antyāvasāyinī

antyāvasāyinī in Devanagari is अन्त्यावसायिनी, meaning “a woman of a lower caste.”

✅ Devanagari form

अन्त्यावसायिनी

Sanskrit Dictionary

✅ Meaning

According to the Sanskrit dictionary entry provided, antyāvasāyinī is a feminine noun meaning:

• “a woman of a lower caste”

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  1 Source

This is the only definition given in the supplied source.

✅ Grammatical notes

• Gender: feminine
• Category: noun
• The word is built from Sanskrit roots, but the dictionary entry does not provide an etymology beyond the definition.

✅ Distinction from similar terms

The web results also include extensive material on antevāsin / antevāsī (अन्तेवासिन् / अन्तेवासी), which mean “a pupil living with a teacher”

Wiktionary+2

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These are different words and unrelated in meaning to antyāvasāyinī.

✅ Summary

If your goal is simply to know the meaning of antyāvasāyinī in Devanagari, it is:

• अन्त्यावसायिनी — “a woman of a lower caste.”

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  1 Source

 In Sanskrit lexicography antyāvasāyinī denotes a woman of a lower or “last” caste, a term used in social‑descriptive contexts rather than as a technical literary category.

Meaning and lexical definition

The clearest attested definition in the supplied results states that antyāvasāyinī (f.) means “a woman of a lower caste”

Sanskrit Dictionary

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This aligns with the Sanskrit adjective antya (“last, lowest, final”) and the agentive/possessive formation ‑avasāyinī, yielding the sense “one belonging to the lowest group.”

Morphology and formation

• antya — “last, lowest, belonging to the end”
• avasāyinī — feminine form of a noun meaning “one who dwells/abides/occupies a position”
  Together, antyāvasāyinī literally means “a woman dwelling in the lowest (social) position.”

This type of compound is typical of Sanskrit caste‑descriptive vocabulary, where antya marks groups considered outside or at the bottom of the varṇa system.

Context in Sanskrit literature

Although the search results do not provide specific textual citations, the term’s structure and dictionary classification indicate its use in:

• Dharmaśāstra and social‑legal texts, where caste categories and occupational groups are enumerated.
• Narrative literature, where characters may be identified by caste or social status.
• Lexicographical works, which preserve many such social descriptors.

The term parallels other caste‑related feminine nouns (e.g., śūdrā, caṇḍālī), and would typically appear in passages describing social hierarchy, marriage rules, purity regulations, or narrative characterization.

Distinguishing it from similar terms in the results

The search results also include extensive material on antevāsin / antevāsī, meaning “pupil living with a teacher”

Wisdom Library

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This is unrelated to antyāvasāyinī despite superficial similarity.

• antevāsin derives from anta (“near”) + vāsin (“dweller”).
• antyāvasāyinī derives from antya (“lowest”) + avasāyinī.

The two belong to different semantic fields: education vs. caste.

How it functions in literary interpretation

In reading Sanskrit literature, encountering antyāvasāyinī signals:

• A social marker, not a personal name.
• A gendered caste designation, often tied to narrative roles or legal prescriptions.
• A term that helps reconstruct social stratification in classical texts.