India naming dispute

The **India naming dispute** in 1947 refers to the argument about using the name _India_ during and after the division of British India. It was between the countries of Pakistan and the Republic of India. This argument involved many important people, such as Lord Mountbatten, the last leader of British Raj, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League and a founder of Pakistan. By 1947, British India was going to be split into two new countries – Hindustan and Pakistan. At first, Jinnah believed that Hindustan would not use the name _India_, since it did not have local roots there; etymologically and historically, the name _India_ meant the Indus Valley (modern-Pakistan). He was also against the use of the name _India_ by the new country, the Republic of India, because it would cause confusion about history. The disagreement had big effects on national identity and international recognition.

## Origin of the name

The name _India_ comes from the Ancient Greek word  (_Indikē_) or  (_Indía_), which was changed into Latin as . In the past, the name meant the land of the Indus river. This river is now mostly in Pakistan and is the national river of the country.
The name _India_ originally comes from the Sanskrit word . Which is another name for the Indus River and the lower Indus basin (Sindh, Pakistan). The Old Persian word for  became  or  () because the Arabs and the Persians spoke the letter /h/ instead of /s/. Darius I took over Sindh around 516 BCE, and the Persian word  was used for the lower Indus area in Ancient Pakistan. Scylax of Caryanda had explored the Indus valley for the Persian emperor Darius I in about 515 BC. Scylax took the Persian name  and used it in Greek. Greeks pronounced this name as _Indos_ or _Indus_. The terms _Indos_ () for the Indus River and _Indian_ are found in Hecataeus of Miletus and Herodotus's writings.  The loss of the /h/ sound in  was likely because of the Greek dialects spoken in Asia Minor and the word became . Hecataeus used the term "India" and "Indians" strictly for the people in Sindh (Ancient Pakistan) only. Herodotus later used the term "Indian" for people in the lower Indus area (modern Pakistan) and all the people east of Persia, even though he did not know the land well.

By the time of Alexander,  in Koine Greek meant the area beyond the Indus. Alexander's companions called India the Indus river basin, which is mainly in Pakistan. Later, Megasthenes included in India the areas beyond the Indus basin, including the Ganges basin. When the British arrived in South Asia, they used the term _India_ to refer to the whole subcontinent. This led to the confusion with the name "India," as it came to mean the British colony that included both Pakistan and the modern Republic of India. After the partition, the modern Republic of India kept the colonial name that originally referred to what is now Pakistan (Indus Valley).

## History

By 1947, the British Raj was going to be split into two new countries – Hindustan and Pakistan. Months before independence in August 1947, both Jinnah and the Muslim League were against the using the name _India_ by Nehru's Hindustan. Jinnah was sure that Hindustan would not use the name _India_. Jinnah thought this because the name was not local to the area. Etymologically and historically, _India_ meant the Indus Valley, which is now Pakistan. _India_ was also a colonization term used by the British. However, as independence came closer, it was clear that Hindustan was going to be named India. Mountbatten became India's Governor-General, and Jinnah became Pakistan's Governor-General. Mountbatten sent an invitation to Jinnah, but Jinnah refused it. The reason was that the invitation used _India_ instead of _Hindustan_ to refer to the new country. Jinnah wrote to Louis Mountbatten, saying:

By the 20th century, it was well known that the word India came from the Indus River. Yet even if Mountbatten knew Jinnah’s argument made sense, he would never admit it. In a 1973 interview, Mountbatten admitted he did not get along well with Jinnah and even called Jinnah a "bastard" during the interview. Jinnah strongly opposed the use of the name _India_ by Hindustan because the name India, which had a long history, could cause confusion and mislead about history. The history of _historic India_, the Indus Valley (Pakistan), could be mixed up with the history of the modern _Republic of India_. The name was a reminder of history and known around the world.

Many maps printed in the Republic of India after 1947 called the new country Bharat – the Constitution of the Republic of India officially names the country Bharat. Even today, many Hindu nationalists and Hindi speakers in India argue for the word _Bharat_ to become the only official name of the country. The word Bharat comes from _‘Bharatavarsha’_ (the land of the Bharatas), with these Bharatas being one of the early Vedic groups who moved from the Indus Valley to the Ganges Plain between 1200 BCE to 800 BCE. To many, Bharat would seem better since the term India was a colonial term.  It also lacked a local background, as the term India historically referred to the Indus Valley in Pakistan. Jinnah thought neither country would use the name _India_. He preferred the acronym _Pakistan_ for his country and _Hindustan_ (Land of the Hindus) for the Hindu-majority India. Jinnah only found out months before independence that Mountbatten and Nehru were going to name Hindustan the "Republic of India". Jinnah, according to Mountbatten, _"was absolutely furious when he found out that they (Nehru and the Congress Party) were going to call themselves India."_ The use of the word also suggested a larger historic importance that Pakistan would never accept. It also went against history since India originally meant only the area near the Indus River and its tributaries. Thus, Historic India was mostly outside the modern Republic of India and mostly within Pakistan. For this reason, Pakistan is often called by many the _'Real India_<nowiki/>' and Pakistanis the '<nowiki/>_Real Indians_<nowiki/>'.

### Bharat–India controversy

In 2023, the ruling party in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been trying to change India's name to _Bharat_. The BJP says the name "India" is a sign of colonial rule and is not a local name for the country.

_Bharat_ and India are both official names of the country. The BJP argues that the name "India" is a leftover from the colonial period. Naresh Bansal, a BJP member of parliament, said the name India is a symbol of "colonial rule" and "should be removed from the constitution." Bansal said in a parliamentary session:

Some cities and places in India that are linked to the Mughals and the colonial period have been renamed by the BJP. Critics say these new names are an attempt to erase the Mughals, who were Muslims and ruled the subcontinent for almost 300 years, from Indian history.

### Pakistan's reaction

Indian media has reported that Pakistani local media claim Pakistan might try to claim the name India due to the Bharat-India controversy. A post shared by the South Asia Index’s X handle went viral and was reported by several media outlets. It said:Nationalists in Pakistan have long argued that Pakistan has rights to the name since it refers to the Indus region in Pakistan. Meanwhile, former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that the original name of the country was "definitely" Bharat and that it was the British who started calling it India. Some Indian media have said that India using the name Bharat fulfills Pakistan's old wish since Pakistan has claimed this name since 1947.

## Infobox (event)

- **image**: File:Mountbatten Jinnah.jpg
- **image size**: 290x290px
- **caption**: Viceroy of India: Lord and Lady Mountbatten meets Mr Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, one of the founding fathers of Pakistan.
- **duration**: -
- **type**: d:Special:EntityPage/Q20986437, Naming dispute
d:Special:EntityPage/Q11422542, International conflict
- **theme**: The name _India_
- **participants**: Pakistan
Republic of India