Pākhaṇḍavedamārgeśa (पाखण्डवेदमार्गेश, IAST: Pākhaṇḍavedamārgeśa) is a Sanskrit-origin Hindu boy-name meaning “Lord who guides heretics back to the Vedic path”. Pākhaṇḍa denotes those who stray from orthodox dharma, veda-mārga is the Vedic path, and īśa is its lord; together the name honours Viṣṇu as the sovereign who reclaims wandering souls for sacred tradition.

Meaning, etymology & significance

The term pākhaṇḍa historically signifies one who mimics or corrupts Vedic rites, and Viṣṇu as mārgeśa of such persons is understood as both their corrector and their ultimate refuge. In his Kalki avatāra, the Lord is said to restore dharma precisely by overcoming such deviation. This epithet thus carries an eschatological promise of purification.

As a divine epithet it belongs to the Kalki-related cluster of names in the Sahasranāma; due to its compound length it is rarely used as a given name in modern practice, though scholarly votaries may adopt the shortened form Mārgeśa.

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Scriptural source

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