In the supplied Māṇḍūkya corpus, amātra designates the "measureless" or partless aspect of oṃkāra (= Ātman), set in contrast to the three mātrās (a, u, m) enumerated in the surrounding text. As characterized in the mūla (12), the amātra is the fourth (caturtha), beyond usage/dealings (avyavahārya), the cessation of phenomenal manifestation (prapañcopaśama), auspicious (śiva), and non-dual (advaita); to know oṃkāra thus is for the self to enter the self. Gauḍapāda's kārikā (1.29) restates it: the amātra is also "of infinite measure" (anantamātra), the cessation of duality, śiva; one who knows oṃkāra so is a sage. The grounded gloss 'mātrā yasya nāsti sa amātraḥ' (that which has no measure/portion) is consistent with this contrastive use, though no commentary locus supplying that gloss is among the attestations here.
Senses
The reading surface. A later ingestion attaches a locus to a settled sense, or proposes a new one (dashed) for human triage — it never rewrites settled prose.
1 · The measureless/partless fourth aspect of oṃkāra identified with Ātman — beyond usage, the…settledadded v1
The measureless/partless fourth aspect of oṃkāra identified with Ātman — beyond usage, the quieting of phenomenal manifestation, auspicious and non-dual.
2 · The measureless oṃkāra, glossed jointly as 'of infinite measure' (anantamātra) and as the …settledadded v1
The measureless oṃkāra, glossed jointly as 'of infinite measure' (anantamātra) and as the cessation of duality (advaita/dvaitopaśama); knowing it characterizes the sage.
3 · mātra as the apportioned 'measure/portion' (akin to pāda) of oṃkāra: each of the three con…proposedadded v2
mātra as the apportioned 'measure/portion' (akin to pāda) of oṃkāra: each of the three constituent measures (a-, u-, m-kāra) reciprocally identified with the quarters (pādā eva mātrā mātrāś ca pādāḥ), and the analysis of oṃkāra 'adhimātram' — by measure/portion.
Śaṅkara (bhāṣya)
Why a new sense: These treat mātra as the positively-measured constituent portion of oṃkāra (pāda↔mātrā, akāramātratva, adhimātra), the contrastive ground against which amātra is defined — not the measureless fourth itself.
4 · The restrictive/limiting particle -mātra in compounds: 'mere(ly)', 'only', 'as soon as', o…proposedadded v2
The restrictive/limiting particle -mātra in compounds: 'mere(ly)', 'only', 'as soon as', or 'of the extent of' (e.g. manaḥspandanamātrā, tattvāpratibodhamātram, suptamātra, māsamātraprāpye).
Śaṅkara (bhāṣya)
Why a new sense: Here -mātra is the adverbial/adjectival limiting particle in unrelated compounds, carrying no relation to oṃkāra's measure or the measureless fourth; not represented by any existing sense.
Gauḍapāda: The amātra oṃkāra is at once 'measureless' and 'of infinite measure' (anantamātra), being the cessation of duality and auspicious (śiva); one by whom oṃkāra is so known is a sage. mandukya.karika:1.29
Attestation concordance — tier 2, every locus
Append-only. Grows by locus as texts arrive; stays one collapsed table so the senses remain the reading surface.
All 16 attestations ▾
Locus
Witness
Tradition
Stratum
Snippet
mandukya.upanisad:12
Māṇḍūkya (mūla)
upaniṣadic
mula
amātraś caturtho 'vyavahāryaḥ prapañcopaśamaḥ śivo 'dvaitaḥ | evam oṃkāra ātmaiva | saṃviśaty ātmanātmānaṃ ya evaṃ veda
mandukya.karika:1.29
Gauḍapāda (kārikā)
advaita-vedānta
karika
amātro 'nantamātraś ca dvaitasyopaśamaḥ śivaḥ / oṃkāro vidito yena sa munir netāro janaḥ
mandukya.sankarabhasya:2
Śaṅkara (bhāṣya)
advaita-vedānta
bhasya
sarvaṃ hy etad brahmeti / sarvaṃ yad uktam oṃkāramātram iti tadetad brahma / tac ca brahma parokṣābhihitaṃ pratyakṣato viśeṣeṇa nirdiśatyayamātmā brah
v1Māṇḍūkya mūla + Gauḍapāda kārikā — +2 loci 2 sense(s) drafted from 2 loci.
v2Śaṅkara bhāṣya — +14 loci · 3 routed to existing · 2 new sense(s) proposed Many of the new attestations contain the string "mātra/amātra" but in senses unrelated to the concept node 'amātra' as the fourth/measureless aspect of oṃkāra. Several are the limiting/restrictive particle -mātra ('mere(ly)', 'only', 'as soon as', 'X-extent') embedded in unrelated compounds (manaḥspandanamātrā, tattvāpratibodhamātram, suptamātra, māsamātraprāpye, etc.). Per the hard rules each new locus must be accounted for exactly once: those that genuinely express an existing sense are routed; those carrying a sense not represented are grouped under proposed senses. I separated (a) the genuine 'amātra = measureless fourth/turīya oṃkāra' attestations matching s1/s2, (b) the distinct technical sense of -mātra as 'sole constituent measure/portion' applied per-pāda to oṃkāra (akāramātratva, mātrā/pāda equivalence, adhimātra), and (c) the unrelated limiting-particle uses which carry no sense represented in this node.
Routings:
- mandukya.sankarabhasya:12 → s1: explicit 'amātro mātrā yasya nāsti ... caturthas turīya ātmaiva ... prapañcopaśamaḥ śivo 'dvaitaḥ' = the measureless/partless fourth aspect, quieting of manifestation, auspicious, non-dual. Exact match for s1.
- agamasastrabhasya:1.29 → s2: 'amātras turīya oṃkāraḥ ... anantamātraḥ ... sarvadvaita upaśamatvād eva śivaḥ' — joint gloss as infinite-measure (anantamātra) and cessation of duality; exact match for s2's distinctive double gloss.
- agamasastrabhasya:1.23 → s1: 'kṣīṇe tu makāre ... amātra oṃkāre gatir na vidyate' — the measureless oṃkāra beyond usage/transition (the fourth, beyond the three mātrās). Matches s1.
Items routed to proposed senses below: 1.11, 2.2, 2.6, 2.7, 2.37, 2.38 (limiting-particle / unrelated -mātra), and sankarabhasya:2, :4, :8, agamasastrabhasya:1.19, :1.24 (the per-pāda 'measure/portion' sense of mātra). (+11 bhāṣya loci beyond cap not routed)
Caveats
The corpus supplied is a single tradition (Māṇḍūkya mūla plus Gauḍapāda's kārikā); no Śaṅkara commentary locus is among the attestations, so no position is attributed to him.
The lead gloss 'mātrā yasya nāsti sa amātraḥ' is not present in any supplied locus; it is treated only as a consistent reading of the contrastive usage, not as attested commentary.
Both attestations use amātra strictly in relation to oṃkāra and its mātrās; senses outside that frame are not evidenced here.
The kārikā's pairing of amātra with anantamātra is a juxtaposition within one verse, not an interpretive dispute, so the entry is not marked contested.