Names for India

The Republic of India has two principal official short names, each of which is historically significant, India and Bharat. A third name, Hindustan, is also used commonly when Indians speak among themselves. The usage of "Bhārata", "Hindustān", or "India" depends on the context and language of conversation.

The name "India" is originally derived from the name of the river Sindhu (Indus River) and has been in use in Greek since Herodotus (5th century BCE). The term appeared in Old English by the 9th century and reemerged in Modern English in the 17th century.

"Bhārata" gained popularity in India during the nineteenth century. It is the shortened form of the term "Bhāratavarṣa" which was first used in the first century AD in the Puranas. "Bhāratavarṣa" is derived from the name of the Vedic community of Bharatas who are mentioned in the Rigveda as one of the principal kingdoms of the Aryavarta. It is also variously said to be derived from the name of either Dushyanta's son Bharata or Mahabharata. At first the name Bhāratavarṣa referred only to the western part of the Gangetic Valley, but was later more broadly applied to the Indian subcontinent and the region of Greater India. In 1949, it was adopted as an official name for the Republic of India by the Constituent Assembly along with "India".

"Hindustān" is another common name for the Republic of India and is also derived from the name of the river Sindhu. It gained popularity in India in the 11th century and became the common name for the northern Indian subcontinent in Indian languages, though it has been in Persian usage since at least the 3rd century CE while its earlier form "Hindush" was used as early as 6th century BCE. The term 'Hindu' was the Old Persian adaption of "Sindhu" (Indus River). "Hindustan" is still commonly used in the subcontinent to refer to the modern day Republic of India by Hindustani speakers.

India


The English term is from Greek Indikē (cf. Megasthenes' work Indica) or, via Latin transliteration India.

The name derives ultimately from Sanskrit, which was the name of the Indus River as well as the lower Indus basin (modern Sindh, in Pakistan). The Old Persian equivalent of was. Darius I conquered Sindh in about 516 BCE, upon which the Persian equivalent was used for the province at the lower Indus basin. Scylax of Caryanda who explored the Indus river for the Persian emperor probably took over the Persian name and passed it into Greek. The terms for the Indus river as well as "an Indian" are found in Herodotus's Geography. The loss of the aspirate /h/ was probably due to the dialects of Greek spoken in Asia Minor. Herodotus also generalised the term "Indian" from the people of lower Indus basin, to all the people living to the east of Persia, even though he had no knowledge of the geography of the land.

By the time of Alexander, in Koine Greek denoted the region beyond the Indus. Alexander's companions were aware of at least India up to the Ganges delta (Gangaridai). Later, Megasthenes included in India the southern peninsula as well.

Latin India is used by Lucian (2nd century CE). 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 onward, 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.

Bharat
Bharat is another name of India, as set down in Article 1 of the Constitution, adopted in 1950, which states in English: "India, that is Bharat,..." Bhārat, which was predominantly used in Hindi, was adopted as a self-ascribed alternative name by some people of the Indian subcontinent and the Republic of India.

Bhārat is derived from the name of the Vedic community Bharatas, who are mentioned in the Rigveda as one of the original community of the Āryāvarta and notably participating in the Battle of the Ten Kings.

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 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 samrāṭa (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". Barato, the Esperanto name for India, is also a derivation of Bhārata.

According to the Puranas, this country is known as Bhāratavarṣa after Bharata, the son of Rishabha. He is described to be a Kshatriya born in the Solar dynasty. 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 (37,57) and Markandaya Purana (50,41), all using the designation Bhāratavarṣa.

The Vishnu Purana mentions:
 * Uttaraṃ yat samudrasya himādreścaiva dakṣiṇam.
 * varṣaṃ tad bhārataṃ nāma bhāratī yatra santatiḥ.
 * The country that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam there dwell the descendants of Bharata.
 * —Vishnu Purana (2,3,1)

The Bhagavata 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 Bhāratavarṣa"

Bharata Khanda (or Bhārata Kṣētra ) is a term used in some of the Hindu texts.

In the Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata (200 BCE to 300 CE), a larger region of North India is encompassed by the term Bharata, but much of the Deccan and South India are still excluded. Some other Puranic passages refer to the same Bhārata people, who are described as the descendants of Dushyanta's son Bharata in the Mahabharata.

The realm of Bharata is known as Bhāratavarṣa in the Mahabharata (the core portion of which is itself known as Bhārata) and later texts. According to the text, the term Bharat 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.

The use of Bharat often has political overtones, appealing to a certain cultural conception of India. CNN reported in 2023 of President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi using the Bharat name in connection with a G20 gathering, speculating on a possible replacement of India with Bharat in English language version of constitution as well. This, however, turned out to be a hoax, and no change was brought in the name of the country in English.

Epigraphical References of the term Bhārata
The earliest recorded use of Bhārata-varṣa (lit. 'Bhārata mainland') in a geographical sense is in the Hathigumpha inscription of King Kharavela (first century BCE), where it applies only to a restrained area of northern India, namely the part of the Ganges west of Magadha.

Hind / Hindustan
The words  and   came from Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit  (the Indus River or its region). The Achaemenid emperor Darius I conquered the Indus valley in about 516 BCE, upon which the Achaemenid equivalent of, viz., "Hindush" was used for the lower Indus basin. The name was also known as far as the Achaemenid province of Egypt where it was written 𓉔𓈖𓂧𓍯𓇌 on the Statue of Darius I, circa 500 BCE.

In middle Persian, probably from the first century CE, the suffix  was added, indicative of a country or region, forming the  name. Thus, Sindh was referred to as Hindustān in the Naqsh-e-Rustam inscription of Sassanid emperor Shapur I in c. 262 CE.

