Kamala
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Kamala is a common Sanskrit name, usually meaning Nelumbo nucifera, the lotus. Variants include Kamal and Kamla. It is unrelated to the similar-sounding name of Arabic origin meaning perfection or integrity usually spelled Kamal in English but spelled Kemal in Turkish.
Plants originally named Kamala in Asian Indian languages
- Nelumbo nucifera, lotus, a pond plant with leaves and flowers at the water's surface, called Kamala, Kamal, and related names. This is the principal botanical source of human and other entity namings as Kamala.
- Mallotus philippensis, called Kamala or Red Kamala, a plant in the spurge family, widespread through Asia and Australia, unrelated to Nelumbo nucifera, lotus. Human and other entities are rarely named for this plant.
Places and geographic features named Kamala
- The Kamala River flows through Nepal and the state of Bihar, India
- Kamala Subdistrict, Kathu district, Phuket province, Thailand
Deities called Kamala as a praise-name
- Kamalatmika or Kamla, a common epithet of Hindu goddess Lakshmi, sometimes simplistically ideogrammed as "goddess of wealth."
- Most Hindu deities are routinely praised in liturgical texts, prayers and chants for being kamal or kamala, lotus, or having lotus attributes such as beauty, purity, cleanliness. These deities include Shiva, Brahma, Shakti, Vishnu, Kali, and all their avatara.
- 'Lotus-feet' is a title of gurus of either sex. One salutes them by holding their feet in your hands and kissing their toes or upper surfaces of the main body of the foot.
- These praise-names are the source of many namings of humans as Kamal or Kamala, reinforcing the choice of the name bestowed upon children or other name recipients by virtue of the meaning of lotus.
People and groups whose names include Kamala as forename or sole name
- Amala and Kamala, Indian feral children who were purportedly raised by wolves
- Kamala (band), Brazilian thrash metal musical band
- Kamala (wrestler) or Jim Harris, American retired professional wrestler
- Kamala Harris, American prosecutor and current Attorney General of California
- Kamala Nehru, wife of Indian Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru
- Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Indo-Trinidadian, first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
- Kamala Surayya, formerly known as Kamala Das, Indian short story writer and autobiographer in English and Malayalam languages, particularly concerning sexual desires of women
- Kumari Kamala, Indian classical dancer
People and groups with the surname Kamala and related variants
- Diodorus Buberwa Kamala, Tanzanian politician
Fictional characters named Kamala
- Kamala, a character in Siddhartha, the novel by Hermann Hesse
- Kamala, a character in "The Perfect Mate", an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Kamala Khan, the fourth Ms. Marvel