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Parthasarathy --- What's in a name ?

1. What does "Parthasarathy" mean ?

Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about my name :
  1. What does Parthasarathy mean ?
  2. What is my first-name/surname (French: prenom/nom , German: Vorname/Name) ?

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    My name is derived from a famous episode in Hindu mythology: the Mahabharata war. Lord Krishna -- an incarnation of Vishnu -- played the role of a driver (sarathy) of the chariot of the prince Arjuna (Partha). And, during this incident, Lord Krishna pronounced the essentials of Hindu philosophy to Arjuna. Thus, the name literally means: driver of Arjuna (as depicted in the portrait on your left).

    Thus, in Hindu mythology, the name Parthasarathy is associated with images of: a humble driver (sarathy), a dutiful warrior (partha), and the greatest teacher of all times (Parthasarathy).

    The sayings of Lord Krishna, compiled under the name: Bhagavatgita (also called as Gita) form the essence of the wisdom which leads and guides millions of Hindus around the world.

    Click here for a very fine description of Bhagavatgita.

2. What is my first-name/surname ?

If the semantics of my name is typically Hindu, the syntax of my name is typically South-Indian. My name follows the patronymic system of naming. I do NOT have a first-name/prenom/Vorname.

My name is Parthasarathy which serves both as a first-name (given name) and as a surname. My friends call me Partha (which is only my nickname).

Officially, my full name is : S. Parthasarathy . The "S" in front denotes the name of my father: Srinivasan . You guessed it: my name is in two parts. The first part denotes my father, the second part denotes me. This chaining of names continues across generations. My father, Rangachari Srinivasan , carries his fatherīs name (Rangachari) . I am Srinivasan Parthasarathy . My son is Parthasarathy Parishram . His son/daughter would be Parishram ???? . In the case of girls, the first part (fatherīs name) gets replaced by the husbandīs name when they get married. Thus, my daughter: Parthasarathy Prayathna will become xxx Prayathna when she gets married.

In computer science, this arrangement is known as a linked list with backward pointers.

The advantages of this scheme are manifold. It is very easy to trace the family tree with this method.

Now that you know everything about my name,you can:
click here and go back to my personal homepage.