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Thursday word: dharna
Mar. 15th, 2018 07:35 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
prettygoodword.livejournal.comdharna (DAHR-nuh, DUHR-nuh) - n., (in India) the practice of exacting justice or compliance with a just demand by sitting (and sometimes also fasting) at the door of an offender until either death or the demand is granted.
Not to be confused with dharma, which in Indian religions means the cosmic order, including the natural and moral principles for all beings and things, as well as the dutiful observance of this law -- better summarized as "right conduct." A typical example of dharna is a demand of a repayment of a debt, and it was also a popular form of protest during the Indian independence movement. The word was borrowed into English in the 1740s (yes, that far back) from Hindi & Urdu dharnā, from Sanskrit dharaṇaṃ, support/prop (a cognate of Latin firmus, meaning firm). Dharma, which is used in just about, all Indian religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism, comes a different inflection of the same root, Sanskrit dhárma, that which supports or props.
---L.
Not to be confused with dharma, which in Indian religions means the cosmic order, including the natural and moral principles for all beings and things, as well as the dutiful observance of this law -- better summarized as "right conduct." A typical example of dharna is a demand of a repayment of a debt, and it was also a popular form of protest during the Indian independence movement. The word was borrowed into English in the 1740s (yes, that far back) from Hindi & Urdu dharnā, from Sanskrit dharaṇaṃ, support/prop (a cognate of Latin firmus, meaning firm). Dharma, which is used in just about, all Indian religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism, comes a different inflection of the same root, Sanskrit dhárma, that which supports or props.
---L.
