India, That Is Bharat
The names of India
Trace the names this land has been given — Sapta Sindhava, Bhāratavarṣha, Jambudvīpa, Bhārata from within, and Hindu, Indoi and Yindu from outside — and say where each one came from.
The India we know is a modern nation, with defined borders, defined states and a known population. It was very different 500 years ago, 2,000 years ago, and again 5,000 years ago. This region of the world, often called the Indian Subcontinent, has had many different names and shifting boundaries — some given by the people living here, some by visitors from outside. The names reach us from ancient texts, from the accounts of travellers and pilgrims, and from inscriptions.
One river, many names
The Ṛig Veda, India's most ancient text, calls the northwest of the Subcontinent Sapta Sindhava. Sindhava comes from Sindhu, which means the Indus River — or, at times, a river in general. That one word is the root of a surprising number of the names that follow, because the first foreigners to reach India reached the Indus first.
Have a play
The Viṣhṇu Purāṇa's description of Bhārata, drawn.
Tap any part of the picture.
Named from within
The Mahābhārata uses two names for the whole Subcontinent. Bhāratavarṣha means the country of the Bharatas — and Bharata first appears in the Ṛig Veda as the name of one of the main Vedic groups of people. Jambudvīpa means the island of the fruit of the jamun tree, a tree native to India. A few centuries later Bhārata became the name generally used, and it is still in use: written Bharat in north India, often Bharatam in the south.
Worked example
How did a Sanskrit word for a river turn into the English word India?
Start with Sindhu, the Indus River. In the 6th century BCE a Persian emperor gained control of the region around it.
Names travel with the people who cross a border, and the Indus was the border the Persians crossed first.
Try it together
Now trace the same root eastward instead of westward.
The ancient Chinese also interacted with India, and their name for it came from the same source — by a slightly longer route.
1.The chain starts at the same word the Persian and Greek names started from. Which word is that?
Have a go
Your turn: in which century BCE did a Persian emperor launch a military campaign and gain control of the region of the Indus River? Answer with a number.
Hint: The chapter gives the century, not the year — and it is well before the Common Era begins.
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.