Names of Pakistan

of the fertile Indus Valley of Pakistan, an ancient cradle of civilizations.]]
The **Names of Pakistan** include the many modern and historical names given to the land of Pakistan. Much of Pakistan's history is closely connected to the Indus River, the national river of the country, and most names given to Pakistan come from it. The land of Pakistan, the Indus Valley, has had various names throughout its ancient history. As a cradle of civilizations, Pakistan has a rich history in how its names came about. **Pākistān** is the common name used today for the country, it is an acronym for the five different regions of British Raj (Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, Baluchistan) and the Princely states that joined together to make the federation of Pakistan. Officially, the country is called the **Islamic Republic of Pakistan** (Urdu: *Islāmī Jumhūriyah Pākistān)* since 1973.

Ancient Pakistan, being at the crossroads of civilizations, was split into many kingdoms and empires ruled by local or foreign dynasties, and different areas of the region had different names. The oldest recorded name of Pakistan is *Meluhha* (𒈨𒈛𒄩𒆠), the Sumerian name for the Indus Country. The oldest recorded native name of the country is *"Sapta-Sindhu,"* meaning the land of seven rivers. This name is mentioned in the Rigveda, an ancient religious book composed in the Punjab region of Pakistan. Chinese called this region as “Shendu (身毒)”, “Tiandu (天篤)” and “Tianzhu (天竺)," specifically referring to the Indus Valley. In the historical records of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, the land of Pakistan is known as *Tenjiku* (天竺), *Cheonchuk* (천축), and *Thiên Trúc*, respectively. These names are derived from the Chinese version *"Tianzhu."* Ancient Pakistan, especially the region of Gandhara, had a significant influence on East Asia and was responsible for spreading Buddhism in these countries.

## Modern Names 
 in the year 1922.]]
The modern name of the country, ***Pakistan*** was coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist and a founder of modern-Pakistan, who in January 1933 first published it (originally as *"Pakstan"*) in a pamphlet *Now or Never*, also known as the *Pakistan Declaration*, using it as an acronym. Rahmat Ali explained:

He added, "Pakistan is both a Persian and Urdu word... It means the land of the *Paks*, the spiritually pure and clean." Sthan or Stan is a very common root word in Indo-European languages. The letter '''I'* was added later in *Pakstan* and stands for the Indus, the national river of Pakistan. From 1947–1956, Pakistan remained a Dominion, and was known as the ***Dominion of Pakistan***, on 23rd March 1956, Pakistan adopted an constitution and officially became the ***Republic of Pakistan**''. After Pakistan's first ever general elections the 1973 Constitution was created by an elected Parliament. The Constitution declared Pakistan an Islamic Republic.

## Ancient Names 
Ancient Pakistan has been known by many different names throughout history. The Indus River and its tributaries have shaped and are tied to much of Pakistan's ancient etymological history. Ancient Pakistan was divided into many historic regions which were known by many different names.

### Meluhha 
The oldest recorded name of Ancient Pakistan is *Meluhha* (𒈨𒈛𒄩𒆠), the Sumerian name for the Indus country. The Indus Valley civilization of Ancient Pakistan had extensive trade connections and were greatly reliant on it. They traded with many different civilizations like Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and possibly China. Indus Valley civilization was also a prominent trading partner of the Sumer during the Middle Bronze Age.

In an old writing, Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BCE) mentioned ships coming from Meluhha, Magan, and Dilmun. His grandson Naram-Sin (2254–2218 BCE) listed rebel kings to his rule, mentioning "(..)ibra, a man from Melukha". The words Magan () and Meluhha () appear vertically in the first column on the right.]]

