Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

. In this form he married the goddess

Parvati Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi i ...

. Etymologically, the name comes from the Sanskrit words "चन्द्र (''candra'')", meaning "moon", and "शेखर (''śekhara'')", meaning "crest" or "crown", which is an epithet of the Shiva.

Notable people with this name

In politics and activism: *

Chandra Shekhar Azad Chandra Shekhar Tiwari ( (23 July 1906 – 27 February 1931), popularly known as Chandra Shekhar Azad, was an Indian revolutionary who reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) under its new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican ...

(1906–1931), known as Azad ("The Free"), Indian revolutionary who organised the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) *

K. M. Chandrasekhar K. M. Chandrasekhar (born 20 February 1948) is a retired Indian civil servant, who was the 29th Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of India from 2007 to 2011 for a four-year term under which he directly reported to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmoha ...

(born 1948), Indian Cabinet Secretary *

Sripati Chandrasekhar Sripati Chandrasekhar (22 November 1918, Rajahmundry - 14 June 2001 San Diego, California) was a well-known Indian demographer, economist, sociologist, and scholar who has published extensively on demographics, especially related to India. Chan ...

(1918–2001), an Indian demographer and politician *

Chandra Shekhar Dubey Chandra Shekhar Dubey (born 2 January 1946) also known as Dadai Dubey was a Cabinet minister in Jharkhand government. He was an elected MLA of Bishrampur (Vidhan Sabha constituency). Dadai Dubey is a member of the Indian National Congress po ...

(born 1946), member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India * Chandrashekhar Prasad (died 1997), assassinated Indian student activist *

Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (born 17 February 1954), often referred to by his initials KCR, is an Indian politician serving as the first and current Chief Minister of Telangana since 2 June 2014. He is the founder and leader of the Bharat Ras ...

(born 1954), known as K.C.R., Indian politician and the first Chief Minister of Telangana *

Chandra Shekhar Singh Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...

, known as Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007), eighth Prime Minister of India (1990–91) *

Chandrasekhar Singh Chandrasekhar Singh (26 December 1915 - 19 July 1976 in Patna) was a leader from the Communist Party of India who served as a minister in the government of Bihar state. Family Singh was born in Bihat (Masnadpur) village near Barauni in Begusarai ...

(1915–1976), deputy leader of the Communist Party of India *

Chandrashekhar Singh Chandrashekhar Singh (17 August 1927 - 9 July 1986) was a member of the Indian National Congress and served as the 16th Chief Minister of Bihar from August 1983 to March 1985. He also held a number of Union State Minister positions in the Min ...

, member of the Indian National Congress, Chief Minister of Bihar 1983–85 In sports: * Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (B. S. Chandrasekhar, informally "Chandra"; born 1945), Indian cricketer *

H. Chandrashekar H. Chandrashekar, nicknamed Chandru, is an Indian former footballer who played for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). He also coached HAL in their first I-League (then known as the National Football League The National Football League ...

(nicknamed "Chandru"), Indian footballer * O. Chandrashekar, former Indian professional footballer * Raghavendra Chandrashekar (born 1982), Indian cricketer *

Rajesh Chandrasekar Rajesh Chandrasekar (born ) is an Indian male road and track cyclist. On the road he competed at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. At the track he competed in the scratch event at the 2013 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2013 UCI Track ...

(born 1989), Indian male road and track cyclist *

Chandrasekhar Gadkari Lt. Col. Chandrasekhar Vaman Gadkari (3 February 1928 – 11 January 1998) was an Indian Test cricketer. Gadkari was an attacking batsman, medium pace bowler and a great fielder. He made a fine impression as a fielder in the 1952/53 tour to W ...

(1928–1998), Indian cricketer * Chinta Chandrashekar Rao (born 1988), Indian football player *

Venugopal Chandrasekhar Venugopal Chandrasekhar (1957/1958 – 12 May 2021) was an Indian national table tennis champion and Arjuna Award winner. Chandrasekhar died on 12 May 2021, from COVID-19 complications amid the COVID-19 pandemic in India. He was 63. National ...

, Indian table tennis player In arts and entertainment: *

Chandrashekar Bandiyappa CSB is a South Indian film director who was born in Ummadahally a small village from Mandya district. With an academic qualification of B.Ed. from Bangalore University, M.Sc. in bioscience from Mysore University and a diploma in film technolog ...

, known as CSB, South Indian film director *

Bala Devi Chandrashekar Bala Devi Chandrashekar is a Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher based in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. She was trained under Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. Bala Devi Chandrashekar is a Professor of practice in Asian performing arts. Her approa ...

, American

Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of S ...

dancer *

Hitha Chandrashekar Hitha Chandrashekhar is an Indian actress who works in Kannada films. She rose to fame with 2017 film ''1/4 Kg Preethi''. Career Hitha completed an acting course from Roshan Taneja School of Acting in Mumbai before making her film debut in 2017 ...

