The Many Names of India

Now that we’ve understood why we study history, let’s begin our journey by asking a very basic—but profound—question:

“What is this land called India actually called?”

Sounds simple, but this single question leads us into an ocean of linguistic, cultural, and historical layers. India—as we know it today—has not always been called “India.” Over time, it has been known by many names—Bharat, Bharatavarsha, Hindustan, Jambudvipa, India, and more.
Each name reflects the perspective of a different era, a different civilization, or even a different language.

Let’s unfold this story:

The Subcontinent: One Land, Many Names

In ancient times, the entire Indian subcontinent—which includes India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and even Afghanistan—was seen as a single cultural and geographical entity.

This region was referred to collectively as:

• Bharatavarsha
• Hindustan
• India

So, don’t confuse the name “India” as referring only to the Republic of India we know today. Historically, it covered a much larger cultural geography.

Article 1 of the Indian Constitution

Before we go deeper into the ancient roots, a quick detour to modern India.

India is one of the few countries whose Constitution gives it two names:

“India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.” – Article 1, Indian Constitution

This clearly reflects that both terms—India and Bharat—are considered legitimate and equal in identity. Even the Hindi version says:

“Bhārat arthāth India” — highlighting the same dual identity.

🪔 Let’s now explore each of these names in detail

🇮🇳 Bharat / Bharatavarsha

Let’s begin with our indigenous name—the one rooted in Vedic and Puranic tradition.

📌 Origin:

• The term “Bharata” appears in the Rig Veda, referring to a prominent Vedic tribe.
• Over time, the land occupied by the Bharatas came to be known as Bharatavarsha—meaning “the land of the Bharatas.”

The Puranas describe Bharatavarsha as the region stretching from the southern sea to the snowy Himalayas in the north.

📚 In Literature:

• Mahabharata uses the terms Bharatavarsha and Jambudvipa.
• ‘Jambudvipa’ literally means “island of the jamun tree” and was used to describe the Indian subcontinent in ancient cosmology.
• King Ashoka, too, uses the term Jambudvipa in his inscriptions, particularly in reference to the land under his rule.

So, in summary:

Term	Meaning	Source
Bharata	Name of a Vedic tribe	Rig Veda
Bharatavarsha	Land of the Bharatas	Puranas, Mahabharata
Jambudvipa	Island of jamun tree (cosmological)	Mahabharata, Ashokan Edicts

🕌 Hindustan

Now comes a foreign perspective—from ancient Persians and later Islamic empires.

📌 Origin:

• The name ‘Hindu’ is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Sindhu’, which refers to the Indus River.
• But here’s the twist: Persian language did not have the sound ‘S’—so ‘Sindhu’ became ‘Hindu’ in Persian.

So originally, ‘Hindu’ was a geographical term, not religious. It simply referred to people living east of the Indus River.

📌 Development of “Hindustan”:

• Around the 1st century CE, the suffix ‘-stan’ (meaning land of) was added, and the term became:

Hind + stan = Hindustan, meaning “land of the Hindus” (i.e., people living beyond the Indus).

Later, during medieval Islamic rule, Hindustan was used to denote the entire North Indian Indo-Gangetic plain.

🏛️ India

Finally, the most globally recognized name—India—comes from a Greek-Roman lineage.

📌 Greek Transformation:

• The Achaemenid Persians called the region ‘Hindu’, and this was passed to the Greeks, who further Hellenized it to:

‘Indos’ → leading to the river being known as the Indus.

• The Greeks dropped the ‘H’ (which didn’t exist in their alphabet), and later, when Alexander the Great invaded India (circa 326 BCE), they referred to this land east of the Indos as India.
• The Romans, following the Greeks, used the term India, which later became the global standard.

🌏 Global Names Derived from ‘Sindhu’ (Indus River)

Language/Civilization	Name Used for India	Name of Indus River Used
Persian	Hind	Hindu
Greek	India	Indos
Latin	India	Indus
Hebrew		Hoddu
Chinese	Yintu / Yindu/Shendu	Tien-chu
Arabic	Hind	—

✅ In Summary — Why This Matters for UPSC

• These names reflect how India was perceived by itself and by outsiders across millennia.
• Understanding these names helps in:
  • Comprehending ancient texts, inscriptions, and foreign accounts
  • Understanding India’s civilizational unity, despite political fragmentation