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Indian Names in the Gita - Paartha and Paarthasarathi

June 24, 2012



Following on the series on Indian names in the Geeta, we can now look at 'Paartha' (पार्थ - pārtha), a name which occurs 41 times in the Bhagavad Geeta. This has become popular name for babies nowadays as against the name Paarthasaarathi (पार्थसारथी), which was more prevalent when I was young.

Literally, the name refers to the son of Pritha, another name of Kunti, the mother of the Pāṇdavās in the Mahābhārata. Therefore, the term could refer to all three of Kunti's sons, Yudhishthira, Bhīma or Arjuna. Thanks to the Bhagavad Geeta, most associate the name Pārtha with Arjuna.

The word Partha in Samskritam also means Prince (in this online dictionary) or king according to the Apte Dictionary site.

Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayanandaji has a very interesting explanation. The first letter प (pa) stands for Parameshwara or the Lord. The word अर्थ (artha) means wealth. So, Pārtha refers to the person for whom the Lord, Parameshwara is the only wealth. With this context, we know why Vyāsa shows all the Pāṇdavās (remember technically they are all Pārtha) as devotees of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Now the name Pārthasārathi. Sārathi means a charioteer or a chauffeur. It is appropriately one of the names of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, since He was the charioteer for Arjuna.

Pārthasārathi, as a name, is going out of fashion because of its length. Pujya Guruji once made an interesting comment on this name. Sometimes the name Pārthasārathi is shortened to Pārtha, essentially changing the name of someone who is named after Śrī Kṛṣṇa by called him by a name that refers to Arjuna.

Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

P.S The picture above was take by Arundhati Sundar at the Sri Siva-Krishna Temple in Singapore
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  1. G. ParthasarathyJuly 7, 2012 at 9:50 AM

    Very interesting to know the full meaning/details of my name.

    ReplyDelete

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