Nishkama (निष्कामा, IAST: niṣkāmā) is a Sanskrit-origin Hindu girl-name meaning “Desireless, free from all longing or craving”. Formed from nis (without) and kāma (desire, longing), this name reveals Lalitā as utterly self-complete — she who acts in creation not from need or want, but from the pure overflow of her own blissful nature.

Meaning, etymology & significance

Kāma, rooted in the Sanskrit root kam (to desire or love), drives the vast drama of creation and embodied life; niṣkāmā signifies freedom from this driving force entirely. Lalitā as Niṣkāmā is the embodiment of the Gītā's ideal of niṣkāma karma — action without attachment to fruit — elevated to its highest metaphysical expression. She creates, sustains, and dissolves the cosmos not out of lack or desire, but as the spontaneous play (līlā) of her own infinite abundance.

Niṣkāmā is celebrated as an epithet of Lalitā in the Sahasranāma and is philosophically consonant with Advaita Vedāntic descriptions of the absolute; the name is pronounced niṣ-kaa-maa, with stress on the long second syllable.

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Scriptural source

Nishkama appears in the Lalitha Sahasranama, among the sacred names of Lalitha.

Astrology — nakshatra, rashi & numerology

By the standard Vedic correspondence between a name’s first syllable and the lunar mansion, Nishkama aligns with the Anuradha nakshatra, under the Vrischika rashi (Moon sign). Its Chaldean name-number is 4.