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The name India may refer to either the region of Greater India (the Indian subcontinent), or to the contemporary Republic of India contained therein. The term is derived from the name of the Sindhu (Indus River) and has been in use in Greek since Plutarchus[1] (1st century CE). The term appears in Old English in the 9th century, and again in Modern English since the 17th century.
The Republic of India has three principal short names, in both official and popular English usage, each of which is historically significant. All three originally designated a single entity comprising all the modern nations of the Indian subcontinent. These names are India, Bharat (named after King Bharata) and Hindustan (The Land of Hindus). The first Article of the Constitution of India states that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states." Thus, India and Bharat are equally official short names for the Republic of India, while Hindustan is used by Muslim nationals and is mostly used in historical contexts (especially British India). Indians commonly refer to their country as Bharat, Hindustan or India depending on the context and language of conversation.
The English term is from Greek Ἰνδία, via Latin India. Ἰνδία in Byzantine (Koine Greek) ethnography denotes the region beyond the Ἰνδός river, since Herodotus (5th century BCE) ἡ Ἰνδική χώÏη "Indian land", Ἰνδός "an Indian", from Avestan HinduÅ¡ (referring to Sindh, and listed as a conquered territory by Darius I in the Persepolis terrace inscription). The name is derived ultimately from Sindhu, the Sanskrit name of the river, but also meaning "river" generically. Latin India is used by Lucian (2nd century).
The name India was known in Anglo-Saxon, and was used in King Alfred's translation of Orosius. In Middle English, the name was, under French influence, replaced by Ynde or Inde, which entered Early Modern English as Indie. The use of the name India dates from the 17th century onwards, and may be due to the influence of Latin, or Spanish or Portuguese. [2]
Sanskrit indu "drop (of Soma)", also a term for the Moon, is unrelated, but has sometimes been erroneously connected. Listed by, among others, Colonel James Todd in his Annals of Rajputana, he describes the ancient India under control of tribes claiming descent from the Moon, or "Indu", (referring to Chandravanshi Rajputs), and their influence in Trans-Indian regions where they referred to the land as Industhan.
Bharat
The name BhÄrat[3] is used for the Republic of India, derived from BhÄrata in the official Sanskrit name of the country, BhÄrata GaṇarÄjya. The form Bharata is used in several other Indian languages.
The Sanskrit word bhÄrata is a vrddhi derivation of bharata, which was originally an epithet of Agni. The term is a verbal noun of the Sanskrit root bhr-, "to bear / to carry", with a literal meaning of "to be maintained" (of fire). The root bhr is cognate with the English verb to bear and Latin ferÅ. This term also means "one who is engaged in search for knowledge".
The BhÄratas were Indians mentioned in the Rigveda, notably participating in the Battle of the Ten Kings.
The term BhÄrata as a name for India as a whole is derived from the name of Bharata son of Dushyanta, a legendary ruler mentioned in the MahabhÄrata (the core portion of which is itself known as BhÄrata). The realm of Bharata is known as BharÄtavará¹£a in the MahabhÄrata and later texts. The term vará¹£a means a division of the earth, or a continent.
The Vishnu Purana (2.3.1) has:
uttaraṃ yatsamudrasya himÄdreÅ›caiva daká¹£iṇam / vará¹£aṃ tadbhÄrataṃ nÄma bhÄratÄ« yatra santatiḥ
"The country (vará¹£am) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called BhÄratam; there dwell the descendants of Bharata."
The term in Classical Sanskrit literature is taken to comprise the territory of the contemporary Republic of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, as well as portions of eastern Afghanistan. This corresponds to the approximate extent of the historical Maurya Empire under emperors Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka the Great (4th to 3rd centuries BCE). Later political entities unifying approximately the same region are the Mughal Empire (17th century), the Maratha Empire (18th century) , and the British Raj (19th to 20th centuries).
Akhanda Bharata ("undivided Bharat") is an irredentist term of Hindu nationalism calling for a re-unification of the region under the predominance of Dharmic culture.
Hindustan and Hind
The name Hind is derived from the Iranian equivalent of Indo-Aryan Sindh. The Avestan -stÄn means country or land (cognate to Sanskrit sthÄna "place, land").
India was called Hindustan in Persian although the term Hind is in current use. al-Hind الهند is the term in the Arabic language (e.g. in the 11th century Tarikh Al-Hind "history of India"). It also occurs intermittently in usage within India, such as in the phrase Jai Hind.
The terms Hind and HindustÄn were current in Persian and Arabic from the 11th century Islamic conquests: the rulers in the Sultanate and Mughal periods called their Indian dominion, centred around Delhi, Hindustan. -stan is a Persian suffix meaning "home of/place of".
The word hindÅ« was loaned into Sanskrit from Persian in early medieval times and is attested — in the sense of "dwellers of the Indian subcontinent", in some texts, such as Bhavishya PurÄna, KÄlikÄ PurÄna, Merutantra, RÄmakosha, Hemantakavikosha and AdbhutarÅ«pakosha.
HindustÄn, as is the term Hindu itself. It entered the English language in the 17th century. In the 19th century, the term as used in English referred to the northern region of India between the Indus and Brahmaputra rivers and between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas in particular, hence the term Hindustani for the Hindi-Urdu language. Hindustan was in use synonymously with India during the British Raj.
Hind remains in use in Hindi-Urdu. In contemporary Persian language, the term Hindustan has come to mean the Indian subcontinent, and the modern Indian Union is called Hind. The same is the case with Arabic language, where al-Hind is the name of the Republic of India.
Aryadesa
In a few Hindu texts such as the Manu Smriti and a few early Buddhist texts, India is known as 'Aryadesh.' India is mentioned as Aryaavarta in the Manu Smriti. So 'Arya' is used for members of the Arya Dharma (now called Hindu Dharma) and 'Aryaa' is a designation for the Aryan tribe.
Aryadesa (or Aryadesha) or Arya Nadu (or Ariya Nadu) are names that have been used by scholars to describe India.
Aryadesh was used by the Chinese traveler to India, I-Tsing who used the term to refer to all of India.
Tamil poet freedom fighter Bharathi called India Arya Nadu in his poetry. Arya means noble and "desa" or "nadu" mean land. |
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