Madhava (Vishnu)
Encyclopedia
Madhava is another name for Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

 or Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

 and appears as the 72nd, 167th and 735th names in the Vishnu sahasranama
Vishnu sahasranama
The Vishnu sahasranama is a list of 1,000 names of Vishnu, one of the main forms of God in Hinduism and the personal supreme God for Vaishnavas . It is also one of the most sacred and commonly chanted stotras in Hinduism...

.

From the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...

 it is understood to refer to Vishnu being the husband of the goddess of fortune (Lakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...

). Arjuna addresses Krishna in the first chapter as follows:

"What should we gain, O Krishna, husband of the goddess of fortune, and how could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen?" (Bhagavad-Gita 1.36)

Also in the Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna address Krishna as "Madhava" (meaning "Lord of fortune and also slayer of the demon Madhu").

According to Adi Sankara' s commentary on the Vishnu sahasranama
Vishnu sahasranama
The Vishnu sahasranama is a list of 1,000 names of Vishnu, one of the main forms of God in Hinduism and the personal supreme God for Vaishnavas . It is also one of the most sacred and commonly chanted stotras in Hinduism...

, Madhava means the consort of Ma, or Mahalaksmi, the Mother of the universe. Alternatively, it means on who is fit to be known through Madhu-vidya or can mean One who is the Lord of "Ma" or knowledge.

Additionally, it can also mean 'one who was born in the clan of Madhu'.
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