Bhagavan
an epithet for god, lord, blessed one in Hinduism and Buddhism
The word Bhagavan (Sanskrit: भगवान्, romanized: Bhagavān; Pali: Bhagavā), also spelt as Bhagwan (sometimes translated in English as "Lord", "God"), is an epithet within Indian religions used to denote figures of religious worship. In Hinduism it is used to signify a deity or an avatar, particularly for Krishna and Vishnu in Vaishnavism, Shiva in Shaivism and Durga or Adi Shakti in Shaktism. In Jainism the term refers to the Tirthankaras, and in Buddhism to the Buddha.
In many parts of India and South Asia, Bhagavan represents the concept of a universal God or Divine to Hindus who are spiritual and religious but do not worship a specific deity.
In bhakti school literature, the term is typically used for any deity to whom prayers are offered. A particular deity is often the devotee's one and only Bhagavan. The female equivalent of Bhagavān is Bhagavatī. To some Hindus, the word Bhagavan is an abstract, genderless concept of God.
In Buddhism's Pali and Sanskrit scriptures, the term is used to denote The Buddha, referring him as Bhagavā or Bhagavān (translated with the phrase "Lord" or "The Blessed One"). The term Bhagavan is also found in Theravada, Mahayana and Tantra Buddhist texts.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Bhagavan” as an epithet for god, lord, blessed one in Hinduism and Buddhism. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q560179. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bhagavan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.