Overview
Our country has two official names, India and Bharat, and in the past it had many more. This chapter explores where these names came from and what they tell us. You begin by seeing that India's borders and kingdoms kept changing over thousands of years, and that we learn about its old names from ancient texts, inscriptions and the accounts of travellers. The Rig Veda named the northwest Sapta Sindhava, the land of seven rivers, after the Sindhu or Indus. The Mahabharata lists regions from Kashmir to Kerala and from Kutch to Assam, and uses two names for the whole Subcontinent: Bharatavarsha, the country of the Bharatas, and Jambudvipa, the island of the jamun tree, a name the emperor Ashoka also used around 250 BCE. Later, the Vishnu Purana described Bharata as the land between the ocean and the snowy mountains, and a Tamil poem described the same land from Kumari to the Himalayas. Today the Constitution begins with 'India, that is Bharat'. Finally, you follow how Persians, Greeks and Chinese turned the word Sindhu into Hindu, Indoi, Yindu and, at last, India.
हिंदी में पढ़ें
हमारी भूमि के अनेक नाम: भारतीय ग्रंथों के सप्त सिंधव, जंबूद्वीप और भारत से लेकर विदेशों से आए हिंदु, इंडोई और इंडिया तक।
Learning Objectives
- Explain why India has had many names and identify the sources that record them
- Explain the Rig Vedic name Sapta Sindhava and the importance of the word Sindhu
- Identify regions named in the Mahabharata and what they show
- Explain the meanings of Bharatavarsha and Jambudvipa and the value of Ashoka's inscription
- Trace the name Bharata from the Vishnu Purana and Tamil poetry to the Constitution
- Explain how Persian, Greek and Chinese names for India grew out of Sindhu
- Describe why travellers such as Xuanzang came to India
Topics in this chapter
6 topics · tap a topic title to jump straight to it.
One land, many names: how we know
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
Do you have a nickname? Perhaps your family calls you one name, your friends another, and your school register has your full name. A country can also have many names, given by its own people and by visitors from far away. India is one such country.
India today and long ago. Today India is a modern nation with clear borders, States and Union Territories, and a counted population. But 500, 2,000 or 5,000 years ago things were very different. There were many kingdoms and regions, and their borders kept changing. The whole region, which we often call the Indian Subcontinent, had different names at different times.
Natural boundaries. Look at a physical map of the Subcontinent. In the north stand the high Himalayas, like a great wall. To the west lies the Arabian Sea, to the east the Bay of Bengal, and to the south the Indian Ocean, with the tip at Kanyakumari. Great rivers such as the Indus, the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, the Narmada, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri flow through it. These natural features helped people think of the land between the mountains and the seas as one country.
Where the names come from. We learn the old names of India from three main kinds of sources:
| Source | What it is | Example |
| Ancient texts | Books composed long ago, first remembered and recited, later written down | The Rig Veda, the Mahabharata, the Vishnu Purana, Tamil poems |
| Inscriptions | Writing carved on rock, pillars or metal | Emperor Ashoka's inscriptions; Persian stone inscriptions |
| Travellers' accounts | What visitors from other lands wrote about India | Records of Greek writers and Chinese pilgrims |
Inhabitants and outsiders. The people who live in a place are its inhabitants. India's inhabitants gave it names such as Jambudvipa and Bharata. Outsiders, such as Persians, Greeks and Chinese, gave it names that came mostly from the river Sindhu. In this chapter we follow both sets of names.
Think about it. In the poet-philosopher Sri Aurobindo's view, India's people between the Himalayas and the two seas came to share a deep cultural unity very early. As you read about India's names, notice how often they describe the whole land from the mountains to the oceans.
- Sources of India's names = ancient texts + inscriptions + travellers' accounts
- Names from inhabitants (Jambudvipa, Bharata) + names from outsiders (Hindu, Indoi, India)
3Worked example
- The Himalayas form India's natural boundary in the north.
- Ashoka's inscriptions are a source for an ancient name of India.
- A traveller's account is a source written by a visitor from outside.
4Your turn
Which natural feature forms India's boundary in the north?
5Remember this
Sapta Sindhava: the land of seven rivers
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
Rivers have always been the lifelines of India. So it is no surprise that one of the oldest names for any part of India comes from its rivers.
The Rig Veda. The Rig Veda is India's most ancient text and is several thousand years old. You will learn more about it in Chapter 7. It was composed in Sanskrit and passed on by careful recitation for many generations.
