Names of India

India

The English term is from Greek Ἰνδία (Indía), via Latin India. Indía in Koine Greek denoted the region beyond the Indus (Ἰνδός) river in the Pakistan, since Herodotus (5th century BC) ἡ Ἰνδική χώρη, hē Indikē chōrē; "the Indian land", Ἰνδός, Indos, "an Indian", from Old Persian Hinduš and listed as a conquered territory by Darius I in the Persepolis terrace inscription). The name is derived ultimately from Sindhu, the Sanskrit name of the river which is a part of Pakistan today, but also meaning "river" generically. Latin India is used by Lucian(2nd century).

The name 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 onwards, 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.

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)".

Bhārata

The name Bhārata (भारत) came from king Bharata, referring mainly to two figures - Bharata Chakravartin and/or Emperor Bharata - and it has been used as a self-ascribed name by some people of the Indian subcontinent and the Republic of India. 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 varṣas or continents. For example, the Vayu Purana says "he who conquers the whole of Bhāratavarṣa is celebrated as a samrāt (Vayu Purana 45, 86)."

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".

According to the Puranas, this country is known as Bharatavarsha after the Emperor Bharata. 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. 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 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) - "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. [1]

The term in Classical Sanskrit literature is taken to comprise the present day territories of Indian subcontinent. This corresponds to the approximate extent of the historical Mauryan Empire under Emperors Chandragupta Maurya and Emperor Ashoka (4th to 3rd centuries BC). Later, political entities unifying approximately the same region are the Mughal Empire (17th century), the Maratha Empire (18th century) and the British Raj (19th to 20th centuries).

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.

Nābhivarṣa

According to Texts, before India was called Bhāratavarṣa, it was known as Nābhivarṣa (Sanskrit: नाभिवर्ष, lit. land of Nabhi). King Nabhi was a Chakravarti (Universal Sovereign of India) and father of Arihant Rishabha (Jainism).

Drāvida

Drāvida(Sanskrit: द्राविड) i.e. South India, appears in Hindu Purana the area encompassing Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and parts of Chhattisgarh as well as the union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. This name is also used in the national anthem of India.

Hind / Hindustan

The name Hind (Persian: هند‎‎) is derived from the Iranian languages equivalent of Indo-Aryan Sindh, Pakistan. The Persian language -stān means "country" or "land" (cognate to Sanskrit sthāna "place, land").

The land which had originally been called Hindustān (Persian: هندوستان‎‎) lay to the east of the Indus river, comprising most of Pakistan and northwest India. Emperor Babur said, "On the East, the South, and the West it is bounded by the Great Ocean." However, the term Hind is in current use. Al-Hind الهند is the term in the Arabic language (e.g. in the 11th century Tarikh Al-Hind "history of India"). It also occurs intermittently in usage within India, such as in the phrase Jai Hind(Sanskrit: जय हिन्द).

The terms Hind and Hindustān 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, centred around Delhi, Hindustan.

Hindustān, 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 northern region of the subcontinent between the Indus and Brahmaputra rivers and between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas in particular, hence the term Hindustani for the Hindi-Urdu language. Hindustan was in use synonymously with India during the British Raj.

Hind (Hindi: हिन्द) remains in use in Hindi. 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 of the Republic of India.

Today, Hindustān is no longer in use as the official name for India, although in Modern Standard Arabic as well as dialects it is the only name for India, (al-Hind الهند).

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. Tianzhu is one of several Chinese transliterations of Sindhu. Shendu(身毒) appears in Sima Qian's Shiji and Tiandu(天篤) is used in the Hou Hanshu(Book of the Later Han). Yintejia(印特伽) comes from the Kuchean Indaka, another transliteration of Hindu. 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."

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".

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: הדו ) 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.

Some Historical Definitions

Some historical definitions prior to 1500 are presented below.

Official Names

The official names as set down in article 1 of the Indian constitution are:

English: India; Bharat Sanskrit: भारत (Bhārata)