ind. sometimes katham- merely introduces an interrogation (exempli gratia, 'for example'katham ātmānaṃ nivedayāmi kathaṃ vātmāpahāraṃ karomi-,shall I declare myself or shall I withdraw?) katham- is often found in connection with the particles iva-, nāma-, nu-, svid-, which appear to generalize the interrogation (how possibly? how indeed? etc.)
ind. with nu- it is sometimes equalskimu-, or kutas- (exempli gratia, 'for example'katkaṃ nu-,how much more! na kathaṃ nu-,how much less!) katham- is often connected, like kim-, with the particles cana-, cid-, and api-, which give an indefinite sense to the interrogative (exempli gratia, 'for example'kathaṃ cana-,in any way, some how;scarcely, with difficulty; na kathaṃ cana-,in no way at all; kathaṃcit-,some how or other, by some means or other, in any way, with some difficulty, scarcely, in a moderate degree, a little; na kathaṃcit-,not at all, in no way whatever; na kathaṃcid na-,in no way not id est most decidedly; yathā kathaṃcit-,in any way whatsoever; kathaṃcid yadi jīvati-,it is with difficulty that he lives; katham api-,some how or other, with some difficulty, scarcely a little; katham api na-,by no means, not at all)
कथम् ind. [किम्-प्रकारार्थे थमु कादेशश्च] 1 How, in what way, in what manner, whence; कथं मारात्मके त्वयि विश्वासः H.1; अथ स वैद्यः कथम् Mu.2 'well, how did the physician fare'; सानुबन्धाः कथं न स्युः संपदो मे निरापदः R.1.64,3.44; कथमात्मानं निवेदयामि कथं वा$$त्मापहारं करोमि Ś.1 (where the speaker is doubtful as to the propriety of what he says). -2 Oh what indeed ! (expressing surprise); कथं मामेवोद्दिशति Ś.6. -3 It is often connected with the particles इव, नाम, नु, वा, or स्वित् in the sense of, 'how indeed', 'how possibly', 'I should like to know', (where the question is generalized); कथं वा गम्यते U.3; कथं नामैतत् U.6. -4 When connected with the particles चित्, चन or अपि it means 'in every way', 'on any account', 'somehow', 'with great difficulty', 'with great efforts'; तस्य स्थित्वा कथमपि पुरः Me.3; कथमप्युन्नमितं न चुम्बितं तु Ś.3.24; न लोकवृत्तं वर्तेत वृत्तिहेतोः कथंचन Ms. 4.11,5.143; कथंचिदीशा मनसां बभूवुः Ku.3.34; कथं कथमपि
उत्थितः Pt.1; विसृज्य कथमप्युमाम् Ku.6.3; Me.22; Amaru.12,39,5,73; Pt.1. -5 Scarcely, hardly; कथमपि भुवने$स्मिंस्तादृशाः संभवन्ति Māl.2.9. -Comp. -कथिकः an inquisitive person. -कारम् ind. in what manner, how; कथंकारमनालम्बा कीर्तिर्द्यामधिरोहति Śi.2.52; कथंकारं भुङ्क्ते Sk; N.17.126. सो$हंकारं कथंकारं न करिष्यति मय्यरौ Śiva. B.15.17. -प्रमाण a. of what measure. -भावः what state. -भूत a. 1 how being. -2 of what nature or kind (oft. used by commentators). -रूप a. of what shape. -वीर्य a. of what power; Rām.3.
ad. how? whence? why? with pot. or impv. (sts. ind.) how could, would, or should ? with mâ and aor. how should not --? sts. exclamation, what! sts. weakened to a simple interrogative=nonne or num? with nú, how, I wonder? how much more? with neg. how much less? with iva, how so? why pray? with nâma, svid, how pray? why I wonder? with kana, by no means: generally strengthened by preceding negative; with kid and api (not till Kâlidâsa) indef. in some way, by some means, somehow or other, by accident; with difficulty, only just, scarcely (katham often repeated); a. little, somewhat;with neg. in no manner, by no means; yathâ katham kid, in whatever manner; in any way.
Sanskrit Dictionary understands and transcodes देवनागर्-ई IAST, Harvard-Kyoto, SLP1, ITRANS. You can type in any of the Sanskrit transliteration systems you are familiar with and we will detect and convert it to IAST for the purpose of searching.
Using the Devanagari and IAST Keyboards
Click the icon to enable a popup keybord and you can toggle between देवनागरी and IAST characters. If you want a system software for typing easily in देवनागरी or IAST you can download our software called SanskritWriter
Wildcard Searches and Exact Matching
To replace many characters us * example śakt* will give all words starting with śakt. To replace an individual character use ? for example śakt?m will give all words that have something in place of the ?. By default our search system looks for words “containing” the search keyword. To do an exact match use “” example “śaktimat” will search for this exact phrase.
Special Searches
Type sandhi: and a phrase to search for the sandhi of the two words example.
sandhi:sam yoga will search for saṃyoga
Type root: and a word to do a root search only for the word. You can also use the √ symbol, this is easily typed by typing \/ in SanskritWriter software.
Feedback
icon to enable a popup keybord and you can toggle between देवनागरी and IAST characters. If you want a system software for typing easily in देवनागरी or IAST you can download our software called SanskritWriter