Sapta Sindhava. The Rig Veda calls the northwest region of the Subcontinent Sapta Sindhava, meaning the 'land of the seven rivers'. Sapta means seven, and Sindhava comes from Sindhu.
What Sindhu means. The word Sindhu refers to the Indus River, and sometimes simply to any river. The northwest of the Subcontinent is crossed by the Indus and several large rivers that join it, such as the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej. The Sarasvati is another river often mentioned with this region. Together they water a wide, fertile land.
Only a part of India. Notice that Sapta Sindhava names only the northwest, not the whole Subcontinent. The Rig Veda does not describe all of India's geography. It tells us about the land its composers knew best.
A word that travelled. The word Sindhu turned out to be very important. As you will see later in this chapter, people from Persia, Greece and China all took their names for India from this one word. Even the English name India comes, step by step, from Sindhu. So a river's name from the Rig Veda ended up becoming the name the whole world uses for our country!
| Word | Meaning |
| Sapta | Seven |
| Sindhu | The Indus River, or a river in general |
| Sapta Sindhava | Land of the seven rivers (the northwest of the Subcontinent) |
Activity. On a physical map of the Subcontinent, trace the Indus and the rivers that join it. Count them. Why do you think people living there might name their land after its rivers?
- Sapta (seven) + Sindhava (rivers) = land of the seven rivers
- Sindhu = Indus River (or any river)
3Worked example
- Sapta means seven; Sapta Sindhava means land of seven rivers.
- Sindhu is the old name of the Indus River.
- The Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej are rivers of the Indus system in the northwest.
4Your turn
What does Sapta Sindhava mean?
5Remember this
Regions in the Mahabharata
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
Imagine reading a very long story that mentions places from Kashmir to Kerala and from Kutch to Assam. That is what the Mahabharata does, and it tells us how widely ancient Indians knew their land.
The Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is one of India's most famous texts, a very long poem in Sanskrit. Scholars generally agree that it was composed from a few centuries BCE onward, over a long period. Besides its story, it lists many rivers, peoples and regions of the Subcontinent.
Regions it names. Some of the regions in the Mahabharata can still be matched, roughly, with places today:
| Name in the Mahabharata | Roughly today |
| Kashmira | Kashmir |
| Kurukshetra | Parts of Haryana |
| Vanga | Parts of Bengal |
| Pragjyotisha | Roughly Assam |
| Kaccha | Kutch (Gujarat) |
| Kerala | More or less Kerala |
Many other names appear too, such as Gandhara, Panchala, Magadha, Anga, Kalinga, Kosala, Vidarbha, Surashtra, Chola and Pandya. Several of them are also described as kingdoms.
Why this list matters. When we place these regions on a map, they cover almost the entire Subcontinent, from the northwest to the far east, and from the Himalayas to the southern tip. This shows that the people who composed the Mahabharata had a picture of the whole land in their minds, not just of one small part.
Old names, living names. Some of these names are still in use: Kashmir, Kerala, Kutch and Kurukshetra are familiar today. Others have changed, but historians can often trace them. For example, the old name Vanga survives in 'Banga', from which 'Bengal' and 'Bangla' come.
Do not memorise, notice. You do not need to remember every region. What matters is the idea: long ago, Indians already thought of the many regions of the Subcontinent as parts of one larger land.
Activity. Which of these region names have you heard before? Ask your family whether your own region had an older name.
- Mahabharata regions: Kashmira, Kurukshetra, Vanga, Pragjyotisha, Kaccha, Kerala and many more
- Together they cover almost the whole Subcontinent
3Worked example
- Kashmira in the Mahabharata is more or less today's Kashmir.
- Pragjyotisha roughly matches today's Assam.
- Kaccha is today's Kutch in Gujarat.
4Your turn
Which modern region roughly matches Pragjyotisha?
5Remember this
Bharatavarsha and Jambudvipa
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
When did people first give one name to the whole Subcontinent? It is not easy to answer, because ancient Indian texts are hard to date exactly. But two names stand out.
Bharatavarsha. The Mahabharata uses the name Bharatavarsha, which clearly covers the entire Subcontinent; the text lists its many rivers and peoples. Bharatavarsha means 'the country of the Bharatas'.
Who were the Bharatas? The name Bharata first appears in the Rig Veda, where it refers to one of the main Vedic groups of people. In later literature, several kings named Bharata are also mentioned. So the land came to be called after the Bharatas.
