कर्मन्

From कृ (kṛ, “to do”) +‎ -मन् (-man), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷer-.

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /kɐ́ɾ.mɐn/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /kɐɾ.mɐn̪/

कर्मन् • (kárman) stem, n

1. an act, action, performance, business; work, labour, activity
   • c. 1500 BCE – 1000 BCE, Ṛgveda 1.22.19:

     विष्णोः॒ कर्मा॑णि पश्यत॒ यतो॑ व्र॒तानि॑ पस्प॒शे ।
     इन्द्र॑स्य॒ युज्यः॒ सखा॑ ॥

     víṣṇoḥ kármāṇi paśyata yáto vratā́ni paspaśé.
     índrasya yújyaḥ sákhā.

     Look ye on Viṣṇu's works, through which the Friend of Indra, close-allied,
     Hath let his holy ways be seen.

   • c. 400 BCE, Bhagavad Gītā Chapter II.47:

     कर्मण्य् एवाधिकारस् ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
     मा कर्मफलहेतुर् भूर् मा ते सङ्गो ऽस्त्व् अकर्मणि ॥

     karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana.
     mā karmaphalahetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ʼstv akarmaṇi.

     "You only have a right over your actions, and the results of those actions are not in your control. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction".

2. office, special duty, occupation, obligation (usually at the end of a compound, the first member of the compound being either the person who performs the action or the person or thing for or towards whom the action is performed or a specification of the action)
   • c. 700 BCE, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa
   • c. 200 BCE – 200 CE, Manusmṛti
3. any religious act, ritual, or rite
   • c. 1500 BCE – 1000 BCE, Ṛgveda 1.11.4:

     पु॒रां भि॒न्दुर्युवा॑ क॒विरमि॑तौजा अजायत ।
     इन्द्रो॒ विश्व॑स्य॒ कर्म॑णो ध॒र्ता व॒ज्री पु॑रुष्टु॒तः ॥

     purā́ṃ bhindúryúvā kavírámitaujā ajāyata.
     índro víśvasya kármaṇo dhartā́ vajrī́ puruṣṭutáḥ.

     Destroyer of forts, the young, the wise, of unmeasurable strength, was he born
     Upholder of each sacred rite, Indra, the Thunderer, much-extolled.

4. physicking, medical attendance (Car.)
5. action consisting in motion, as the third among the seven categories of the Nyaya philosophy; of these motions there are five, namely उत्क्षेपण (ut-kṣepaṇa), अवक्षेपण (ava-kṣepaṇa), आकुञ्चन (ā-kuñcana), प्रसारण (prasāraṇa), and गमन (gamana) (Bhāshāp., Tarkas.)
6. calculation (Sūryas.)
7. product, result, effect (Mn. xii, 98 Suśr.)
8. organ of sense or action (ŚBr. xiv)

   कर्मेन्द्रिय (karme-ndriya) — an organ of sense

9. (grammar) the object that it stands either in the accusative (in active construction), or in the nominative (in passive construction), or in the genitive (in connection with a noun of action); opposed to कर्तृ (kartṛ́), the subject. (Pāṇ. 1-4, 49 ff.)
10. former act as leading to inevitable results, fate (as the certain consequence of acts in a previous life); karma (Pañcat., Hit., Buddh.)

    कर्मपाक (karma-pāka) — "ripening of acts", matured result of previous acts or actions done in a former birth

    कर्मविपाक (karma-vipāka) — "the ripening of actions" i.e. the good or evil consequences in this life of human acts performed in previous births

11. the tenth lunar mansion (VarBṛS. etc.)

• Monier Williams (1899) “कर्मन्”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 258, column 2.
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen ‎ (in German), volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 318