1. (rare in the old texts) a flood of water Vv-a.48 (udak’ ogha); usually as mahogha a great flood Dhp.47; Vism.512; Vv-a.110; Dhp-a.ii.274 = Thag-a.175.
2. (always in sg.) the flood of ignorance and vain desires which sweep a man down, away from the security of emancipation To him who has “crossed the flood”, oghatiṇṇo, are ascribed all, or nearly all, the mental and moral qualifications of the Arahant. For details see Snp.173, Snp.219, Snp.471 Snp.495, Snp.1059, Snp.1064, Snp.1070, Snp.1082; AN.ii.200 sq. Less often we have details of what the flood consists of. Thus kāmogha the fl. of lusts AN.iii.69 (cp. Dhs.1095, where o. is one of the many names of taṇhā, craving, thirst). In the popular old riddle at SN.i.3 and Thag.15, Thag.633 (included also in the Dhp. Anthology, 370) the “flood” is 15 states of mind (the 5 bonds which impede a man on his entrance upon the Aryan Path, the 5 which impede him in his progress towards the end of the Path, and 5 other bonds: lust, ill-temper, stupidity, conceit, and vain speculation). Five Oghas referred to at SN.i.126 are possibly these last. Snp.945 says that the flood is gedha greed and the avijjogha of Pp.21 may perhaps belong here. As means of crossing the flood we have the Path SN.i.193 (˚assa nittharaṇatthaṃ); SN.iv.257; SN.v.59; It iii.(˚assa nittharanatthāya); faith SN.i.214 = Snp.184 = Mil.36; mindfulness SN.v.168, SN.v.186; the island Dhp.25; and the dyke Thag.7; Snp.4 (cp. DN.ii.89).
3. Towards the close of the Nikāya period we find, for the first time, the use of the word in the pl., and the mention of 4 Oghas identical with the 4 Āsavas (mental Intoxicants). See DN.iii.230, DN.iii.276; SN.iv.175, SN.iv.257; SN.v.59, SN.v.292, SN.v.309; Mnd.57, Mnd.159; Cnd.178 When the oghas had been thus grouped and classified in the livery, as it were, of a more popular simile, the older use of the word fell off, a tendency arose to think only of 4 oghas, and of these only as a name or phase of the 4 āsavas. So the Abhidhamma books (Dhs.1151 Vb.25 sq., Vb.43, Vb.65, Vb.77, Vb.129; Comp. Phil. 171). The Netti follows this (31, 114–24). Grouped in comb^n. āsavagantha-ogha-yoga-agati-taṇh’upādāna at Vism.211. The later history of the word has yet to be investigated. But it may be already stated that the 5^th cent. commentators persist in the error of explaining the old word ogha used in the singular, as referring to the 4 Āsavas; and they extend the old simile in other ways. Dhammapāla of Kāñcipura twice uses the word in the sense of flood of water (Vv-a.48, Vv-a.110, see above 1).

• -ātiga one who has overcome the flood Snp.1096 (cp Cnd.180).
• -tiṇṇa id. SN.i.3, SN.i.142; Snp.178, Snp.823, Snp.1082 Snp.1101, Snp.1145; Dhp.370 (= cattāro oghe tiṇṇa Dhp-a.iv.109) Vv.64#28 (= catunnaṃ oghānaṃ saṃsāra-mah’oghassa taritattā o. Vv-a.284); Vv.82#7 ; Mnd.159; Cnd.179.

Vedic ogha and augha; BSk. ogha, e.g. Divy.95 caturogh’ ottīrṇa, Jtm.215 mahaugha. Etym. uncertain