Jayant

Victory On My Own Standards by Jayant Namdhari

Victorious. 

In Sanskrit, Jayant means victorious (The Bump). For the longest time, I never had a clear understanding of what really went into my name. How does someone spontaneously decide that I, an unborn child who hasn’t made any major life decisions, am victorious? Turns out, my muddled understanding of what made me ‘victorious’ wasn’t far from the truth. 

My parents relied on Vedic Astrology to determine a birthname by the luck of the draw, “Jayant” was the best choice on the night of August 9th, 2004 (TheBump). While it was fairly trivial, something about learning about how I was named irked me. I found it outrageous that some strange alignment of the stars and planets with earth could have any impact on who I was as a person much less the name I would be given. Why is it that the specific conditions of my birth entitled me to a name that means I will be victorious? Growing up in a family where spirituality and blind faith in religion/astrology was a key driver of important decisions, I quickly grew pretty resentful of both processes. 

As I grew older, I strayed away from trying to understand or reason with the irrationality of my parents' decisions. Weekends spent at the temple turned into weekends at debate tournaments, Bollywood movies were replaced by college football and re-runs of The Dark Knight, and Jayant was replaced by Jay. 

Today, I can confidently say that I am far from divorced from the culture I was born and raised into. I still enjoy watching Bollywood movies, celebrating Diwali’s at the Union, and dancing at Garba. However, for better or for worse, I choose to separate myself from the notion that there are intangible things that are deterministic of my life. So to be honest, I don’t know if I really am victorious. But if I am, at least it’s the result of something I did.

Works Cited

The Bump. “Jayant.” Jayant - Baby Name Meaning, Origin and Popularity, 

https://www.thebump.com/b/jayant-baby-name. 

Indastro, Anil. “How Should a Baby Be Named, Astrologically?” Baby Names as per Astrology 

-Naming Your Baby as per the Principles of Vedic Astrology, https://www.indastro.com/astrology-articles/baby-names-and-astrology.html.