As a deity name
Name 33 of the Durga Sahasranāma — Kula Arnava Tantra / Skanda Purana, as taught by Lord Shiva to Goddess Parvati
Name 133 of the Lakshmi Sahasranāma — Skanda Purana / Sanat Kumara Samhita, as taught by Sages Sanatkumara and Devotees
As a Hindi name
प्रथा · noun · feminine
रीति । रिवाज । प्रणाली । नियम · ख्याति । प्रसिदि्ध — Śabdasāgara
प्रथा · prathā · s.f.
Fame, celebrity, notoriety; immemorial custom — Platts (1884), digital edition courtesy DSAL, University of Chicago, p. 242
प्रथा · feminine
custom; practice
Cited formation "प्रथा" is प्र- + था: था means "Was, (irreg. past tense masc. sing. of the verb honā, 'to be'", and the prefix प्र- forms excess, very, forward. CHD Basic Grammar App. I §3(14) — cited from the extracted rule table — base gloss: Platts (1884), digital edition courtesy DSAL, University of Chicago
a Hindi word, a tatsama: the Sanskrit word borrowed unchanged into Hindi प्रथा — per Wiktionary’s etymology record
“Borrowed from Sanskrit प्रथा (prathā).” — per Wiktionary’s etymology record
prathā f. spreading out, extending, flattening, scattering, Nyāyam.; KātyŚr., Sch.
fame, celebrity, Śiś.; Kathās.; Rājat. (˚thāṃ-√ gam or gā, to become famous or celebrated, Rājat.; ˚thāpaha mfn. destroying fame, ib.)
As a Sanskrit word
Meaning
fame, celebrity, (˚thāṃ-√ gam or gā, to become famous or celebrated, ˚thāpaha destroying fame, )
Scripturally attested Verified derivationMultiple readings (4)Why this matches what you typed
M1 · same meaning "prathā" is the feminine form of "pratha" — the same word with the feminine ending (nominative).
M1 · same meaning "prathā" is the nominative of "prathiman" — the same word in a different grammatical case.
M3 · meaning shifts "prathā" is derived from "pra" with the thāl suffix — a related word whose meaning shifts, so both meanings are shown.
1. pra ind. before
forward, in front, on, forth (mostly in connection with a verb, esp. with a verb of motion which is often to be supplied; sometimes repeated before the verb, cf. Pāṇ. viii, 1, 6; rarely as a separate word, e.g. AitBr. ii, 40)
prathā f. spreading out, extending, flattening, scattering, Nyāyam.; KātyŚr., Sch.
fame, celebrity, Śiś.; Kathās.; Rājat. (˚thāṃ-√ gam or gā, to become famous or celebrated, Rājat.; ˚thāpaha mfn. destroying fame, ib.)
Related forms
Dictionary citations
prathā f. spreading out, extending, flattening, scattering, Nyāyam.; KātyŚr., Sch.
fame, celebrity, Śiś.; Kathās.; Rājat. (˚thāṃ-√ gam or gā, to become famous or celebrated, Rājat.; ˚thāpaha mfn. destroying fame, ib.)
growing, becoming (in anyathā-pr˚, ‘the becoming different’), Vedāntas.
prathā Fame, celebrity; Śi. 15. 27.
prathā f. (-thā) Fame, celebrity. E. pratha to be famous, affs. aṅ and ṭāp.
pratha m. N. of a Vāsiṣṭha (supposed author of RV. x, 181, 1), Anukr.
pratha r. 1st cl. (prathate) To be famous or renowned. r. 10th cl. (prāthayati) 1 To throw or cast. 2 To scatter, to spread. 3 To celebrate.
prathiman m. extension, width, greatness, RV. &c. &c. (instr. prathinā, RV.)
prathiman m. Breadth, greatness, extension, magnitude; prathimānaṃ dadhānena jaghanena ghanena sā Bk. 4. 17; (guṇāḥ) prāraṃbhasūkṣmāḥ prathimānamāpuḥ R. 18. 49.
1. pra ind. before
forward, in front, on, forth (mostly in connection with a verb, esp. with a verb of motion which is often to be supplied; sometimes repeated before the verb, cf. Pāṇ. viii, 1, 6; rarely as a separate word, e.g. AitBr. ii, 40)
Alternative readings
More than one analysis survives full verification. That ambiguity is real, so we show every reading rather than pick one silently.
Caveats
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