Question: What is India known for?

Names for India



The Republic of India has two principal short names in both official and popular English usage, each of which is historically significant, "India" and "Bharat". The first article of the Constitution of India states that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states," implicitly codifying "India" and "Bharat" as equally official short names for the Republic of India. A third name, "Hindustan", is an alternative name for the region comprising most of the modern nations of the subcontinent when Indians speak among themselves. The usage of "Bharat", "Hindustan", or "India" depends on the context and language of conversation.
"Bhārät", the name for India in several Indian languages, is variously said to be derived from the name of Dushyanta's son Bharata or Rishabha's son Bharata.[1]  At first the name Bharata referred only to the western part of the Gangetic Valley in North India, but was later more broadly applied to the Indian subcontinent and the region of Greater India, as was the name "India". Today it refers to the contemporary Republic of India located therein. The name "India" is originally derived from the name of the river Sindhu (Indus River) and has been in use in Greek since Herodotus (4th century BCE). The term appeared in Old English as early the 9th century and reemerged in Modern English in the 17th century.
Although "the Aryavarta" was eventually accepted as a term for all of India, previously it was only a name of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. According to Manusmṛti[2] North India (i.e., India north of the Vindhyas) is also known as Āryāvarta (Sanskrit: आर्यावर्त, abode of the Vedic people).[3]
India


The English term is from Greek Indika (cf. Megasthenes' work Indica) or Indía (Ἰνδία), via Latin transliteration India.[4][5]
The name derives ultimately from Sanskrit Síndhu (सिन्धु), which was the name of the Indus River as well as the country at the lower Indus basin (modern Sindh, in Pakistan).[6][7] The Old Persian equivalent of Síndhu was Hindu.[8] Darius I conquered Sindh in about 516 BCE, upon which the Persian equivalent Hinduš was used for the province at the lower Indus basin.[9][10] Skylax of Karyanda who explored the Indus river for the Persian emperor probably took over the Persian name and passed it into Greek.[11] The terms Indos (Ἰνδός) for the Indus river as well as "an Indian" are found in Herodotus's Geography.[12] The loss of the aspirate /h/ was probably due to the dialects of Greek spoken in Asia Minor.[13][14] Herodotus also generalised the term "Indian" from the people of lower Indus basin, to all the people living to the east of Persia, even though he had no knowledge of the geography of the land.[15]
By the time of Alexander, Indía in Koine Greek denoted the region beyond the Indus. Alexander's companions were aware of at least North India up to the Ganges delta (Gangaridai).[16][17] Later, Megasthenes included in India the southern peninsula as well.[17]
Latin India is used by Lucian (2nd century AD). India was known in Old English language and was used in King Alfred's translation of Paulus Orosius. In Middle English, the name was, under French influence, replaced by Ynde or Inde, which entered Early Modern English as "Indie".  The name "India" then came back to English usage from the 17th century onward, and may be due to the influence of Latin, or Spanish or Portuguese.
Sanskrit indu "drop (of Soma)", also a term for the Moon, is unrelated, but has sometimes been erroneously connected.
Hind / Hindustan


The words Hindū (Persian: هندو‎) and Hind (Persian: هند‎) came from Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit Sindhu (the Indus River or its region). The Achaemenid emperor Darius I conquered the Indus valley in about 516 BCE, upon which the Achaemenid equivalent of Sindhu, viz., "Hindush" (𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁, H-i-du-u-š) was used for the lower Indus basin.[9][10] The name was also known as far as the Achaemenid province of Egypt where it was written 𓉔𓈖𓂧𓍯𓇌 (H-n-d-wꜣ-y) on the Statue of Darius I, circa 500 BCE.[19][20][18]
In middle Persian, probably from the first century CE, the suffix -stān (Persian: ستان‎) was added, indicative of a country or region, forming the  name Hindūstān.[21] Thus, Sindh was referred to as Hindūstān in the Naqsh-e-Rustam inscription of Sassanid emperor Shapur I in c. 262 CE.[22][23]
Emperor Babur said, "On the East, the South, and the West it is bounded by the Great Ocean."[24]
Hind was notably adapted in the Arabic language as the definitive form Al-Hind (الهند) for India, e.g. in the 11th century Tarikh Al-Hind ('History of India'). It occurs intermittently in usage within India, such as in the phrase Jai Hind (Hindi: जय हिन्द) or in Hind Mahāsāgar (हिन्द महासागर), the Standard Hindi name for the Indian Ocean, but otherwise is deemed archaic.
Both the names were current in Persian and Arabic from the 11th century Islamic conquests: the rulers in the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods called their Indian dominion, centered around Delhi, "Hindustan" (ہندوستان; हिन्दुस्तान). In contemporary Persian and Urdu language, the term Hindustan has recently come to mean the Republic of India. The same is the case with Arabic, where al-Hind is the name for the Republic of India.
"Hindustan", as the term Hindu itself, entered the English language in the 17th century. In the 19th century, the term as used in English referred to the Subcontinent. "Hindustan" was in use simultaneously with "India" during the British Raj. Today, "Hindustan" is no longer in use as the official name for India.
Āryāvarta
Āryāvarta (Sanskrit: आर्यावर्त, 'abode of Aryans') is a name for North India, where the culture of the Indo-Aryans was based, in classical Sanskrit literature. Manu Smriti (2.22) gives the name to "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern (Bay of Bengal) to the Western Sea (Arabian Sea)".[25][26]
Bhārata