In cylinder B, XIV, he mentions his procurement of "blocks of lapis lazuli and bright carnelian from Meluhha". Meluhha is also mentioned in Sumerian mythological legends such as *Enki and Ninhursa*:

### Hapta-Hendu / Sapta-Sindhu 
.]]
The earliest native mention of Ancient Pakistan is found in the sacred verses of the Rigveda. Which is believed to have been written along the banks of the Indus River and its tributaries in Pakistan. In the Rigveda, the Indus Valley is called *"Sapta Sindhua"* or *"Sapta Sindhu,"* which means the "land of seven rivers." *"Sapt"* means seven in the Vedic language. This term is also found in Avestan and Persian as *"Hapt"* and *"Haft,"* both meaning seven.

The word *"Sindhu"* itself means sea in the Vedic language, showing how massive the Indus River was. It was so big that the Aryan tribes coming in compared it to a sea. The seven main rivers of the *Sapta Sindhu* are the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Sarasvati and Hakra, covering Ancient Pakistan. In the Rigveda (I.35.8) it states:

The ancient Zoroastrian scripture Zend Avesta also mentions a connected name for Ancient Pakistan (the Indus Valley). It says: The 'S' in Vedic language changes to 'H' in Avestan language. So, *Sapta Sindhu* becomes *Hapta Hendu* in the Avestan language. In Zoroastrianism, Hapta Hendu is fifteenth of the sixteen good lands and countries created by Ahura Mazda. The seven rivers in *Hapta Hendu* are: Indus (Sindhu), Kabul, Kurram, Jhelum (Vitasta), Chenab (Asikni), Ravi (Airovati), Sutlej (Vipasa) rivers joining the Indus in the east and south banks. The Hindu texts are mainly concerned with the eastern & southern tributaries of the Indus while the Zoroastrian texts are concerned with the upper reaches of the Indus and all its tributaries.

### Achaemenid Era Names 
Around 535 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus the Great started a long campaign to take parts of the Indus Valley into his new Achaemenid Empire. In this first move, the Persian army took control of a big area to the west of the Indus River (Western Pakistan), making the early eastern borders of their new realm. After Cyrus died around 530 BCE, the campaign kept going under Darius the Great, who started to take back old provinces and grow the Achaemenid Empire's political borders even more.

Around 518 BCE, the Persian army moved deeper into Ancient Pakistan to start another period of conquest by taking over areas up to the Jhelum River in what is now Punjab. At its height, the Persians managed to control most of modern-day Pakistan and add it to their territory. As shown in many Achaemenid-era writings, the Indus Valley became part of the Persian empire with different regions having their own names like Gandāra, Hindush, Gedrosia, and Sattagydia. These regions of Ancient Pakistan became Satrapies (provinces) of the Achaemenid Empire:

#### Gandāra 
*Gandāra*, or *Gadāra* (𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼) in Achaemenid inscriptions, was one of the easternmost provinces of the Achaemenid Empire in Ancient Pakistan. It was located in northwestern Pakistan in the historic region of Gandhara. Gandāra is mentioned in various Achaemenid inscriptions, such as the Behistun Inscription and the DNa inscription of Darius the Great.

#### Hindush 
*Hindush* (𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁), derived from Indus, was another province of the Achaemenid Empire in Ancient Pakistan. It was established after the Achaemenid conquest in 500 BC. According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, it was the "easternmost province" of the empire. The territory of Hindush covered the lower and central Indus basin (present-day Sindh and the southern Punjab region of Pakistan). Hindush bordered Gandāra to the north. These areas remained under Persian control until the invasion by Alexander.

#### Gedrosia 
*Gedrosia* was another satrapy (province) of the Achaemenid Empire in Pakistan. Like other satrapies, it was established after the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley. According to several historians, Gedrosia corresponds to the Makran region of present-day Pakistan.

