USHA ARORA

Sanskrit: ‘dawn’, personified as the daughter of heaven, the sister of the solar gods and of night, the wife of the god Rudra; said to be very beautiful, the friend of men, the bringer of wealth, and always young although she makes men grow old.

Indian (Panjab): Hindu and Sikh name based on the name of a mercantile community of the Panjab. It is derived from a place name, Aror (now known as Rohri, in Sind, Pakistan). According to legend the Aroras are of Kshatriya stock, but denied their Kshatriya origin in order to escape persecution by Paras Ram (paraśurāma in Sanskrit means ‘Rama with the axe’), calling themselves Aur, which means ‘someone else’ in Hindi and Panjabi. Some believe the Aroras to be related to another prominent mercantile community of the Panjab, the Khatris.