Bhārata was selected as the name of the country of India in 1950.[27]
The name Bhārata or Bhārata-varṣa (Bharata-varsha) is said to be derived from the name of either Dushyanta's son Bharata or Rishabha's son Bharata.[1] Several Puranas state that it is derived from the name of Bharata, the son of Rishabha. However, some Puranic passages state that it is derived from Bharata, which was another name for Rishabha's ancestor Manu. Some other Puranic passages refer to the Bharata people, who are described as the descendants of Dushyanta's son Bharata in the Mahabharata.[28]
The earliest recorded use of Bhāratavarṣa in a geographical sense is in the Hathigumpha inscription of King Kharavela (first century BCE), where it applies only to a restrained area of northern India, namely the part of the Gangetic Valley west of Magadha.[29][30] In the Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata (200 BCE to 300 CE), a larger region of North India is encompassed by the term, but much of the Deccan and South India are still excluded.[31]
Bhārata has been used as a self-ascribed name by some people of the Indian subcontinent and the Republic of India.[32] The designation Bhārata appears in the official Sanskrit name of the country, Bhārata Gaṇarājya. The name is derived from the ancient Hindu Puranas, which refer to the land that comprises India as Bhāratavarṣa (Sanskrit: भारतवर्ष, lit. country of Bharata) and uses this term to distinguish it from other varṣa</i>s or continents.[33] For example, the Vayu Purana says "he who conquers the whole of Bhāratavarṣa is celebrated as a samrāt (Vayu Purana 45, 86)."[34]
The Sanskrit word bhārata is a vṛddhi 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 ferō. This term also means "one who is engaged in search for knowledge". Barato, the Esperanto name for India, is also a derivation of Bhārata
According to the Puranas, this country is known as Bharatavarsha after Bharata, the son of Rishabha. This has been mentioned in Vishnu Purana (2,1,31), Vayu Purana (33,52), Linga Purana (1,47,23), Brahmanda Purana (14,5,62), Agni Purana (107,11–12), Skanda Purana, Khanda (37,57) and Markandaya Purana (50,41), all using the designation Bharata Varsha.
Vishnu Purāna mentions:
ऋषभो मरुदेव्याश्च ऋषभात भरतो भवेत्
भरताद भारतं वर्षं, भरतात सुमतिस्त्वभूत्
Rishabha was born to Marudevi, Bharata was born to Rishabha,
Bharatavarsha (India) arose from Bharata and Sumati arose from Bharata.
—Vishnu Purana (2,1,31)
ततश्च भारतं वर्षमेतल्लोकेषुगीयते
भरताय यत: पित्रा दत्तं प्रतिष्ठिता वनम  (विष्णु पुराण, २,१,३२)
This country is known as Bharatavarsha since the times the father entrusted the kingdom to the son Bharata and he himself went to the forest for ascetic practices.[35]
—Vishnu Purana (2,1,32)
uttaraṃ yatsamudrasya himādreścaiva dakṣiṇam
varṣaṃ tadbhārataṃ nāma bhāratī yatra santatiḥ
उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् ।
वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।।
"The country (varṣam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam; there dwell the descendants of Bharata."
—Vishnu Purana
The Srimad Bhagavat Purana mentions(Canto 5, Chapter 4)[36] - "He (Rishabha) begot a hundred sons that were exactly like him... He (Bharata) had the best qualities and it was because of him that this land by the people is called Bhârata-varsha"
The Bhāratas were also a Vedic tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, notably participating in the Battle of the Ten Kings.
The realm of Bharata is known as Bharātavarṣa in the Mahabhārata (the core portion of which is itself known as Bhārata) and later texts. According to the text, the term Bharata is from the king Bharata, who was the son of Dushyanta and Shakuntala and the term varsa means a division of the earth or a continent.
Bharata Khanda (or Bharata Ksetra[37]) is a term used in Hindu texts, including the Vedas, Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranic, to describe the geographic region that encompassed the modern countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar—that is, South Asia at the term's furthest extent.
Jambudvīpa

