Editing Svaha (section)

== Invocation ==
[[Hinduism]] and [[Mahayana]] [[Buddhism]] both make use of the [[Sanskrit]] word ''svāhā'' (romanized Sanskrit transcription; [[Devanagari]]: स्वाहा; Khmer: ស្វាហា; Thai: สวาหะ; Chinese: 薩婆訶, ''sà pó hē'', Japanese: ''sowaka''; Tibetan: སྭཱ་ཧཱ་ ''sw'a h'a''; Korean: 사바하, ''sabaha''; Vietnamese: ta bà ha) as a ritual or mantric invokation. The term was first used in [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic ritual]], where it was uttered during offerings to the sacred fire. With each ladle of the offering, the priest would say svāhā. The [[Yajurveda|''Yajur Veda'']] contains numerous invocations structured with a deity’s name in the dative case (indicating "to" or "for" the deity), followed by svāhā, such as agnaye svāhā ("to Agni, svāhā") and somāya svāhā ("to Soma, svāhā") (see [[Taittiriya Samhita|Taittirīya Saṃhitā]] 7.1.14.1).<ref name=":1" /> These formulae may have influenced the development of Buddhist mantras. ''Svāhā'' is also chanted to offer [[oblation]] to the gods.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cappeller |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z60SAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA655 |title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Based Upon the St. Petersburg Lexicons |date=1891 |publisher=K. Paul |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> ''Svāhā'' is often included at the end of a specific [[mantra]], which may invoked during [[yajna]] fire sacrifices, yogic practices (like [[japa]]) and worship.<ref name=":1" />  

Svāhā is not technically a mantra in itself. According to [[Monier Monier-Williams|Monier-Williams]], its likely etymology is ''su'' (meaning good, well, whole, etc.) combined with ''ah'' (meaning to call, to say, to speak, etc.), which would render a literal meaning such as "well spoken."<ref name=":2" />  [[Edward Conze|Conze]] translates it as "all hail," a choice followed by many other translators. He describes ''svāhā'' as a term of [[Adhiṣṭhāna|blessing]]—"an ecstatic shout of joy, expressive of a feeling of complete release"<ref>Conze, Edward. ''Buddhist Wisdom Books'', p. 128. 1958.</ref> 

In [[Buddhist texts]], ''svāhā'' first appears in the ''[[Dharani|dhāraṇīs]]'' inserted into Mahāyāna sūtras, such as the ''Lotus Sūtra'' and the ''Golden Light Sūtra''. It subsequently became a common ending for Buddhist mantras. While Conze speculates that it might indicate a feminine deity, there is no clear basis for this claim."<ref name=":2" />