śāstrá n. an order, command, precept, rule RV. Kāv. Pur.

• teaching, instruction, direction, advice, good counsel MBh. Kāv. &c

• any instrument of teaching, any manual or compendium of rules, any bock or treatise, (esp.) any religious or scientific treatise, any sacred book or composition of divine authority (applicable even to the Veda, and said to be of fourteen or even eighteen kinds [see under vidyā]

• the word śāstra is often found ifc. after the word denoting the subject of the book, or is applied collectively to whole departments of knowledge, e.g. vedânta-ś○, a work on the Vedânta philosophy or the whole body of teaching on that subject

• dharma-ś○, a law-book or whole body of written laws

• kāvya-ś○, a poetical work or poetry in general

• śilpi-ś○, works on the mechanical arts

• kāma-ś○, erotic compositions

• alaṃkāra ś○, rhetoric, &c.) Nir. Prāt. Mn. MBh. &c

• a body of teaching (in general), scripture, science Kāv. Pur.