Padmasundari (पद्मसुन्दरी, IAST: padmasundarī) is a Sanskrit-origin Hindu girl-name meaning “Beautiful as the lotus; the lotus-lovely goddess”. A compound of 'padma' (lotus) and 'sundari' (beautiful woman, beauty personified), Padmasundari praises Lakshmi as one whose entire being shines with the ineffable beauty of the sacred lotus in full bloom.

Meaning, etymology & significance

The word 'sundari' is among the most celebrated in Sanskrit poetry, evoking feminine beauty that is both radiant and deeply graceful, and placing 'padma' before it intensifies that beauty with the lotus's symbolism of purity, spiritual perfection, and divine origin. As Padmasundari, Lakshmi is declared the most beautiful of all beautiful things, Her loveliness rooted not in worldly attractiveness alone but in the transcendent perfection of a being born from and forever associated with the sacred bloom. This name is also an epithet of Tara and Tripura Sundari in the Shakta tradition.

Padmasundari is used as a given name across India and Southeast Asia, reflecting the spread of Vaishnava and Shakta devotion; it is pronounced 'PAHD-mah-sun-dah-ree'.

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Scriptural source

Padmasundari 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, Padmasundari aligns with the Uttara phalguni nakshatra, under the Kanya rashi (Moon sign). Its Chaldean name-number is 4.