resting place, shelter, resort; house, dwelling; fig. (this meaning according to later commentators prevailing in anoka, liking, fondness, attachment to (worldly things) SN.iii.9 = Snp.844 (okam pahāya; oka here is expl^d. at Snp-a.547 by rūpa-vatth’ ādi-viññaṇass’ okāso); SN.v.24 = AN.v.232 = Dhp.87 (okā anokam āgamma); Dhp.34 (oka-m-okata ubbhato, i.e. oka-m-okato from this & that abode, from all places, thus taken as okato, whereas Bdhgh. takes it as okasya okato and interprets the first oka as contracted form of udaka, water, which happens to fit in with the sense required at this passage, but is not warranted otherwise except by Bdhgh’s quotation “okapuṇṇehi cīvarehī ti ettha udakaṃ”. This quot. is taken from Vin.i.253, which must be regarded as a corrupt passage cp. remarks of Bdhgh. on p. 387: oghapuṇṇehī ti pi pāṭho. The rest of his interpretation at Dhp-a.i.289 runs: “okaṃ okaṃ pahāya aniketa-sārī ti ettha ālayo, idha (i.e. at Dhp.34) ubhayam pi labbhati okamokato udaka-sankhātā ālayā ti attho” i.e. from the water’s abode. Bdhgh’s expl^n. is of course problematic); Dhp.91 (okam okaṃ jahanti “they leave whatever shelter they have”, expl^d. by ālaya Dhp-a.ii.170).

-cara (f. ˚carikā Ja.vi.416; ˚cārikā MN.i.117) living in the house (said of animals), i.e. tame (cp. same etym of “tame” = Lat. domus, domesticus). The passage MN.i.117, MN.i.118 has caused confusion by oka being taken as “water”. But from the context as well as from C. on Ja.vi.416 it is clear that here a tame animal is meant by means of which other wild ones are caught. The passage at MN.i.117 runs “odaheyya okacaraṃ ṭhapeyya okacārikaṃ” i.e. he puts down a male decoy and places a female (to entice the others), opp. “ūhaneyya o. nāseyya o.” i.e. takes away the male & kills the female; -(ñ)jaha giving up the house (and its comfort), renouncing (the world), giving up attachment Snp.1101 (= ālayaṁjahaṁ Snp-a.598 cp. Cnd.176 with variant reading oghaṁjaha)
■ -anoka houseless, homeless, comfortless, renouncing, free from attachment ‣See separately.

Vedic okas (nt.), fr. uc to like, thus orig. “comfort”, hence place of comfort, sheltered place, habitation The indigenous interpretation connects oka partly with okāsa = fig. room (for rising), chance, occasion (thus Mnd.487 on Snp.966: see anoka; Snp-a.573 ibid.; Snp-a.547: see anoka; Snp-a.573 ibid.; Snp-a.547: see below) partly with udaka (as contraction): see below on Dhp.34 Geiger (P. Gr. § 20) considers oka to be a direct contraction of udaka (via *udaka, *utka, *ukka, *okka). The customary synomym for oka (both lit. & fig.) is ālaya