Karmadharaya

A Karmadhāraya is a type of compound in Sanskrit grammar, a subtype of the tatpurusha type ("nominative-tatpurushas").

The relation of the first member to the last is appositional, attributive or adverbial; this entails that if the members are dissolved, they will stand in the same case (meaning that there is no hierarchical syntactic relation between the members).

Examples:-

• uluka-yatu = "owl-demon" = "demon in the shape of an owl".
• mahā-rāja = "great-king" = "a king who is great".

"Karmadhāraya" literally means "action-carrying".

See also

• Sanskrit compounds
• Bahuvrihi
• Tatpurusha
• Dvigu