Answers: Thedal Quiz – 11

Thanks again for your active participation in yet another edition of Thedal quiz, this time with the theme of ‘causal names’ ! As usual we got good number of responses with several answering most of the questions right.

Here are the readers who got all the answers right:

Padma Gopal, Soumya & Sasikala

Many congratulations!

Here are the answers:

1. Parthasarathy

Lord Krishna. Partha is another name for Arjuna and Krishna by virtue of being his charioteer (Sarathy in Sanskrit), got the name Parthasarathy. We can get a glimpse of Lord Parthasarathy in Triplicane, Chennai. Incidentally he wears a mustache as stipulated for charioteers those days.

2. Ekadantha

Lord Ganesha. He had one of his tusks (‘dantha’ in Sanskrit) broken in order to use as a pen to write the Mahabharata dictated by Veda Vyasa. Eka is one, and hence the name Ekadantha.

3. Dhinakar

Sun God. Dhina is ‘day’ and as the Sun is responsible for creation of the day, he is called Dhinakar. Incidentally, he is also called ‘Divakar’, ‘Prabhakar’, ‘Sudhakar’ for the same reason.

4. Purushothama

Lord Rama or Lord Vishnu. Lord Rama is called ‘Maryada Purushottam’ in North India as he is the best (Uttama) among all men (Purushas). Vishnu Sahasranama also accords the same name to Lord Vishnu.

5. Mythili

Goddess Sita. Sita was the princess of the kingdom of Mythila. Hence the name, ‘Mythili’. Being the daughter of Janaka, she is also known as Jaanaki.

6. Vrukodhara

Bhima. ‘Vruka’ is wolf in Sanskrit. Since Bhima used to have a stomach that was compact but insatiable, he was given that name (‘udhara’ is stomach).

7. Trilochana

Lord Shiva. Lochana is ‘eyes’ and since Lord Shiva has three (‘tri’) eyes including the one in his forehead he is named thus. Ambaka also means ‘eye’ and hence Tryambaka also means the same thing. A girl who has beautiful eyes is called ‘Sulochana’.

8. Savyasaachi

Arjuna. He got this name because of his ability to operate his bow with both of his hands with the same precision.

9. Satakopa

Nammazwar. When he was born, he rebuked (‘kopa’) the air around him called ‘Sata’ which is the cause of all the ignorance around us. Thus the name. Also, ‘ari’ is enemy and thus ‘Sataari’ also represents Nammazhwar. Since he is considered the feet of the Lord, the crown-like jewel present at the Lord’s feet that is placed on our heads during worship is also called Sataari.

10. Azhagan

Lord Muruga. In Tamil, ‘murugu’ means beauty. Since Lord Muruga is considered the most beautiful of all Gods, the name Murugan is used to denote him. Similarly Azhagan also represents Lord Muruga.

11. Girija

Goddess Parvati. ‘Giri’ is mountain. Since Goddess Parvati is the daughter of Himavan (Himalaya mountain range), she is called Girija. Thus, Jalaja is Goddess Lakshmi as she came out of ‘Jala’ (water – the ocean). ‘Bhoomija’ is Goddess Sita.

12. Gairvani

Sanskrit. Girvanas are Devas. Since it is the language originally spoken by Devas (Gods), it got the name Gairvani.