Jambudvipa (Sanskrit: जम्बुद्वीप Jambu-dvīpa, lit. "berry island") was used in ancient scriptures for the name of India before Bhārata became the official name. The derivative Jambu Dwipa was the historical term for India in many Southeast Asian countries before the colonial introduction of the English word "India". This alternate name is still used occasionally in Thailand, Malaysia, Java and Bali to describe the Indian Subcontinent. However, it also can refer to the continent of Asia.
Nābhivarṣa
According to Texts, before India was called Bhāratavarṣa, it was known as Nābhivarṣa (Sanskrit: नाभिवर्ष, lit. land of Nabhi). King Nabhi was a Chakravartin (Universal Sovereign of India) and father of Arihant Rishabha (Jainism).
Tianzhu

Tianzhu or Tenjiku (Chinese and Japanese: 天竺) (originally pronounced xien-t'juk) is the historical East Asian name for India that comes from the Chinese transliteration of the Persian Hindu, which itself is derived from the Sanskrit Sindhu, the native name of the Indus River.[39] Tianzhu is one of several Chinese transliterations of Sindhu. Juandu (身毒) appears in Sima Qian's Shiji and Tiandu (天篤) is used in the Hou Hanshu (Book of the Later Han).[40] Yintejia (印特伽) comes from the Kuchean Indaka, another transliteration of Hindu.[39] A detailed account of Tianzhu is given in the "Xiyu Zhuan" (Record of the Western Regions) in the Hou Hanshu compiled by Fan Ye (398–445):
"The state of Tianzhu: Also, named Shendu, it lies several thousand li southeast of Yuezhi. Its customs are the same as those of Yuezhi, and it is low, damp, and very hot. It borders a large river. The inhabitants ride on elephants in warfare; they are weaker than the Yuezhi. They practise the way of Futu the Buddha and therefore it has become a custom among them not to kill or attack [others]. From west of the states Yuezhi and Gaofu, and south until the Western Sea, and east until the state of Panqi, all is the territory of Shendu. Shendu has several hundred separate towns, with a governor, and separate states which can be numbered in the tens, each with its own king. Although there are small differences among them, they all come under the general name of Shendu, and at this time all are subject to Yuezhi. Yuezhi have killed their kings and established a general in order to rule over their people. The land produces elephants, rhinoceros, tortoise shell, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin. It communicates to the west with Da Qin (the Roman Empire) and so has the exotica of Da Qin."[40]

Tianzhu was also referred to as Wutianzhu (五天竺, literally "Five Indias"), because there were five geographical regions in India known to the Chinese: Central, Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern India. The monk Xuanzang also referred to India as Wu Yin or "Five Inds".[39]
The term is also used in Japan, where it is pronounced as Tenjiku (天竺). The foreign loanwords Indo (インド) and India (インディア) are also used in some cases. The current Japanese name for modern India is the foreign loanword Indo (インド).
The current Chinese word for India is Yindu (印度). Similar to Hindu and Sindhu, the term yin was used in classical Chinese much like the English Ind.
Hodu
Hodu (Hebrew: הֹדּוּ Hoddû) is the Biblical Hebrew name for India mentioned in the Book of Esther part of the Jewish Tanakh (Bible) and Christian Old Testament. In Esther 1:1, Ahasuerus (Xerxes) had been described as King ruling 127 provinces from Hodu (India) to Ethiopia.[41]
Historical definitions of India
Some historical definitions prior to 1500 are presented below.[42]

Historical definitions of a Greater India
Writers throughout history, both Indian and of other nationalities have written about a 'Greater India', which Indians have called either Akhand Bharat or Mahabharata.[54]

Republic of India

Official Names

The official names as set down in article 1 of the Indian constitution are:
Sanskrit: भारत (Bhārata)
English: India; Bharat
See also

Official names of India
History of India
Origin of the names of Indian states
List of regions of India
Sindhu
Indosphere
Bharata Khanda
Greater India
Sapta Sindhu
Bharat Mata
Bharata Chakravartin
Akhand Bharat



Bibliography