Dec 18, 2008

My name is Laxminarayan Kamath

[Someone had asked me about the meaning of my name. I had this in my draft from more than 3 years. The "To:" field was blank. So I have completely forgotten whom it was for. So I thought it is better I leave it here, instead of being stagnant information in some corner of gmail's servers]

My first name is Laxminarayan. And last name is Kamath. Laxminarayan is actually a combination of the name Laxmi and the word Narayan. Where Laxmi is the Hindu Goddess of wealth and Narayan means owner or Lord. So as the Hindu perception of husband as the owner, Laxminarayan means, the husband of Goddess of wealth. According to the Hindu Religious beliefs, Laxminarayan is also a God. Laxminarayan is an all loving, all powerful God. He is considered the maintainer of the universe.

Kamath is my last name. Kamath is actually in a language called Konkani. Konkani is one of several languages of India, and is the primary language of the Goa state and also several people of the west coast of India. The word Kamath actually expands to Kama and Mathi. The word Kama in the language Konkani stands for material pleasure or material duty (as opposed to spiritual pleasure or spiritual duty). The word Mathi in the language Konkani, stands for soil. So in total, the word Kamath means occupied with the duty of soil.

Last names in recent years are only legendary, and inherited from the ancestors. There are few people who actually have the same occupation as their last name indicates.

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