Does India, Bharat & Hindustan mean the same? 

 

India is a remarkably diversified country, home to several festivals, traditions, and faiths. And today, when industrialization has always had a significant influence on society, India urgently grasps cultural strands while being overwhelmed by rapid modernity. A nation with several identities – India, Hindustan, and Bharat – has emerged from this mix of cultures, beliefs, and circumstances.

 

But then how could these names come to be?

 

The official designation of India was taken from the Sanskrit term ‘Sindhu,’ which related to the Indus River.

 

Once the Persians captured both the then-Indian mainland and Greece in the fifth-century B.c.e., ‘Sindhu’ renamed ‘Hindus’ to denote the ‘country of Hindus.’ ‘Hindus’ developed to ‘Indos’ from Greek Herodotus (4th b.c.e) and made its first occurrence in Old English in the 9th century. Finally, in the 17th century, as ‘Indos’ gave way to Modern English, the word ‘India’ was born.

 

Even though the moniker was inspired by that of the Indus, the river currently largely flows through Pakistan, India’s Jammu and Kashmir, and western Tibet. When India’s first constitution was ratified on January 26, 1950, Bharat was supposed to be another official designation of the Republic of India.

This name comes from the Sanskrit phrase ‘Bharata,’ which means ‘the beloved,’ and it extends back to ancient times ‘Hindu Puranas,’ which relate to the account of the mythical Monarch Bharata, the very first conqueror of the whole Indian subcontinent and hence the Republic of India.

 

Bharata is regarded as the progenitor of the illustrious Bharata dynasty. As a result of his conquest of the Indian area where he and his successors lived, it became known as ‘Bharatavarsa,’ where varsa signified ‘land’ or ‘continent.’

Hindustan is another common name for India.

 

This is another historically significant name. ‘Hind’ is the Persian counterpart of the Iranian ‘Sindh,’ which relates to the Indo-Aryans, and’stan,’ which means ‘land’ or ‘country,’ is similar to’sthana,’ which means ‘place’ in Sanskrit. During the British Raj in India, the name “Hind” was extensively used to refer to the north and northwestern subcontinents of India, which were heavily influenced by Indo-Aryan civilization.

 

Currently, Indian society refers to India as Hindustan, even though the term is no longer official.

There is no doubt that India is more than a country in this world; it is a world unto itself.