It’s okay to call India Bharat: the reasons why
G20 summit. With a special session of Parliament summoned without an agenda, there is speculation: Is India about to become Bharat? Mint examines the history and likely implications. In Indian cosmology, the earth is flat and circular with a mythical Mount Meru at its centre.
It is surrounded by dvipas (islands) separated by oceans. The southernmost is Jambudvipa. In it, to the south of the Himalayas lies Bharatvarsha, named after King Bharata.
Jambudvipa is named in Emperor Ashoka’s inscriptions (268-231 BCE). An early record comes in inscriptions found in the Hathigumpha caves near Bhubaneswar in Odisha. In giving an account of the reign of King Kharavela of Kalinga (50 BCE), the inscriptions say, “In the 10th year he sent an expedition to conquer Bharatavarsha." India too has interlinked ancient references, with its etymology rooted in the area associated with the river Indus—a name derived from Sindhu in Sanskrit, which is mentioned in the Rig Veda.
The association with the Indus Valley Civilization forms an emotional bond in the Indian imagination. The use of India is also linked to Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s demand for two constituent assemblies: for Pakistan and for Hindustan. The Congress party’s rejection was based on the premise that “the people of India were Indians; no matter what their religion, they were one nation," says political scientist Granville Austin.
No big ones in recent years except Turkey in 2022. Many African and Asian nations changed their names after being freed of colonial rule. Other examples are Burma turning into Myanmar, and Swaziland into Eswatini.
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