Jambudvipa. The Mahabharata also uses the name Jambudvipa, meaning 'the island of the jamun tree'. Jambu is the jamun, also called the jambul or Malabar plum, a common tree native to India with purple fruit that you may have eaten in summer. Dvipa means island. Over time, Jambudvipa came to mean the Indian Subcontinent.
A clue from an emperor. A very useful clue comes from the emperor Ashoka, who ruled around 250 BCE. He had many messages carved on rocks and pillars across his empire. In one of these inscriptions he used the name Jambudvipa for the whole of India. At that time, this included what is today India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan.
| Name | Meaning | Where we find it |
| Bharatavarsha | Country of the Bharatas | The Mahabharata |
| Jambudvipa | Island of the jamun tree | The Mahabharata; Ashoka's inscription (about 250 BCE) |
Why an inscription helps. Texts like the Mahabharata grew over centuries, so their dates are uncertain. An inscription carved in a particular king's reign can be dated more firmly. That is why Ashoka's use of Jambudvipa helps historians know that the name was in use by about 250 BCE.
- Bharata + varsha (country) = country of the Bharatas
- Jambu (jamun) + dvipa (island) = island of the jamun tree
3Worked example
- Bharatavarsha means the country of the Bharatas.
- Jambudvipa means the island of the jamun tree.
- Ashoka used Jambudvipa for the whole of India in an inscription around 250 BCE.
4Your turn
In Ashoka's time, what did Jambudvipa include?
5Remember this
Bharata: from the Puranas to our Constitution
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
Open the Constitution of India and read its very first article. It begins with the words 'India, that is Bharat'. Where did the name Bharat come from, and how old is it?
Bharata becomes the common name. A few centuries after Ashoka, Bharata became the name generally used for the whole Indian Subcontinent. An ancient text called the Vishnu Purana gives a neat description: the country that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bharata.
Is the description correct? The 'snowy mountains' are the Himalayas, and the 'ocean' is the sea that surrounds the peninsula. Look at a physical map: the land between them is exactly the Subcontinent. So the Vishnu Purana's short description fits well.
The same idea in Tamil. Different parts of India described the country in a similar way. A poem of ancient Tamil literature, from about 2,000 years ago, praises a king whose fame was known from Kumari in the south to the great mountain in the north, and from the ocean on the east to the ocean on the west. Kumari is Kanyakumari, the southern tip; the great mountain is the Himalayas. Ancient Indians clearly knew their geography well!
| Source | How it describes the land |
| Vishnu Purana (Sanskrit) | North of the ocean, south of the snowy mountains: Bharata |
| Ancient Tamil poem | From Kumari in the south to the great mountain in the north, between the eastern and western oceans |
Bharat today. The name is still in use. In north India it is usually written Bharat, while in south India it is often Bharatam. It is the name of the country in most Indian languages.
In the Constitution. A constitution is the document that sets out the basic principles and laws of a nation. India's Constitution came into force in 1950; you will study it in Grade 7. It was first written in English, and it begins Article 1 with 'India, that is Bharat'. The Hindi version says Bharat arthat India. So both names, the ancient Indian one and the one from outside, are official.
- Bharata = land between the Himalayas and the ocean (Vishnu Purana)
- Constitution (1950): India, that is Bharat / Bharat arthat India
3Worked example
- Vishnu Purana: land north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is Bharata.
- A Tamil poem describes the land from Kumari to the great mountain.
- Article 1 of the Constitution: 'India, that is Bharat'.
4Your turn
What are the opening words of Article 1 of India's Constitution?
5Remember this
Names given by outsiders: from Sindhu to India
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
Have you noticed that people in other countries often say a name a little differently? A name can change as it passes from one language to another, like a message in a game of whispers. That is how 'Sindhu' became 'India'.
The Persians. The first foreigners to mention India were the Persians, the ancient people of Iran. In the 6th century BCE, a Persian emperor took control of the region of the Indus River, the Sindhu. In their records and stone inscriptions, the Persians called the land Hind, Hidu or Hindu, their way of saying Sindhu. In ancient Persian, 'Hindu' was only a geographical word for the land of the Indus; it did not refer to a religion.
The Greeks. The ancient Greeks learnt of India from Persian sources and called it Indoi or Indike. They dropped the first 'h' sound because their language did not have that letter. From the Greek came the Latin India, and later the English India and the French Inde.
