Padmagandhini (पद्मगन्धिनी, IAST: Padmagandhini) is a Sanskrit-origin Hindu girl-name meaning “She who is fragrant with the scent of lotuses”. Padmagandhini unites padma (lotus) and gandhini (she who is fragrant), naming Lakshmi as the goddess whose very presence fills the world with the sacred perfume of the lotus.

Meaning, etymology & significance

Gandha in Sanskrit means fragrance or scent, and gandhini, with its feminine suffix, means 'she who is perfumed' or 'fragrant one.' The lotus's subtle, luminous fragrance is considered in Hindu thought to be a natural emblem of divine purity and the awakening of the spirit. By calling Lakshmi Padmagandhini, the namavali proclaims that her presence carries this sacred fragrance, purifying and elevating all that surrounds her.

This epithet is used in stotra literature to evoke the sensory dimension of Lakshmi's grace; though poetic, its length makes it more common as a devotional title than a practical given name, with Gandha or Gandhini occasionally used independently.

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Scriptural source

Padmagandhini appears in the Lakshmi Ashtottaram, among the sacred names of Lakshmi.

Astrology — nakshatra, rashi & numerology

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