Emperor Babur of the Mughal Empire said, "On the East, the South, and the West it is bounded by the Great Ocean." Hind was notably adapted in the Arabic language as the definitive form (الهند) for India, for example, in the 11th-century Tarikh Al-Hind ('History of India'). It occurs intermittently in usage within India, such as in the phrase Jai Hind (जय हिन्द) or in (हिन्द महासागर), the Standard Hindi name for the Indian Ocean.

Both the names were current in Persian and Arabic, and from that into northern Indian languages, from the 11th century Islamic conquests: the rulers in the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods called their Indian dominion, centered around Delhi, "Hindustan". In contemporary Persian and Hindi-Urdu, the term Hindustan has recently come to mean the Republic of India. The same is the case with Arabic, where is the name for the Republic of India.

"Hindustan", 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 Subcontinent. "Hindustan" was in use simultaneously with "India" during the British era.

Jambudvīpa


Jambudvīpa (जम्बुद्वीप) was used in ancient scriptures as a name of India before the term Bhārata became widespread. It might be an indirect reference to the Insular India. The derivative Jambu Dwipa was the historical term for India in many Southeast Asian countries before the introduction of the English word "India". This alternate name is still used occasionally in Thailand, Malaysia, Java and Bali to describe the Indian Subcontinent. However, it also can refer to the whole continent of Asia.

Gyagar and Phagyul
Both Gyagar ("White expanse", analogous to the names Gyanak for China and Gyaser for Russia) and Phagyul are Tibetan names for India. Ancient Tibetan Buddhist authors and pilgrims used the ethnogeographic referents Gyagar or Gyagar to the south and Madhyadesa (central land or holy centre) for India. Since at least 13th century, several influential indigenous Tibetan lamas & authors also started to refer to India as the Phagyul, short for Phags yul, meaning the land of aryas i.e. land of noble, holy, enlightened & superior people who are the source of spiritual enlightenment. Tibetan scholar Gendun Chopel explains that Tibetan word gyagar comes from the Indian sanskrit language word vihāra (buddhist monastery), and the ancient Tibetans applied the term Geysar mainly to the northern and central India region from Kuru (modern Haryana) to Magadha (modern Bihar). The Epic of King Gesar, which originally developed around 200 BCE or 300 BCE and about 600 CE, describes India as the "Gyagar: The Kingdom of Buddhist Doctrine", "Gyagar: The Kingdom of Aru Medicine" (ayurveda), "Gyagar: The Kingdom of Pearls" and "Gyagar: The Kingdom of Golden Vases". The Central Tibetan Administration, often referred to as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, asserts "Tibet is inextricably linked to India through geography, history, culture, and spiritually, Tibetans refer to India as ‘Gyagar Phagpay Yul’ or ‘India the land of Aryas.’" Dalai Lama reveres India as the guru with Tibet as its chela (shishya or disciple) and "refers to himself the ‘Son of India’ and a true follower of Mahatma Gandhi. He continues to advocate the revival of India's ancient wisdom based on the Nalanda tradition."

Tianzhu
Tiānzhú ( originally pronounced *qʰl'iːn tuɡ) is one of several Chinese transliterations of the Sanskrit Sindhu via Persian Hindu and is used since ancient times in China and its peripheries. Its Sino-Xenic reading in Japanese is Tenjiku, and Cheonchuk (Hangul: ) in Korean. Devout Buddhists in the Sinosphere traditionally used this term and its related forms to designate India as their "heavenly centre", referring to the sacred origins of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent.

Other forms include Juāndú, which appears in Sima Qian's Shiji. Another is Tiāndǔ (天篤), which is used in the Hou Hanshu (Book of the Later Han). Yìntèjiā or Indəkka (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 and (so) has the exotica of Da Qin.'"

Tianzhu was also referred to as Wǔtiānzhú (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 Wǔ Yìn or "Five Inds".

The name Tianzhu and its Sino-Xenic cognates were eventually replaced by terms derived from the Middle Chinese borrowing of *yentu from Kuchean, though a very long time elapsed between that term's first use and its becoming the standard modern name for India in East Asian languages. Pronounced  in Chinese, it was first used by the seventh-century monk and traveler Xuanzang. In Japanese for example, the name (インド, 印度, or occasionally 印土) had been found occasionally in 18th and early 19th-century works, such as Arai Hakuseki's Sairan Igen (1713) and Yamamura Saisuke's Indoshi (印度志, a translation of a work by Johann Hübner). However, the use of the name Tenjiku, which was heavily associated with the image of India as a land of Buddhism, was not completely displaced until the early 20th century: scholars such as Soyen Shaku and Seki Seisetsu who travelled to India for pilgrimages to Buddhist historical sites, continued to use the name Tenjiku to emphasise the religious aspect of their travels, though most of their contemporaries (even fellow Buddhist pilgrims) adopted the name Indo by then.

India is nowadays also called Indo in Korean, and in Vietnamese. Similar to Hindu and Sindhu, the term Yin was used in classical Chinese much like the English Ind.

Hodu
Hodu (הֹדּוּ Hodû) is the Biblical Hebrew name for India mentioned in the Book of Esther part of the Jewish Tanakh and Christian Old Testament. In Esther, 1:1 and 8:9, Ahasuerus had been described as King ruling 127 provinces from Hodu (India) to Ethiopia. The term seemingly derives from Sanskrit Sindhu, "great river", i.e., the Indus River, via Old Persian Hiñd°u. It is thus cognate with the term India.

Historical Names of India
Some historical definitions prior to 1500 are presented below.

Historical definitions of a Greater India
Writers throughout history, both Indian and of other nationalities have written about a 'Greater India', which Indians have called either Akhand Bharat or Mahabharata.

Republic of India
The official names as set down in article 1 of the Indian constitution are:
 * Hindi: भारत (Bhārat)
 * English: India