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The same sound can be used in different parts of the world as a name, and can have completely different origins and meanings. In India, Sesan when used as a name originates in the Sanskrit: shiS (the sh- is palatal, like in English sugar, the S is retroflex sibilant, an s-like sound made with the tongue rolled up, and in later languages sometimes becomes a kh, other times becomes a simpler sh) means to leave, and sheSa means what is left, and symbolically eternity. It is often depicted as a thousand headed serpent holding up the plates that contain the seven underworlds and the seven higher regions (including this thing we call this earth). The serpent of the deep is a very old concept (ahirbudhnya in the Rgveda) and got assimilated into the mythic conception that called on this creation to be destroyed every so often (say every 4.32 billion years) after the dance of the destroyer shiva (swelling) and then recreated. During the intervening era of nonexistence of other creation, the universe is filled with water on which the maintainer viSNu (worker) sleeps and seSa covers him with his thousand headed canopy. Finally, from a lotus arising from the navel of viSNu, the creator brahmA (enlarger) is awoken to start the next cycle of creation.

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In any case, the sheSa gave rise to the name Sesan, used almost exclusively in South India today.