Hiraṇyakaśipuchedin (हिरण्यकशिपुच्छेदिन्, IAST: hiraṇyakaśipuchedin) is a Sanskrit-origin Hindu boy-name meaning “The one who severed and destroyed Hiraṇyakaśipu”. From hiraṇyakaśipu (the golden-garmented demon king) and chedin (cutter, slayer — from the root chid, to cut or split), this name immortalises Viṣṇu in His Narasiṃha form as the one who righteously sundered the tyrant who tortured his own devoted son Prahlāda.

Meaning, etymology & significance

Hiraṇyakaśipu, whose name means 'clothed in gold' or 'one devoted to gold and luxury,' had obtained a boon making him nearly invincible under ordinary conditions; Viṣṇu's genius was to appear as Narasiṃha — neither man nor beast — at twilight, on a threshold, and to use His bare nails as weapons, thus honouring the letter of every clause of the boon while delivering divine justice. Chedin, the cutter, captures the definitive, irreversible nature of that act.

This epithet is cherished in Narasiṃha worship and in namāvalīs recited for the protection of children. As a shortened form, Chhedin or Chedin occasionally appears as a Vaiṣṇava given name, though the full compound is reserved for liturgy.

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Scriptural source

Hiraṇyakaśipuchedin appears in the Vishnu Sahasranama, among the sacred names of Vishnu.

Astrology — nakshatra, rashi & numerology

By the standard Vedic correspondence between a name’s first syllable and the lunar mansion, Hiraṇyakaśipuchedin aligns with the Punarvasu nakshatra, under the Karka rashi (Moon sign). Its Chaldean name-number is 7.