Indian Epigraphy c16.s7.4

c16.s7.4

Nāmakaraṇa or naming the child is a rite of considerable importance and we have copper-plate grants recording gifts made by kings on the occasion of the naming ceremony of the princes.² The Vedic literature often refers to two, three or four names of a person. Some authorities think that the four names were : (1) one derived from the nakṣatra on which the person was born,³ (2) a secret name (after a nakṣatra according to some Gṛhyasūtras), (3) a popular name, and (4) one like Somayājin due to one’s performance of a Somayāga. The three names are often taken to be (1) the ordinary name, (2) a name derived from the father and (3) one derived from the gotra or from the name of a remote ancestor; e.g., (1) Trasadasyu (ordinary name), Paurukutsya (son of Purukutsa) and Gairikṣita (descendant of Girikṣit); (2) Indrota (ordinary name), Daivāpa (son of Devāpi) and Śaunaka (belonging to the Śaunaka gotra). In the Vedic literature, a person is also often mentioned after a locality (e.g., Kaśu Caidya, ‘Kaśu of the Cedi country’; Bhīma Vaidarbha, ‘Bhīma of the Vidarbha country’), while sometimes a metronymic was added to the personal name (e.g. Prahlāda Kāyādhava, ‘Prahlāda, son of Kayādhū’; Mahidāsa Aitareya, ‘Mahidāsa, son of Itarā’). The Gṛhyasūtras have a variety of rules regarding the formation of personal names though they are often conflicting, and we have names which do not conform to the rules. Some Sūtras prescribe names having two parts, e.g., Deva-datta, while others suggest names derived from a sage, a deity (the family deity according to some) or an ancestor, though giving the name of a deity itself is forbidden by others. Some authorities prescribe the naming of a boy after any of the ancestors excepting the father. It is interesting in this connection to note that there are innumerable epigraphical instances of the grandfather and grandson having the same name (e.g. the Gupta emperor Candragupta I and his grandson Candragupta II),¹ while some cases of the father and son having the same name are known from South India (e.g. Later Cālukya Someśvara I Āhavamalla and his son and successor Someśvara II Bhuvanaikamalla). According to some authorities, girls should not be named after nakṣatras, trees and rivers.