The Chinese. The ancient Chinese called India Yintu or Yindu, which also comes from Sindhu. Another Chinese name, Tianzhu, could also be understood as 'heavenly master', showing the respect the Chinese had for India as the land of the Buddha.
| Language | Name for India | Comes from |
| Persian | Hind, Hidu, Hindu | Sindhu |
| Greek | Indoi, Indike | Persian 'Hindu', without the 'h' |
| Latin | India | Greek |
| Chinese | Yintu, Yindu, Tianzhu | Sindhu |
| Persian (later) | Hindustan | Hind + 'stan' (land) |
| English / French | India / Inde | Latin |
Xuanzang. The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (also spelt Hiuen Tsang) travelled to India in the 7th century CE. He visited many places, met scholars and collected Buddhist texts. After 17 years he returned to China and translated those manuscripts from Sanskrit into Chinese. Many other Chinese scholars also visited India over the centuries.
Hindustan. The name Hindustan first appeared in a Persian inscription about 1,800 years ago. Later, most invaders of India used it for the Subcontinent.
Why did people come? Visitors came to India for trade, to learn from its scholars, on pilgrimage to Buddhist sites, for conquest, and out of curiosity about a rich and famous land.
- Sindhu -> Hindu -> Indoi / Indike -> India
- Sindhu -> Hindhu -> Indu -> Yindu
- Hindustan = Hind + stan (land)
3Worked example
- Sindhu -> Hindu (Persian) -> Indoi (Greek) -> India (Latin, English).
- Sindhu -> Hindhu -> Indu -> Yindu (Chinese).
- Xuanzang spent 17 years in India in the 7th century CE.
4Your turn
In ancient Persian, what did the word 'Hindu' refer to?
5Remember this
Key Concepts
- Indian Subcontinent
- The large region south of the Himalayas, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, including India and its neighbours.
- Inhabitants
- The people who live in a particular place.
- Rig Veda
- India's most ancient text, several thousand years old.
- Sapta Sindhava
- Rig Vedic name for the northwest of the Subcontinent, meaning land of the seven rivers.
- Sindhu
- The Indus River, or a river in general; the root of many names for India.
- Mahabharata
- A famous long Sanskrit poem, composed from a few centuries BCE onward, that names regions across the Subcontinent.
- Bharatavarsha
- The country of the Bharatas; a name for the whole Subcontinent in the Mahabharata.
- Bharatas
- One of the main Vedic groups of people named in the Rig Veda.
- Jambudvipa
- Island of the jamun tree; a name for the whole Subcontinent, used by Ashoka around 250 BCE.
- Ashoka
- An emperor of about 250 BCE whose inscriptions are important historical sources.
- Vishnu Purana
- An ancient text that calls the land between the ocean and the snowy mountains Bharata.
- Constitution
- The document setting out a nation's basic principles and laws; India's came into force in 1950.
- Hind / Hindu
- Persian forms of Sindhu, used as geographical names for the land of the Indus.
- Indoi / Indike
- Greek names for India, from Persian 'Hindu' without the 'h'.
- Yintu / Yindu
- Chinese names for India, also derived from Sindhu.
- Xuanzang
- A Chinese pilgrim who spent 17 years in India in the 7th century CE and translated Buddhist texts.
- Hindustan
- A Persian-origin name for India, first found in a Persian inscription about 1,800 years ago.
End-of-Chapter Trial Paper & Test Questions
Topic-wise questions to test your understanding of every concept in this chapter.
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From which kinds of sources do we learn the ancient names of India? / हमें भारत के प्राचीन नाम किन प्रकार के स्रोतों से पता चलते हैं?
Show answer
We learn them from ancient texts such as the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata, from inscriptions such as Ashoka's, and from the accounts of foreign travellers and pilgrims. / हमें ये ऋग्वेद और महाभारत जैसे प्राचीन ग्रंथों, अशोक जैसे शिलालेखों, और विदेशी यात्रियों व तीर्थयात्रियों के विवरणों से पता चलते हैं।
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What does Sapta Sindhava mean, and which region did it name? / सप्त सिंधव का क्या अर्थ है, और यह किस क्षेत्र का नाम था?
