Etymology Of India

India is a nation with three main names in official and popular use, and with historical and cultural importance. All three names were originally accorded to a single entity comprising all the modern nations of the Indian Subcontinent .

INDIA

The first Article of the Constitution Of India , which deals with the official name, states that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states." Thus, not only in usage but officially India and Bharat are both accorded primary status. The name India is derived from the river Indus .

The original name of the river came from the fact that in the north-west of the subcontinent, there are seven main tributaries of the one river. The local inhabitants therefore called it ''Sapta-Sindhu'', meaning the ''land of seven rivers''. As the seven tributaries are part of the one river, the entire river system came to be known in time as ''Sindhu''. In general, Sindhu also means any river or water body in Sanskrit .

Persian explorers visited the area even in ancient times, and the Iranian 'h' is cognate with Sanskrit 's'. Thus ''Sindhu'' became ''Hindu''. Similarly, Sanskrit Asura (a spirit, later an evil spirit) is cognate with Ahura , the Supreme God of the Early Iranian People .

The Greeks , dropping the 'H', derived ''Indos''. The Latin form of ''Indos'' is ''Indus'', the name by which the river system is still known in the West. Its name was given to the entire subcontinent by the Romans, who adapted it to the current ''India''.

The word ''India'' is the form used by Europeans over the ages.

Sindhu is also the Sanskrit term for Ocean and for any large water body. It would specifically mean the modern river Indus, if ancient Indic originated there. It could just mean "water dwellers" as well.

Interestingly, the Vedas did not assign any particular name for India, although some scholars assert that references to ''Indu'' in the Rig Veda relate to India's present name. Many traditional literary/cultural works from around the globe lack definite terminology for their home culture as a political unit; China, Greece, and many other civilizations lacked fixed names for themelves in traditional literature during many early periods.

Listed by, among others, Colonel James Todd in his ''Annals of Rajputana'', he describes the ancient India under control of tribes claiming descent from Moon or "Indu" and their influence in Trans-Indian regions where they referred to the land as Industhan. This explanation would serve better to explain the term Hindu. Having said that, ancient Greeks do mention the Indic tribes or related tribes (could be of Iranian origin or joint Indo-Iranian origin) inhabiting what is now Ukraine as Sindoi or Sindkoi.

Note that the term India for India has been used in English only from 17th century onwards, due to the influence of Latin. Earlier in Old and Medival English, India was exclusively called '''Inde'''.

BHāRATA

Bharata, sometimes '''Bhāratavarsha''' ('''Bhārat''' or '''Bharatvarsha''' in as /b^hα: rət/.

Mythological Origins

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The name ''"Bhārata"'' is derived from either of two ancient Hindu kings named Bharata , though it is more commonly accepted that the name derives from that of the son of Dushyanta , whom the Mahabharata credits with bringing the whole of Bharatavarsha under his rule and securing the title of an emperor.

''"Bha"'' in Sanskrit means knowledge or light, and ''"rat"'' is a verb for 'doing'. ''Bhārat'' is therefore 'the one in search of knowledge.' Bharatavarsha also means ''The Land of Bharata'', and ''The Cherished Land''. The name ''Bharata'' means ''The Cherished One'' in Sanskrit . The name derives from the times of Vedic Civilization after King Bharata , who first conquered all of the known world, which was duly named after him in his honor. Hence his descendents were called as the '''Bhāratas'''. In all the classical and religious works of Hinduism , such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana , the Puranas and Upanishads , Bhārat is the name used for what is today known as northern India. Note that in Vedic Sanskrit, the most important meaning of the word ''Bhārata'' was the epithet of Agni as the deity of knowledge.

King Bharata himself may have been named after the Vedic Goddess Bharati. Images of the Goddess describe her as bearing a trident and accompanied by a lion.

In History

Historical Bharata extended to what are today Pakistan , Nepal and Bangladesh and even by some accounts, portions of eastern Afghanistan . The Mauryan Empire under Emperors Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka are the other times the similar extent of land and peoples have been united under a single political entity, but the social, cultural and economic links are complex and originated nine thousand years ago. This expanse has variously been reduced and increased, and was at its largest under Emperors like Samudragupta , Chandragupta Vikramaditya , Alauddin Khilji , Akbar , Aurangazeb and lastly under the British.

HINDUSTAN

To the Western world, Bhārat has always been known under the name of Hind or its variants. In Vedic Sanskrit, the word '''Sindhu''' meant the river and Hind in Persian .

The word Hindu (हिन्दु), due to Iranian influence — in the sense of dwellers of Indus river — is used in some early-medieval Sanskrit texts like Bhavişhya Purāņa, Kālikā Purāņa, Merutantra, Rāmakosha, Hemantakavikosha and Adbhutarūpakosha.

ARYAVARTA

Aryavarta is yet another name which refers to India. This is not much in common use these days. In ancient texts, there is sufficient usage of the word "Aryavarta". ''Aryavarta'' refers to the ''Land of Aryas''. ''Arya'' in Sanskrit means "noble" and it is not to be confused with the term ''Aryan'' which was introduced by colonialists.

Aryavarta once covered only the Yamuna - Ganga doab, so it is also debatable if this name could apply to all of ancient India. Aryavarta was also a collection of city-states, not a political entity by itself.

SEE ALSO

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Etymology Of India