‘Bharat’ that is ‘India’

The entire India is debating the two names of our country that is India and Bharat. Both names India and Bharat are mentioned in the first article of the Indian constitution and government is free to use any one of the names, both the names have same legal status. Hence government of India need not pass any special act in the Indian parliament to use the term Bharat, any executive order from the government of India is enough to bring the changes on the papers.

This debates on the names have provided us an opportunity to understand the origin of the two names. Sindhu is one of the most important words in the Vedas and is the source of the name India. The Persians, who invaded India in the 6th century BCE, mispronounced the word “sindhu” as “hindu”.  Term Hindu was used to describe entire geographical area lying to the East of river Indus and the people living in this region. Over time, the word “hindu” came to be used loosely to represent the religious practices of people living to the east of Indus River. Greeks and Romans further modified the word “Hindu” to “Indos”. After Alexander invasion of India, area around river Indus was called Indus and people living to the east of river Indus were called Indica. Finally, this name was adopted by Britishers and as a practice no changes were made to the name adopted by Britishers and India continue to be called as India.

Name ‘Bharat’ originates from major epic of Hinduism that is Mahabharat. Bharat is described as the greatest king and founder of Bharatvanshi dynasty. It is believed that entire India was once brought under the control of single authority under the command of king Bharat.

Why I support the name Bharat? Naming things is an ancient practice and whenever we try to name anything first of all we try to find the meaning related to that word and most we choose those words that are related to compassion, courage, history, progress and righteousness. Same logic goes with the selection of name for our country as well, word India has no meaning attached to it, it was a word mispronounced by invaders and traders while word Bharat has a legacy attached to it, it represents our culture, history, courage, righteousness, compassion, discipline and many other qualities and achievements. Its our duty to pass those legacies to our coming generations that can inspire them to lead the world for times to come and name Bharat is such a legacy to the present and coming generations.