Skip to main content

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
Labels:

Comments

  1. G. ParthasarathyJuly 7, 2012 at 9:50 AM

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

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Geeta Dhyānaṁ 2 - Vyāsā's Vast Intellect

January 7, 2013 Previously on Geeta Jayanti, I had posted on the eternal debt of gratitude to Mother Geeta that is the basis of Geeta Dhyānaṁ. I love Param Pujya Gurudev 's commentary on the Geeta Dhyānaṁ. Pujya Gurudev's commentary is after the introduction to the Bhagavad Geeta in the commentary on Chapters 1 & 2 published by the the Chinmaya Mission. I personally believe it should be a book by itself. After invoking Mother Geeta, we now pay tribute to the wise Vyāsa Rishi - the Guru whose Jayanti marks Guru Pūrnima every year. Pujya Gurudev starts His tribute to Veda Vyāsā in his commentary on the 1st verse of the Dhyānaṁ. Vyāsa, the father of the Vedās, who, first collected, edited and published the Veda texts and who thereafter, gave us the dialectics of Vedānta in his Brahma Sūtra, himself a great man of realization, was indeed well fitted for the job. The ancient seer had both the mastery of the theoretical science of religion - Hinduism and also the practical expe
Post a Comment
Read more

In every field, let Dharma flourish - क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रे धर्म कुरु

August 9, 2012 Swamini Vimalanandaji has done a series of talks at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) called "406 SMS – Sure Mantras for Success from Bhagwad Geeta" (item 406 at this AMA link ). In this she has a very interesting take on the 1st line of the Bhagavad Geeta. धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे  १-१ dharmakShetre kurukShetre 1-1 <i> on the holy plain of Kurukshetra... </i> Swamini turns that slightly and says,  क्षेत्रे  क्षेत्रे  धर्म कुरु -   kShetre  kShetre  dharma kuru. Swamini goes on to establish that we can use this mantra to make that: "In every aspect of society,  must be pervaded by Dharma" Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post
Post a Comment
Read more

Geeta in Literature - IF by Rudyard Kipling

September 12, 2011 I came across a nice YouTube video that is an animation of Rudyard Kipling reading his famous poem IF . The full text sourced from wikisource is below: If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And los
Post a Comment
Read more