The word adhvara signifies yajña (yajna). The verbal root dhvar means to be violent. Subsequently, the words dhvaraṇa (dhvarana), or dhvara mean violence. That which has no brutality is known as adhvara— adhvara iti yajñanāma. dhvaratirhiṃsākarmā.

During yajñas, grace is bestowed on everyone. The question, however, may arise that there is violence in the animal sacrifice involved in yajñas; therefore the word adhvara cannot denote the idea of lack of cruelty. The annotator Skandasvāmī (Skandaswami) has interpreted Manu’s notion as such—if violence is practised upon medicinal herbs, animals, trees, birds or any entity lesser than human beings, for the purpose a yajña, they rise to a superior plane. Consequently, in a yajña, there is termination of violence. Thus, adhvara is a term for yajña  without cruelty. Even rākṣasas (rakshasas, or demons) cannot be brutal during yajñas performed by agni (or fire), and hence, adhvara is another name for yajña.

In Mahābhārata (Mahabharata) and Purāṇas (Puranas), the word adhvara, considered as having the connotation of yajña without violence, has been generally used as a term associated with yajña.