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The One who has long and beautiful hair. Many of the incarnations of Viṣṇu have long, beautiful and flowing hair.

Keśava is made up of ka + a + īśa. Ka refers to Brahmā, a refers to Viṣṇu and īśa refers to Rudra. Therefore, Keśava means the One, who is supreme to the lords of creation, sustenance and destruction. This nāma is also said to refer to His Brahmanic status. This statement is substantiated in the following mantra:

sarva deva namaskāraḥkeśavaṁpratigacchati।

सर्वदेवनमस्कारःकेशवंप्रतिगच्छति।

This means that the obeisance paid to all gods ultimately reach Keśava. There is yet another verse in Nārāyaṇasūktam (verse 12) which says,

tasyāḥśikhāyāmadhyeparamātmāvyavasthitaḥ |

sabrahmasaśivaḥsahariḥsendraḥso’kṣarḥparamaḥsvarāṭ ||     

sabrahmasaśivaḥsahariḥsendraḥso’
kṣarḥparamaḥsvarāṭ ||     

तस्याःशिखायामध्येपरमात्माव्यवस्थितः।

सब्रह्मसशिवःसहरिःसेन्द्रःसोऽक्षर्ःपरमःस्वराट्॥

‘In the midst of that flame, the Brahman is seated. He is Brahmā, He is Śiva, He is Hari (Viṣṇu). He is the One without any ruler’ and this verse reconfirms His Supremacy. He is the Ultimate. Attaining His lotus feet is liberation.

२३. || ॐ केशवाय नमः ||

23.  Om Keśavay Namah

Keshavah –

The one whose keSa (hair) is called as keSava

Under whose sway, brahmA, viShNu and mahesha work. (Ref. Pāṇiṇisūtra 5.2.109)

The killer or slayer of demon keSIkA is called as keSava. Further acharya cites Ref of viShNupurANa 5.16.23

We will further understand second definition as explained by our AchAryaSankaraBhagavadpAda on the basis of pANiNisUtra 5.2.109:

keSava is made up of 4 words

‘ka’, ‘a’, ‘isa’, ‘va’

ka = Brahma

a = Vishnu

isa = Mahadev / Shiva / Shankara / Mahesha / Rudra

va = That which one has in one’s possession, what is under one’s sway. i.e. One who contains in himself – Lord of Creation, Preservation and Dissolution is keSava.

He who has beautiful and graceful (Va) locks of hair (Kesa) is familiar as in Lord Krishna’s form. Or, it can also mean, one who destroyed (“vah”) the demon Kesin who was sent to destroy the child-Krishna by his uncle Kamsa This interpretation is endorsed by the Vishnu Purana, 5.16.23.

INTERPRETATION GUIDED BY SANT VANI (WORDS OF SAINTS)

Keśavaḥ

The one who has beautiful hair.

The word Keśava has more than one meaning. This can be looked upon as a word that indicates

Parameśvara or the avatāra, that is, the manifest form of Īśvara, especially as ŚrīKriṣhṇa. Abhirūpāḥeśāḥyasyasaḥeśavaḥ–one who has beautiful locks of hair. ŚrīKriṣhṇa is a particular form of the Lord. Once a form is given, this is the saguṇa aspect and it has attributes. The form with the attributes helps one to visualize and relate to the Lord. So, ŚrīKriṣhṇa is a form with beautiful locks of hair and the name Keśava indicates that.

Alternately, aścaaścaīśaścaeśāḥ–‘ a’ is Brahmāji; ‘a’ is Vishnu and ‘īśa’ is Rudra; hence ‘kesah’ denote the trimurtis, Brahmāji, Viṣṇu and Rudra. Teyadvaśevartante – these trimūrtis constitute whom, He is Keśava. Here, each of the trimūrtis represents an aspect of Īśvara from three different stand-points, that is, creation, sustenance and resolution. Since they have been delegated their wor , they are under the control of Parameśvara.

Keśivadhātvāeśavaḥ – He is also nown as Keśava, because of slaying the asura called Keśī. Keśī was an asura who came to Vrindavan in the guise of a horse to ill Sri Krishna, but he got

killed by ŚrīKriṣhṇa. A verse in the Viṣhṇupurāṇa supports this meaning. There, Nārada tells ŚrīKriṣhṇa, ‘because the duṣṭātmāKeśī was killed by you, you will be well nown in the world by the name Keśava’ (5.16.23)

Killing of Keshi Demon

Kamsa, maternal uncle of Lord Krishna, kept on sending many powerful mystic demons, the best of all in the universe like Putana, Shakatasura, Trinavrata, Aghasura, Bakasura, Vyomasura, Vastasura etc., to murder little child Krishna. Both Krishna and Balarama effortlessly killed them to the surprise of Kamsa. Kamsa thus highly frustrated in his attempts to kill Krishna, sent a mighty powerful mystic demon named Keshi. Keshi assumed the form of a gigantic mad horse. He came galloping towards Vrindavan. He ran at the speed of mind. His hooves seemed to tear the earth apart and cause earthquakes. His tail reached so high in the sky that it was scattering the clouds.

Right there in Vrindavan, unaware of what is there in store for them, the cowherd boys were grazing the cows and playing blissfully with Lord Krishna. Madhumangala, one of the cowherd boys, who is fond of Laddus (delicious sweet), joked with Krishna saying, “Hey Krishna! My dear friend, you are so dear to inhabitants of Vrindavan, they all love you and please you by offering delicious food. Lend me your beautiful peacock feather, flute and effulgent and gorgeous yellow clothing. Thus dressed like you, I will procure Laddus and eat them to my heart’s content”. Out of affection for His friend, Krishna personally decorated His friend and sent him.

Meanwhile Keshi demon was searching in Vrindavan for the boy who wore peacock feather, playing flute and wearing yellow garments as per orders given by Kamsa. Seeing Madhumangala dressed as Krishna, Keshi furiously attacked him. Madhumangala was frightened to see this ghastly demon and immediately called out to Krishna for help. Just at that time Krishna came to the scene to rescue His friend and challenged Keshi for a duel with Him. Infuriated by the challenge, Keshi opened his mouth to devour Krishna. When he approached Krishna he began to kick Krishna with his front legs. Krishna grabbed those legs, whirled him around and threw him away to a long distance of more than 100 yards. Keshi fell to the ground unconscious. But he came back to the consciousness, madder than ever before.

Now Keshi’s eyes were blazing with anger. He charged towards Krishna with his gigantic mouth kept open to devour the Lord. Krishna with a big smile on His lotus face, effortlessly pushed His hand in Keshi’s mouth and broke all of his teeth. Keshi felt Krishna’s lotus hand stuck within his throat to be red-hot like fire. Krishna’s hand expanded, expanded and expanded until Keshi could no longer breathe. Finally he got choked up and suffocated and started kicking his legs. His eyeballs exploded out of the sockets. He passed stool and urine simultaneously, slipped over and fell to the ground dead. Shri Krishna Bhagvanki Jay!!!

Cowherd boys were very happy. They cried out, “Well done Krishna! Well done!”  And the demigods from heaven showered flowers upon His head. Because His hand was stuck in Keshi’s dirty mouth, Krishna came down to the ghat on the banks of the Yamunato take His bath after killing Keshi. From then on this ghat came to be known as Keshi Ghat. From that time onwards great devotees of the Lord have been reciting this wonderful pastime of Krishna killing Keshi at Keshi Ghat.

It was Radha Rani who named him Keshav because of killing the demon Keshi at Keshi Ghat in Vrindavan.