Kamadhuh (कामधुक्, IAST: Kāmadhuk) is a Sanskrit-origin Hindu boy-name meaning “The wish-fulfilling divine cow; granter of all desires”. Kāmadhuk is the Sahasranama form of Kāmadhenu, the celestial cow who yields all desires, here applied to Vishnu as the inexhaustible divine source that fulfils every sincere longing of his devotees.

Meaning, etymology & significance

The word kāmadhuk derives from kāma (desire, longing) and the root duh (to milk, to yield), meaning 'the one who milks forth or yields all desires.' In the Purāṇas, Kāmadhenu is the primordial wish-granting cow of the gods, born of the churning of the cosmic ocean. When this name is given to Vishnu, it transforms the image: he himself is the inexhaustible source of divine abundance, like a cosmic Kāmadhenu who nourishes every soul with exactly what it truly needs for liberation and joy.

This name appears in the Bhagavad Gītā (10.28) where Krishna declares, 'among cows I am Kāmadhuk,' and it is also enshrined in the Vishnu Sahasranama. Pronunciation: KAA-mah-dhuk; the terminal consonant cluster is softened in colloquial chanting to 'Kāmadhu.' Kāma alone is used as a given name but carries different connotations; Kāmadhenu is the fuller devotional form.

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Scriptural source

Kamadhuh 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, Kamadhuh aligns with the Mrigashira nakshatra, under the Mithuna rashi (Moon sign). Its Chaldean name-number is 1.