'HariPanchanana' - What a Name!

I do not think Shakespeare's take on names - "what is in a name.." and so on and so forth - makes much sense outside the context in which Juliet found herself then; even the Bard might not have intended her remark to apply universally. Names matter; period.

Sadly, when it comes to naming things, I am no Adam. Even 'Anamika' is a reflection of my failure to find a suitably catchy title for this blog. When I attempted writing a play (posted here long ago, then taken offline for further work) I was never happy with the names I chose for characters and kept changing them to the point of looking downright silly. Anyways, here I talk about one name from literature, which to me is as close to perfect as possible - 'Haripanchanana'.

The plot of 'Dharmaraja', a pioneering historical romance in Malayalam involves the intrigues and subversive activities launched against the royal family of Travancore by two brothers, sworn to bloody vendetta. The brothers are actually identical twins; their most striking stratagem involves pretending they are only one man. One of them (either of them, to be precise) poses as a Tantrik named 'Haripanchanana Swami' who has the supernatural ability to be present at two places at the same time; this is all too easy to achieve since they are ready-made doubles to each other. Although the brothers' schemes are ultimately defeated (in a rather weak anti-climax), their powerful anti-hero characterization leaves a lasting impression.

My interest here is in the fake Tantrik name assumed by the twin brothers. Obviously it is a double name - Hari + Panchanana - like so many other common Indian names like Rama-krishna, Sankara-Narayana and so on (a double name is quite appropriate in a story of doubles, right?). Hari is among the hundreds of names of Vishnu and Panchanana is Siva (literally it means the one with five faces; the faces of Siva represent the five elements of the universe). So, the composite name invokes the two most powerful Gods in a syncretic union, which is unprecedented although quite orthodox in its derivation. Finally, more remarkably, *both* 'hari' and 'panchanana' are also synonymous with 'lion'!

Tailpiece: Though the twins are identical in appearance, they are very different temperamentally. The elder of the two is angry, vengeful and given to violent outbursts; he is sometimes called 'Ugra', the wrathful. The younger is sober and peaceloving and is part of the plot primarily due to fraternal love. He is called 'Shanta', the tranquil one. And 'Ugra' and 'Shanta' refer also to the two aspects - destructive and beatific - of the Narasimha Avatar of Vishnu. And Narasimha is in form half man and half lion!