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The corpus record — Pali

kali

Kali

masculine the unlucky die (see akkha ); “the dice were seeds of a tree called the vibhītaka… An extra seed was called the kali” ( Dial. ii.368 n. DN.ii.349 ; Ja.i.380 ; Dhp.252 (= Dhp-a.iii.375 ) at Ja.vi.228 Ja.vi.282 , Ja.vi.357 it is opposed to kaṭa, q.v. (= kaliggaha an unlucky throw at dice, ba

Every figure on this page is a live query of the corpus record.

Where it lives

  • Sutta Nipata 4 · 1.98/10k
  • Dhammapada 1 · 1.9/10k
  • Digha Nikaya 6 · 0.42/10k

What it meant — PTS Pali–English Dictionary

masculine

  1. the unlucky die (see akkha); “the dice were seeds of a tree called the vibhītaka… An extra seed was called the kali” (Dial. ii.368 n. DN.ii.349; Ja.i.380; Dhp.252 (= Dhp-a.iii.375) at Ja.vi.228 Ja.vi.282, Ja.vi.357 it is opposed to kaṭa, q.v.
  2. (= kaliggaha an unlucky throw at dice, bad luck, symbolically as a piece of bad luck in a general worldly sense or bad quality demerit, sin (in moral sense) kaliṃ vicināti “gathers up demerit” Snp.658; appamatto kali… akkhesu dhanaparājayo… mahantataro kali yo sugatesu manam padosaye SN.i.149 = AN.ii.3 = AN.v.171, AN.v.174 = Snp.659 = Ne.132; cp. MN.iii.170; AN.v.324; Dhp.202 (= Dhp-a.iii.261 aparādha).
  3. the last of the 4 ages of the world (see ˚yuga).
  4. sinful, a sinner Snp.664 (= pāpaka).
  5. saliva, spittle, froth (cp. kheḷa) Thig.458, Thig.501; Ja.v.134.
  • -(g)gaha the unlucky throw at dice, the losing throw symbolically bad luck, evil consequence in worldly moral sense (ubhayattha k˚ faring badly in both worlds MN.i.403 = MN.i.406; MN.iii.170 (in simile). See kaṭaggaha
  • -devatā (m. pl.) the devotees of kali, the followers of the goddess kali Mil.191 (see Mil trsl. i.266 n.)
  • -(p)piya one who is fond of cheating at dice, a gambler Pgdp.68;
  • -yuga (nt.) one of the 4 (or 8) ages of the world, the age of vice, misery and bad luck; it is the age in which we are Sāsv.4, Sāsv.44, Vin.i.281;
  • -sāsana (nt. in ˚ṃ āropeti to find fault with others Vin.iv.93, Vin.iv.360.

cp. Sk. kali

In the wild

6 of 11 attestations shown.

Pali text and translations from SuttaCentral (Bilara), dedicated to the public domain (CC0). PTS Pali–English Dictionary entries, public domain.