Dictionary

ahimsa en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /əˈhɪmsɑː/
• (US) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit अहिंसा (ahiṃsā).

Meanings

1. (Hinduism, Jainism, uncountable) A doctrine of non-violence, concerned with the sacredness of all living things and an effort to avoid causing harm to them.
   • This, in essence, is the Jain doctrine of ahimsa – a direct inversion of Vedic beliefs about the sustaining powers of animal sacrifice. 2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, published 2017, page 9:
   • Already, at this very early date, the ritualists were moving towards the ideal of ahimsa ("harmlessness") that would become the indispensable virtue of the Indian Axial Age. 2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books, published 2007, page 79:

Forms

Deriveds

ahimsa silk

Translations (13)

pt ahimsa (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · ms ahimsa (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · fi ahimsa (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · cmn 不殺生 /不杀生 (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · th อหิงสา (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · ko 비살생 (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · ta அகிம்சை (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · mr अहिंसा (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · te అహింస (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · id ahimsa (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · sv ahimsa (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · lo ອະຫິງສາ (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) · ja 不殺生 (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism)