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Feb 8, 2006

This week's theme
Loanwords from Sanskrit

This week's words
dharma
mantra
ahimsa
sutra
nirvana

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ahimsa

(uh-HIM-sah, uh-HIN-sah)

noun: The principle of refraining from harming any living being.

From Sanskrit ahimsa, from a- (not) + hinsa (injury).

"As my conception of ahimsa went on maturing, I became more vigilant about my thought and speech. The lines in the Anthem:
   Scatter her enemies
   And make them fall;
   Confound their politics,
   Frustrate their knavish tricks
particularly jarred upon my sentiments of Ahimsa."
M.K. Gandhi; The Story of My Experiments With Truth; 1927.

See more usage examples of ahimsa in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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