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It is an old Sanskrit name: from mAlava which is a place name, I do not know the etymology. mAlavikA is the heroine of a Sanskrit play mAlavikAgnimitram by the famous poet kAlidAsa, in which she is the chief queen's handmaiden (revealed at end to be of royal birth) and beloved of the king (whom she finally marries to become another queen) and object of the queen's jealousy and rage. mAlavikA also means the plant Ipomoea Turpethum.