tamas

American  

[tuhm-uhs] / ˈtʌm əs /

noun

Hinduism.

1. guna

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Other Word Forms

• tamasic adjective

Etymology

Origin of tamas

< Sanskrit: darkness

Example Sentences

The city is suffused with a form of darkness that locals call tamas, which “is inseparable from the chthonic energy of Shiva, the city’s presiding deity, and the god of creative dissolution,” Taseer writes.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 30, 2019

As tamas must be present in some degree in all combinations, all intellectual operations are fraught with some degree of painful feeling.

From A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1 by Dasgupta, Surendranath

Thus in the phenomenal product whatever energy there is is due to the element of rajas and rajas alone; all matter, resistance, stability, is due to tamas, and all conscious manifestation to sattva.

From A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1 by Dasgupta, Surendranath

In later times Vedânta had compromised so far with Sâ@mkhya that it also sometimes described mâyâ as being made up of sattva, rajas, and tamas.

From A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1 by Dasgupta, Surendranath

The Brahmana said, 'Do thou truly describe to me, who now duly ask thee, the respective virtues of the qualities of sattwa, rajas, and tamas.'

From The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 Books 1, 2 and 3 by Ganguli, Kisari Mohan