (Kashmiri Brahmin) bent upon taking liquor, being addicted to Vamachara by which the pride of his own clan has been set at naught, with a plate of fish in his hand, approaches the house of his teacher[…]."1975, K. N. Dhar, Glimpses of Kashmiri Culture, volume 3, page 67
- A follower of the vamachara path.
- The Dakshinacharas emphasised the male principle while the Vamacharas paid more attention to the female principle. But, both exalted sex to a religious principle.1967, K. Damodaran, Indian Thought: A Critical Survey, page 235
- Above all, in the medley of Aryans, Mongols and aborigines, which it created, it unconsciously led the way to some of the hideous Vamacharas.1993, Venkateswarier Subramaniam, Buddhist-Hindu Interactions: From Śakyamuni to Śankarācarya, page 73
Synonyms of vamachara
- vamamarga
Forms of vamachara
| plural | vamacharas |
|---|---|
| alternative form | vāmācāra |
| alternative form | vāmāchāra |
| alternative form | Vamachara |
| plural | Vamacharas |
Origin of vamachara
From Sanskrit वामाचार (vāmācāra, “left (-hand) path; left-handed attainment”).
Questions about vamachara
- What does vamachara mean?
- Vamachara means a path to bliss through practices, including meat-eating, breaking social taboos and indulging in sex and intoxicants, that are sometimes considered immoral.
- What part of speech is vamachara?
- Vamachara is a noun.
- What is the plural of vamachara?
- The plural of vamachara is vamacharas.
Words near vamachara in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: vamachara (page history and authors); Vamachara (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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