Kushal (कुशल) is a Hindi / Nepali word of Sanskrit origin written in Devanagri script. Other meaning include clever, intelligent, tactful, smart, etc.. In the language of Gujarati, mainly spoken in western India, the word can mean happiness.

History

The history of the word "Kushal" goes back to ancient era in India when formal education to the students or Shishya was given by their teachers or Guru in a school called Gurukul. The students learn from the guru and also helped the guru in his day-to-day life, including the carrying out of mundane tasks such as washing clothes, cooking, etc.

The leaves of a special herb called Kush were required by gurus as part of daily rituals they performed, but the leaves were very difficult to remove as they were needle like therefore it required expertise and skill to efficiently remove the leaves from the herb. So students were trained with these skills to remove the leaves, once becoming an expert at this task they were sent to remove the leaves from the Kush herb and they were given the name of Kushal. Eventually with the passage of time anyone being an expert in any particular task was called Kushal and hence the name evolved.

According to Maneka Gandhi's book of Sanskrit names, the name Kushal means: Skilled; efficient; right; good; happy; clever; cool; auspicious; proficient; skill; strategy; efficiency. Another name for Shiva.