anekaja

 The Sanskrit term “anekaja” (अनेकज) literally means “born more than once” and can also refer to a bird, particularly one in the shell or after being hatched.

Etymology and Literal Meaning

Anekaja is a compound of “aneka” (अनेक), meaning “many” or “more

than one,” and “ja” (ज), meaning “born” or “produced”

Wisdom Library+1

. 

Combined, anekaja refers literally to something or someone that is

born multiple times.

In certain lexical sources, anekaja also denotes a bird — specifically one

that has been born from the shell or hatched

Wisdom Library

. This 

secondary meaning arises from the traditional observation of multiple

births or stages in a bird’s development.

Grammatical Notes

• Anekaja is often used as a masculine noun (jaḥ) for “bird”
• It can also function as an adjective meaning “born more than once”
• in various Sanskrit texts

  2
• 

  

  2 Sources
• 
  

Contextual Usage

• In Hindu philosophical texts, anekaja is primarily employed for 
• describing beings with multiple births as part of karmic cycles 
• or reincarnation.
• It is sometimes used as an adjectival descriptor in poetic or classical
• literature to indicate multiplicity of birth or creation

  1

  .
• 

  1 Source
• 
  

Component Meaning: Aneka

Understanding anekaja also involves recognizing its first component,

anekā, which by itself means “many”, “numerous,” or 

“various”

Wisdom Library

. This reinforces the plural or repeated

aspect implied in anekaja.

In summary, anekaja conveys the idea of something that exists in 

multiple births or stages and is closely associated with birds in

traditional Sanskrit dictionaries. It is both a literal and textual term, 

used across Sanskrit literature to describe beings that undergo 

multiple existences or generative processes

Wisdom Library+2

.