#### Sattagydia 
*Sattagydia* (𐎰𐎫𐎦𐎢𐏁 Thataguš), meaning "country of hundred cows," was one of the easternmost regions of the Achaemenid Empire, part of its Seventh tax district according to Herodotus, in Ancient Pakistan. It was situated east of the Sulaiman Mountains up to the Indus River in the basin around Bannu in modern-day southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

#### Arachosia 
*Arachosia*, also known as *Harauvatis* (𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁 *Harauvatiš*), was another satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire. It was mainly centred around the Arghandab River, a tributary of the Helmand River, and extended as far east as the Indus river in Ancient Pakistan. It shared its northern boundary with the Gandara satrapy. "Arachosia" is the Latinized form of Greek *Ἀραχωσία* (*Arachōsíā*). "The same region appears in the Avestan *Vidēvdāt* (1.12)." In Old Persian inscriptions, the region is referred to as 𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁, written *h(a)-r(a)-u-v(a)-t-i*. This form is the "etymological equivalent" of Vedic Sanskrit *Sarasvatī*-, the name of a river literally meaning "rich in waters/lakes" and derived from *sáras-* "lake, pond." (*cf.* Aredvi Sura Anahita).

## In Chinese sources 
n Buddhist monk's visit of Gandhara in Ancient Pakistan.]]
In Chinese historical records, many different names are used to refer to the Indus Valley (i.e. Ancient Pakistan). Among these, the most common is *Tianzhu* (天竺) or the *"land of a Thousand Bamboos"* (Vietnamese: *Thiên Trúc*). Other names include *"Ấn Độ"* (Yindu, 印度), *"Thân Độc"* (Shendu, 身毒), and *"Thận Đậu"* (Shendou, 腎豆), all of which are variant transcriptions of "Indus," the national river of Pakistan. At first, Tianzhu only meant the Indus Valley of Pakistan, but later on, it started to be used to refer to all of the Indo-Pak subcontinent.

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 term *"Shendu"* comes from *"Sindhu"* in Sanskrit and *"Hindu"* in Iranian, referring to the Indus valley. Originally, it was pronounced as *"l̥induk"* or ''"*qʰl'iːn tuɡ"* in Old Chinese. This came from the Chinese way of saying the Old Persian word "*Hindush* (𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁)," and the Sanskrit word *"Sindhu,"* the original name of the Indus River. Tianzhu is just one of the many ways that Chinese write Sindhu, with other ways like *Yuāndú'' (身毒) in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian and *Tiandu* (天篤) in the Book of the Later Han. The word *"Yintejia"* (印特伽) comes from the Kuchean "Indaka," another way of writing "Hindu". The modern words "Hindu" and "India" also come from this pronounciation of the Indus river of Ancient Pakistan.

### Sinosphere influence 
In Japan, Tianzhu was said as *Tenjiku* (天竺). This word for the Indus Valley is used in the Japanese translation of the Journey to the West. Meanwhile in Korea, Tianzhu was said as Cheonchuk (천축). This variant of Indus is used in Wang ocheonchukguk jeon (An Account of Travel to the Five Indus Kingdoms), a book by the 8th-century Buddhist monk Hyecho from the Korean Kingdom of Silla.

## Persian and Arabic names 
### Hind / Hindūstān 
 (Hindostan), it includes almost all of the Indo-Pak subcontinent, including the Indus Valley (Pakistan).]]
The words *Hindū* (Persian: هندو) and *Hind* (Persian: هند) came from the Sanskrit word Sindhu (the Indus River or its region). The Achaemenid emperor Darius I conquered the Indus valley (Ancient Pakistan) 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 (modern-day Sindh). 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.

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. Thus, the region of Sindh during this time was referred to as Hindūstān in the Naqsh-e-Rustam inscription of Sassanid emperor Shapur I in c. 262 CE.

