The name of Rigdzin Kumaradza - nomenclature, orthography and etymology

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Abhijñājñānābhibhu
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The name of Rigdzin Kumaradza - nomenclature, orthography and etymology

Post by Abhijñājñānābhibhu »

The etymology of the name of Longchenpa's root guru Rigdzin Kumaradza holds some fascination. On Wikipedia (yes...I'm well aware; still better than ChatGTP) we read in the revelent section:
Kumārarāja, Kumārāja and Kumaraja (Sanskrit) is sometimes also orthographically represented as Kumārarādza and Kumārādza.
These are interesting in the various possibilities of the root meaning of the name they throw up; the most common interpretation seems to be that the name was originally "Kumārarāja", (which could be interpreted as something like "the Boy King"). But one alternative that I have never seen proffered is that the underlying term could be "Kumāraja" which would mean something like "Youth-Born" (kumāra+ja), perhaps suggesting "naturally youthful", or "born as prince regent" (since one meaning of kumāra is prince regent) - which bears a pleasing resemblance to the apparently most accepted form today of Kumaradza. Alternately, if we read the name as "Kumārāja", which is a suggested albeit probably less common form, then it could mean something like "eternally or primordially youthful" (kumāra + aja, aja meaning unborn/existing from all eternity). Perhaps the name as it has come down to us is intentionally ambiguous, much like the elusive Dzogchen term "Kulayarāja" so that various interpretations can be imagined.
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