dharani means A Buddhist chant or incantation. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “dharani” is a great word
DHARANI — [Noun] A sacred formulaic chant or incantation in Buddhism, often of considerable length, believed to encapsulate the essence of a teaching and to confer spiritual power. From Sanskrit धारणी (dhāraṇī), a feminine noun derived from the root √dhṛ, meaning 'to hold, bear, support, maintain'. Unlike a mantra, a distilled seed-syllable for concentration, or a sutra, an expository discourse, a dharani is an intricately woven tapestry of sound meant to be held. It is the murmured river of syllables a monk commits perfectly to memory, the protective thread of phonemes woven around a pilgrim, the encoded cipher of a doctrine too vast for ordinary speech—a testament that the right sequence of sounds can contain what the mind alone cannot bear.
Etymology
Borrowed from Sanskrit धारणी (dhāraṇī).
noun
- A Buddhist chant or incantation.