Show answer
Sapta Sindhava means the land of the seven rivers, and in the Rig Veda it named the northwest region of the Subcontinent. / सप्त सिंधव का अर्थ है सात नदियों की भूमि, और ऋग्वेद में यह उपमहाद्वीप के उत्तर-पश्चिमी क्षेत्र का नाम था।
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Name three regions listed in the Mahabharata and what they roughly match today. / महाभारत में वर्णित तीन क्षेत्रों के नाम और आज उनसे मिलते-जुलते स्थान बताइए।
Show answer
Kashmira is roughly today's Kashmir, Vanga is parts of Bengal, and Kaccha is today's Kutch in Gujarat. / काश्मीर लगभग आज का कश्मीर है, वंग बंगाल के कुछ भाग हैं, और कच्छ आज का गुजरात का कच्छ है।
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What do Bharatavarsha and Jambudvipa mean? / भारतवर्ष और जंबूद्वीप का क्या अर्थ है?
Show answer
Bharatavarsha means the country of the Bharatas, a Vedic people, and Jambudvipa means the island of the jamun tree; both named the whole Subcontinent. / भारतवर्ष का अर्थ है भरतों का देश, जो एक वैदिक जन थे, और जंबूद्वीप का अर्थ है जामुन के पेड़ का द्वीप; दोनों पूरे उपमहाद्वीप के नाम थे।
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Why is Ashoka's inscription important for the name Jambudvipa? / जंबूद्वीप नाम के लिए अशोक का शिलालेख क्यों महत्वपूर्ण है?
Show answer
Ashoka's inscription can be dated to about 250 BCE, so it shows that Jambudvipa was used for the whole of India, including today's Bangladesh, Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan, by that time. / अशोक का शिलालेख लगभग 250 BCE का है, इसलिए यह दिखाता है कि उस समय तक जंबूद्वीप नाम पूरे भारत के लिए, जिसमें आज का बांग्लादेश, पाकिस्तान और अफ़गानिस्तान के कुछ भाग शामिल थे, प्रयोग होता था।
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How does the Vishnu Purana describe Bharata? / विष्णु पुराण भारत का वर्णन कैसे करता है?
Show answer
It says that the country lying north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains, the Himalayas, is called Bharata. / यह कहता है कि जो देश समुद्र के उत्तर में और हिम से ढके पर्वतों, यानी हिमालय, के दक्षिण में है, वह भारत कहलाता है।
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How does India's Constitution name the country? / भारत का संविधान देश का नाम कैसे बताता है?
Show answer
Article 1 of the Constitution says 'India, that is Bharat', and the Hindi version says 'Bharat arthat India', so both names are official. / संविधान का अनुच्छेद 1 कहता है 'इंडिया, दैट इज़ भारत', और हिंदी संस्करण कहता है 'भारत अर्थात् इंडिया', इसलिए दोनों नाम आधिकारिक हैं।
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How did the word Sindhu become India? / सिंधु शब्द इंडिया कैसे बना?
Show answer
The Persians changed Sindhu to Hindu, the Greeks dropped the 'h' and said Indoi or Indike, and from Greek came the Latin and English name India. / फ़ारसियों ने सिंधु को हिंदु कहा, यूनानियों ने 'ह' हटाकर इंडोई या इंडिके कहा, और यूनानी से लैटिन व अंग्रेज़ी नाम इंडिया बना।
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In ancient Persian, did 'Hindu' refer to a religion? Explain. / क्या प्राचीन फ़ारसी में 'हिंदु' शब्द किसी धर्म के लिए था? समझाइए।
Show answer
No, in ancient Persian 'Hindu' was only a geographical name for the land of the Sindhu or Indus River, not the name of a religion. / नहीं, प्राचीन फ़ारसी में 'हिंदु' केवल सिंधु नदी की भूमि का भौगोलिक नाम था, किसी धर्म का नाम नहीं।
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Who was Xuanzang, and what did he do? / ह्वेनसांग कौन था, और उसने क्या किया?
Show answer
Xuanzang was a Chinese pilgrim who came to India in the 7th century CE, stayed 17 years collecting Buddhist texts, and translated them from Sanskrit into Chinese back home. / ह्वेनसांग एक चीनी तीर्थयात्री था जो 7वीं शताब्दी CE में भारत आया, 17 वर्ष रहकर बौद्ध ग्रंथ एकत्र किए, और चीन लौटकर उनका संस्कृत से चीनी में अनुवाद किया।
Related Laws & Principles
Explore allFoundational laws & principles behind this chapter. Each one opens a full page — what it says, why it matters, five practice questions and the mistakes to avoid.