शाखा [ śākhā ] [ śā́khā ] f. (ifc. f ( [ ā ] or [ ī ] ) . ) a branch (lit. and fig.) Lit. RV.

  a limb of the body , arm or leg Lit. Suśr.

  a finger Lit. Naigh. ii , 5

  the surface of the body Lit. Car.

  a door-post Lit. VarBṛS. ( cf. [ dvāra-ś ] )

  the wing of a building Lit. MārkP.

  a division , subdivision Lit. MBh. Lit. BhP.

  the third part of an astrological Saṃhitā ( also [ °khā-skandha ] , m. ) Lit. VarBṛS.

  a branch or school of the Veda (each school adhering to its own traditional text and interpretation ; in the Caraṇa-vyūha , a work by Śaunaka treating of these various schools , five Śākhās are enumerated of the Ṛig-veda , viz. those of the Śākalas , Bāshkalas , Āśvalāyanas , Śāṅkhāyanas , and Māṇḍukāyanas ; forty-two or forty-four out of eighty-six of the Yajur-veda , fifteen of which belong to the Vājasaneyins , including those of the Kāṇvas and Mādhyaṃdinas ; twelve out of a thousand said to have once existed of the Sāma-veda and nine of the Atharva-veda ; of all these , however , the Ṛig-veda is said to be now extant in one only , viz. the Śākala-śākhā , the Yajur-veda in five and partially in six , the Sāma-veda in one or perhaps two , and the Atharva-veda in one: although the words [ caraṇa ] and [ śākhā ] are sometimes used synonymously , yet [ caraṇa ] properly applies to the sect or collection of persons united in one school , and [ śākhā ] to the traditional text followed , as in the phrase [ śākhām adhīte ] , he recites a particular version of the Veda) Lit. Prāt. Lit. Mn. Lit. MBh.

  a branch of any science Lit. Car.

  a year Lit. Śrīkaṇṭh.

  = [ pakṣāntara ] Lit. L.

  = [ antika ] Lit. L.