Charulata

Charulata meaning

Charulata (चारुलता) is a Hindu girl's name of Sanskrit origin. By its first sound, चा, it is a Meen rashi name (Revati nakshatra) in the North Indian table.

A beautiful creeper

Charulata (चारुलता) joins two Sanskrit words: cāru, "agreeable, lovely, beautiful", and latā, "a creeper, any creeping or winding plant". Monier-Williams notes that latā is also used for a slender woman, which is why it closes many Indian girls' names. The compound itself is not a dictionary headword, but its sense is plain: "a beautiful creeper", an image of slender grace. The name is best known through Satyajit Ray's film Charulata (1964), adapted from Rabindranath Tagore's novella Nastanirh, "The Broken Nest", first published in 1901. Its heroine, Charu, is the lonely, gifted wife of a newspaper editor in Calcutta in 1879, and Britannica calls the film perhaps Ray's most accomplished. Name lists give the same meaning as the dictionary parts.

Source: Monier-Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), p. 393 · entry cāru · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Monier-Williams, cāru, p. 393 · Monier-Williams, latā, p. 895 · Britannica, The Lonely Wife (Charulata) · Wikipedia, Charulata

Famous namesakes

• Charulata, heroine of Tagore's Nastanirh and Satyajit Ray's 1964 film

Fits your syllable

First sound चा

Revati nakshatra, pada 3 · Meen rashi

North Indian table. Tables vary by region and family tradition, so confirm with your priest.

Spellings

Charulata · Charulatha

Related names

Also meaning beauty

Also starting with Cha-

More Sanskrit names

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