Re: meanig of my neme
in reply to a message by Rahul Vats
Replies
I do not think this meaning is correct: I can't think of a Sanskrit etymology which will give this meaning. rAhu is a astrological entity (corresponding to the astronomical ascending node) that grabs one's fate, and comes from the root rabh: in Buddhist mythology, it also means a demon. It indeed is the name of Gautama Buddha's son: according to one of the Buddhist Jataka stories, Buddha realized that a son is a fetter which will try to hold him back from seeking knowledge, so he was named rAhula ('of rAhu'). More likely his name was after a general pattern: when a "planet" controls someone's fate due to their birth moment, they were named after that planet. This is, in fact, the story supported by some of the Vinaya texts. In some texts, the son is called Ratula instead, but that does not have a clear etymology either in Sanskrit; though in some Prakrits it means red-coloured ultimately deriving from Sanskrit rakta blood, itself derived from ranj, to color.
Whatever the original etymology, the name became popular as the name of Buddha's son, who became one of his early followers, and to whom was taught the importance of truth, a central Buddhist tenet.
Whatever the original etymology, the name became popular as the name of Buddha's son, who became one of his early followers, and to whom was taught the importance of truth, a central Buddhist tenet.