The history behind the names of India | BharatKhanda, Aryavarta, Jambudweep, Hindustan, India.

While writing this article I remembered a phrase of William Shakespeare
from the play “Romeo and Juliet”.

“What’s in a name”?

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”
William Shakespeare uses this line in his play “Romeo and Juliet” to convey that the naming of things is irrelevant. But in this case, it is totally contradictory. Our motherland has been renamed multiple times
and each name has a vast history attached to it.

Today we will see when and where our motherland is Renamed.

BharatKhanda\Bharat\BharatVarsh:

Bharata Khanda is a term used in Hindu texts, including the Vedas,
Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranic,to describe the Indian subcontinent.
It is named after legendary king Bharat who was the son of Dushyant and Shakuntala.

उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य: हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् |
वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम: भारती यत्र संततिः ||

समुद्र के उत्तर में और हिमालय के दक्षिण में जो देश है उसे भारत कहते हैं तथा उसकी संतानों (नागरिकों) को भारती कहते हैं।
Source- विष्णु पुराण २.३.१

The land (varṣam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam;
there dwell the descendants of Bharata.”

Aryavarta:

Aryavarta, Sanskrit: आर्यावर्त, “Land of the Aryans” is a term for the Indian subcontinent
along with some other parts in the ancient Hindu texts such as Dharmashastras and Sutras,
referring to the area of the Indian subcontinent.

Jambudweep:

Jambudvīpa, Sanskrit: जम्बुद्वीप is a name often used to describe the territory of India
in Ancient Indian sources. Jambudvipa in Sanskrit means the place where Jambu trees grow.

According to Puranic cosmography, the entire Cosmos is divided into seven concentric island continents
separated by the seven encircling oceans, The seven continents of the Puranas are stated as Jambudvipa, Plaksadvipa, Salmalidvipa, Kusadvipa, Krouncadvipa, Sakadvipa, and Pushkaradvipa.
In Viṣṇupurāṇa (ch.2) it is mentioned that The fruits of the Jambu tree are said
to be as big as elephants and when they become rotten and fall upon the crest of the mountains,
a river of juice is formed from their expressed juice. The river so formed is called Jambunadi (Jambu river) and flows through Jambudvipa, whose inhabitants drink its waters.

Hindustan:

We usually think that the place where Hindus live is called Hindustan.
Actually, the term “Hindu” comes from the Persian Arabic interpretation of the Indus river
which was called Sindhu in our ancient days. Few people refer to it as the region between the Himalayas (Hi) and Indu Sarovar (Indu) which is the present-day Indian Ocean. This pretty much gives us the geographical reference to the land of our country.

हिमालयं समारभ्य: यावत् इंदु सरोवरं |
तं देवनिर्मितं देशं हिंदुस्थानं प्रचक्षते ||

हिमालय पर्वत से शुरू होकर भारतीय महासागर तक फैला हुआ इश्वर निर्मित देश है “हिंदुस्तान ” , यही वह देश है जहाँ इश्वर समय – समय पर जन्म लेते हैं और सामाजिक सभ्यता की स्थापना करते हैं ।

Translation:

Starting from the Himalayas and extending up to the Indian Ocean is the nation created by God
which is known as ‘Hindusthan’.This is the sacred land where God took Birth from time to time and recreated and
established the social structure.

India:

India gets its name from the river Indus. In Sanskrit, the river is called Sindhu.
Persians uttered ‘s’ as ‘h’ and called this land Hindu.
Thus Sindhu was called Hindu and ultimately ‘indos’ In Greek.
The current name Indus is from the Greek name for Sindhu.
Finally, India is the English term for the Greek name for the land of the Indus.

After independence, the constitution adapted 2 names that are “Bharat” and “India”.
As per constitution-

ARTICLE 1: NAME AND TERRITORY OF THE UNION
(1) India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.

So in this way, our country was renamed Multiple times.

India not just a piece of land, it is ‘swabhav’: Mohan Bhagwat

“India is an ancient civilization. No one should be under the wrong impression that
it is bound geographically. India is not merely a piece of geographical land,
but it is a ‘swabhav’ and this sentiment will always survive,”.

From Jammu and Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Indians follow different cultures, different religions,
different languages, and different traditions. But living together with love and peace irrespective
of these differences is the sentiment we have.

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