Showing posts with label son of Ghatotkacha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label son of Ghatotkacha. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Barbaraka, son of Ghatotkacha, the original barbarian

Origin of words - Etymology

Many English words have Indic origin, specifically Sankrita origin. Few immediate examples that come to mind: mother = maatr'a/maata/maate, father from pitr'a/pita, brother = bratr'a, etc.
Other day I was reminded of the name of one of the grandson of Bheema (Bheemasena of Mahabharata fame) by a prolific handle on twitter. That name is 'Barbaraka', son of Ghatotkacha and Kamakatankati. (Reference: 'Parva' by SL Bhyarappa) .
The word barbarian is clearly of Sankrita origin; 'barbara' in Sankrita means not-civilized, raakshasa kind. 'barbara hatye' (बर्बर हत्या, ಬರ್ಬರ ಹತ್ಯೆ) is common description for heinous killing, for example.

I am disappointed though; not too many know about the name Barbaraka, about the son of Ghatotkacha. He did not participate in Mahabharata war probably because of political reasons. There are not many stories available about him. That is a shame, it is such a great name for a superhero.