, Indian film actress who works in Kannada films *

Jay Chandrasekhar Jayanth Jambulingam Chandrasekhar (born April 9, 1968) is an American comedian, film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best known for his work with the sketch comedy group Broken Lizard and for directing and starring in the Broken Lizard ...

(born 1968), American film actor, director and writer *

Joseph Vijay Chandrashekar Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar (born 22 June 1974), known as Vijay, is an Indian actor, dancer and singer who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. He is among the highest paid actors in India. He has played the lead in 66 films and the Internatio ...

(known simply as Vijay), Indian film actor and playback singer who works in Tamil cinema (Kollywood) *

Lakshmi Chandrashekar Lakshmi Chandrashekar is an Indian actress in the Kannada film industry, and a theatre artist in Karnataka, India. Some of the notable films of Lakshmi Chandrashekar as an actress include '' Atithi'' (2002), '' Avasthe'' (1987), '' S. P. Sangliy ...

, Indian film actress in the Kannada film industry, and a theatre artist in Karnataka, India *

Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter and a lyricist who predominantly works in Kannada film industry, Kannada Cinema. He made his film debut as a screenplay writer in ''Kadina Benki'' (1986) which won the Nation ...

, Indian director, actor, screenwriter and lyricist working predominantly in Kannada cinema *

Vagai Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar (born 3 May 1956), also known as Vagai Chandrasekhar, is an Indian stage, film and television actor working in Tamil language films, known for his histrionics. He is currently the Chairman of Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Mandram. He ...

(known simply as Chandrasekhar), Kollywood film actor *

Chandrashekhar Dubey Chandrashekhar Dubey (4 September 1924 – 28 September 1993) commonly referred to as C. S. Dubey was an Indian actor and radio personality. He was born in Kannod and appeared in over 150 Hindi films as a character actor starting in 1950s, wit ...

(1924–1993), Indian actor and radio personality *

Chandrashekhara Kambara Chandrashekhara Kambara ( kn, ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ ಕಂಬಾರ; born 2 January 1937) is a prominent Indian poet, playwright, folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hamp ...

(born 1937), Indian poet, playwright, and professor * Chandrashekhar Vaidya (known simply as Chandrashekhar; 1922–2021), Bollywood film actor *

Chandra Sekhar Yeleti Chandra Sekhar Yeleti (born 4 March 1973) is an Indian film director known for his works in Telugu cinema. He made his directorial debut with the Neo-noir crime film, ''Aithe'', which received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Te ...

(born 1973), Tollywood film director In science and academia: *

Hariharan Chandrashekar Dr. Hariharan Chandrashekar is an Indian ecological economist, founding and presiding over urban people-led movements for urban sustainability on water and energy, a mentor for green enterprise and entrepreneurs, and enabler of industry directi ...

(born 1956), Indian environmental economist, eco-entrepreneur, writer, and policy advocate and urban analyst *

Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar FNA, FRS (6 August 1930 – 8 March 2004) was an Indian physicist who won the Royal Medal in 1994. He was the founder-president of the International Liquid Crystal Society. Chandrasekhar was born on 6 August ...

(1930–2004), Indian physicist * Srinivasan Chandrasegaran, pioneer in genome editing *

Srinivasan Chandrasekaran Srinivasan Chandrasekaran (born 1945) is an Indian organic and organometallic chemist, academic and a former chair of the Department of Organic Chemistry and the Division of Chemical Sciences. He was also a former Dean of the Faculty of Scienc ...

(born 1945), Indian chemist *

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (; ) (19 October 1910 – 21 August 1995) was an Indian-American theoretical physicist who spent his professional life in the United States. He shared the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics with William A. Fowler for "... ...

(1910–1995), British Indian-American astrophysicist and Nobel laureate in physics, after whom the astrophysics formula

Chandrasekhar limit The Chandrasekhar limit () is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star. The currently accepted value of the Chandrasekhar limit is about (). White dwarfs resist gravitational collapse primarily through electron degeneracy pressure, compared ...

and quantity

Chandrasekhar number The Chandrasekhar number is a dimensionless quantity used in magnetic convection to represent ratio of the Lorentz force to the viscosity. It is named after the Indian astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. The number's main function is as ...

are named * Tavarekere Kalliah Chandrashekar (born 1956), Indian bioinorganic chemist, former director of National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science & Technology *

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (; 7 November 188821 November 1970) was an Indian physicist known for his work in the field of light scattering. Using a spectrograph that he developed, he and his student K. S. Krishnan discovered that when ...

(1888–1970), Indian physicist and Nobel laureate in physics * Chandrashekhar Khare, professor of mathematics at the University of California Los Angeles * Chandra Sekhar Sankurathri, founder of free Sarada Vidyalayam School and Srikiran Institute of Ophthalmology * Y. S. Chandrashekhar, Indian-American cardiologist In business: * Chandrashekhar Agashe (1888–1956), Indian industrialist

Notable people with this name

See also