Jāla¹

neuter a net; netting, entanglement (lit. or fig.): snare, deceptíon (= māyā)

A. Lit

Cnd.260 (= suttajāla, a plaiting of threads); Snp-a.115 Snp-a.263 (= suttamaya) DN.i.45 (anto-jālikata caught in a net); Snp.62, Snp.71, Snp.213, Snp.669; Ja.i.52; Ja.vi.139
■ kinkiṇika a row of bells DN.ii.183; muttā˚ a net of pearls Ja.i.9; Vv-a.40; loha˚ Pv-a.153; hema˚ Vv.35; a fowler’s net Dhp.174; a spider’s web Dhp.347; nets for hair Ja.vi.188 pabbata˚ a chain of mountains Ja.ii.399; sirā˚ network of veins Ja.v.69; Pv-a.68
■ Freq. in similes: see J.P.T.S. 1907, 90

B. Fig

Very often applied to the snares of Māra: SN.i.48 (maccuno); Snp.357 (id.); Dhp-a.iii.175 (Māra˚); Snp.527 (deception); taṇhā˚ the snare of worldly thirst (cp. ˚tanhā) MN.i.271; Thag.306; Snp-a.351 kāma˚ Thag.355; moha˚ SN.iii.83; mohasama Dhp.251 diṭṭhi˚ the fallacies of heresy DN.i.46; Ja.vi.220; ñāṇa the net of knowledge Vv-a.63; Dhp-a.iii.171. bhumma (vijjā) “earthly net,” i.e. gift of clearsight extending over the earth Snp-a.353.

• -akkhi a mesh of a net Ja.i.208:
• -taṇhā the net of thirst Dhs.1059, Dhs.1136; Dhs-a.367;
• -pūpa a “netcake”? Dhp-a.i.319;
• -hatthapāda (adj.) having net-like hands & feet (one of the 32 marks of a Mahāpurisa prob. with reference to long nails DN.ii.17 (see Dial. ii.14, note 3), cp. jālitambanakhehi Vv.81#16 (explained at Vv-a.315: jālavantehi abhilohita-nakkehi. Tena jāli (variant reading jāla-) hatthataṃ mahāpurisa-lakkhaṇaṃ tambanakhataṃ anuvyañ anañ ca dasseti).

Vedic jāla, prob. from jaṭ; to plait, make a tangle cp. jaṭita & jaṭā; on l:ṭ cp. phulla: sphuṭa cāru: cāṭu; cela: ceṭa

Jāla²

glow, blaze Ja.v.326; Pv-a.52 (= tejas), Pv-a.154 (raṃsi˚); Mil.357; Vism.419 (kappavināsaka˚).

• -roruva Name of one of the two Roruva hells (“blazes”) Ja.v.271;
• -sikhā a glowing crest i.e. a flame Cnd.11 (= accī).

Sk. jvāla, from jalati