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 dominion, centered around Lahore and Delhi, *"Hindustan"* (ہندوستان) also spelled *Hindostan*. In contemporary Persian and Urdu language, the term Hindustan has recently come to mean the Republic of India but orignally it means the Indus Valley region of Ancient Pakistan. The term *Hindustan* is also used today to refer to the Indo-Pak subcontinent. Muhammad Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan, in his poem *Tarānah-i-Hindī*, meaning the *"Anthem of the People of Hindustan"*, described Hindustan as:

### Bilad ul-Sind / Sind 
 coinage in Sindh, from the time of the first governor, Muhammad ibn Qasim. Minted in Pakistan "al-Hind" (in Multan), dated AH 97 (715-6 CE): *"in the name of Allah, struck this dirham in al-Hind ( **) in the year seven and ninety"*.]]
To Arab Historians, the region on Pakistan was known as *Bilad ul-Sindh* meaning the '''Land of Sindh (Indus)'* or in short *Sind* (Sindhi: سنڌ). The word *Sind* is an arabic derivation of the word *Sindhu*, the native name of the Indus Valley. Sindh, Pakistan became an administrative division of the Umayyad Caliphate and later of the Abbasid Caliphate in post-classical period, from around 711 CE with the Umayyad conquest of Sindh by the Arab military commander Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, to around 854 CE with the emergence of the independent dynasties of the Habbarid Emirate and the Emirate of Multan. The *"Governor of Sind"'' (Arabic: عامل السند, ‘āmil al-Sind) was an official who administered the caliphal province over what are now Sindh and South Punjab in Pakistan, with Makran in Balochistan also usually being under his control.

#### The Sind-Hind divide 
Early Islamic geography was a subject that kept changing. However, one idea that Muslim geographers believed at first was dividing South Asia into Sindh and Hind. Sindh meant the Indus Valley (Pakistan), and Hind meant the rest of South Asia.
 rule under Muhammad bin Qasim in medieval Pakistan (modern state boundaries shown in red).]]
The geographer Ibn Khordadbeh (820-912 CE) described 'Sindh' (the Indus Valley) in the 9th century. He said Sindh included parts of the Indus basin and much of modern Pakistan. His Sindh covered regions like Makran, Turan, al-Qiqan, Multan, and Sindh proper. It pretty much included today's Balochistan, Sindh, and parts of Punjab as well.

This religious and geographic difference is clear in the early Muslim book *Kitab Al Masalik Wa Mamalik* [The Book of Roads and Countries]. The author talks about South Asia by saying "Sindh-wal-Hind" (Sindh and Hind), showing the parts under Muslim rule and the non-Muslim apart. The name historically means the land of the Indus river, which today is the national river of Pakistan.

The name ultimately comes from Sanskrit , which is another native name for the Indus River and the lower Indus basin (Sindh, Pakistan). The Old Persian word for  was . Darius I conquered Sindh around 516 BCE, after which the Persian word  was used for the area at the lower Indus basin in Ancient Pakistan. Scylax of Caryanda, who explored the Indus for the Persian emperor, probably took the Persian name  and passed it into Greek. The terms "Indos" () for the Indus River and "Indian" are found in Herodotus's Geography. The loss of the /h/ sound was probably due to the Greek dialects spoken in Asia Minor. Hecataeus used the term "India" and "Indians" in a strict sense for the groups dwelling in Sindh (Ancient Pakistan) only. Herodotus later expanded it and used the term "Indian" for the people of the lower Indus basin (modern-Pakistan) and all the people living east of Persia, even though he did not know the geography of the land.

## Hodu 
*Hodu* (הֹדּוּ) is the Biblical Hebrew name for the Indus Valley (Ancient Pakistan) mentioned in the Book of Esther. Which is part of the Jewish Tanakh and Christian Old Testament. In Esther, 1:1 and 8:9, Ahasuerus had been described as Persian King ruling 127 provinces from Hodu (Indus Valley) to Ethiopia. The Hebrew term seemingly derives from the Sanskrit term for the Indus river  via Old Persian /. Ester 1:1-2 narrates:

Similarly, Esther 8:9 narrates:

Historically, the name *Hodu* was used only for the area of the Indus Valley in Pakistan, which at that time part of the Persian empire.

## Notes 
## References