[Advaita-l] Sons known after their Mothers' names

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Thu Jul 7 01:39:45 CDT 2016


One more popular name is that of Garuda who is also known as 'vainateya'
after his mother Vinatā.



On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 10:46 PM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

> A few more names:
>
> Ānjaneya - son of Anjanā
>
> Āditya - son of Aditi
>
> Daitya - son of Diti.
>
> On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 1:20 PM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> In the Shruti/Smriti  literature we have a number of instances where a
>> son is referred to through the mother's name.
>>
>> What comes to mind immediately are: Kaunteya, Pārtha - names of Arjuna
>> and sometimes applicable to his brothers too in the MB/BG.
>>
>>
>> Kosaleya is Rama, son of Kausalya.
>>
>> Soumitrī is Lakshmaṇa, son of Sumitrā.
>>
>> Rohiṇeya is Balarāma, son of Rohiṇi.
>>
>> Rādheya is Karṇa, son of Rādha, his foster mother.
>>
>> In the Chandogya Shruti we have the famous name: Jābāla, Satyakāma, son
>> of mother Jabālā.
>>
>> There is even a straight name: Devakīputra Kriṣhna in the Chandogya
>> Upanishad 3.7.6.
>>
>> It is not that all the above named persons did not have a father or the
>> father's identity was unknown. Yet they are popular by those names.
>>
>> In the Mahabharata serial, we have seen Gāndhāri addressing her husband
>> Dhṛtarāṣṭra as 'Ārya putra'.  It looks like the practice of uttering the
>> husband's name was not present in the olden times.
>>
>> I heard a humorous story in a Madhva gathering for a 'aṣṭāvadhāna'
>> presentation in the Uttarādi Maṭha recently.  It was narrated by the
>> 'aprasakta prasanga' person, part of the avadhāna, thus:
>>
>> The Swami of the Maṭha has influenced many of his devotees by saying that
>> a chaste woman will not utter her husband's name.  Once a census party
>> visiting a house had this experience:
>>
>> They asked for the husband, the head of the family.  He had gone out and
>> his wife replied them. They asked for his name and she refused to utter the
>> name saying 'Ask the Swamiji'. The officer replied: 'Madam, the Swamiji
>> will be on tour somewhere and where can we find him to ask this?'
>>  Thereupon the lady said: I shall give a puzzle and you can find out the
>> reply there.
>>
>> If he jumps from top to bottom it is eight feet. From right to left it is
>> six feet and from left to right eight feet.
>>
>> The officer could decipher the hidden message: Her husband's name is:
>> Hanumantha Rao.
>>
>> The above was said there and shared here only in jest.
>>
>> regards
>> subrahmanian.v
>>
>
>


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