Kumar ( pronunciation ; Sanskrit: कुमार) is a Hindu title, a given name, middle name, or a family name found in India, though not specific to any caste or community. It is a generic title which variously means son, boy, prince, unmarried or chaste. It is the 9th most common family name in the world, 3rd most common in India and 2nd most common in Fiji. It is more common in Northern India and the most common family name in Haryana, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

History

The origin of Kumar can be traced back to early development of Hinduism and its origin in India. The first usage of Kumar was for the Four Kumāras, the four sons of Brahma from the Puranic texts of Hinduism named Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana, and Sanat.

In Skanda Purana, the largest Mahapurana, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts, the text is devoted mainly to the leelas of Kartikeya, son of Shiva and Parvati. "Kumar" is used to refer Kartikeya.

Notable people

Kumaré is an American 2011 documentary film directed by Vikram Gandhi.

To record the documentary, American filmmaker Vikram Gandhi transformed himself into Sri Kumaré, an enlightened guru from a fictional village in India, by adopting a fake Indian accent and growing out his hair and beard. In the film, Kumaré travels to Arizona to spread his made-up philosophy and gain sincere followers.

Kumaré premiered at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW), where it received the festival's Feature Film Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature. Gandhi came up with the idea of a fictional guru while recording another documentary film about yogis and their followers.

Reception

Kumaré received fair reviews upon release. Many movie reviewers criticized Gandhi's deception as immoral, but partially forgave Gandhi for realizing that the experiment had grown out of his control. Many compared the character of Kumaré and the deception by Gandhi to Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat character and film. Those who liked the movie, like Stephen Holden of the New York Times and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, praised the film's message of "finding the guru within."

Kumarason Chinnadurai (born 10 August 1968, in Singapore), popularly known as Kumar, is a Singaporean Indian comedian and television host, actor, and drag queen. He made his name at the now defunct Boom Boom Room and was, for a time, synonymous with the cabaret nightclub as its resident performer. Having spent nearly two decades as an entertainer, he has amassed a string of television, stage, and film credits. Currently, he is a regular performer at 3-Monkeys Café in Holland Village and Hard Rock Café. He released his biographical book, Kumar: From Rags To Drag, in September 2011, in which he publicly came out as gay, making him one of the few openly-gay public figures in Singapore. He also discussed his then-twenty years in show business.

Early life

Kumar was born on 10 August 1968 to a South Indian father from Madras and a Singaporean mother. His father, Chinna Dorai, arrived in Singapore in the mid-1960s and worked as a caretaker for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). When Kumar was four, his parents divorced; he was raised by his mother’s younger sister, Rani Vyarakannoo, a policewoman, who eventually became his step-mother.