Aug
8
Written by:
host
8/8/2007 12:38 PM
India got independence in 1947 and this year India is celebrating it’s 60th year of independence from British.
Indian civilization is at least 5000 years old and spread over the present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Burma and Nepal. Some research says, Sindhu became Hindu in Persia and became Indos in Greek and the country was called as India by Greeks. So the word India may be a corrupt form of the original Sindhu. In Urdu, the country is called Hindustan, a place where Hindus live.
However, what is India called by Indians? Bharat. The country is always referred to as Bharat in almost all Indian languages. Though India was not a single Kingdom in the past, all smaller kingdoms were refered to be a part of Bharat Khand. An old Sanskrit mantra says “Jamboo Dveepe, Bharata Khande …” that is, all kingdoms and regions in this part of the world were referred to as part of Bharat Khanda (continent) which now we call as Indian subcontinent. The name is after the king Bharata, mentioned in Mahabharat.
The name Indians is given to many aborigines and tribals of the world like Red Indians in USA, Australian Indians, Amazon Indians .. etc . Many times, Indians in US are mistaken as indigenous Red Indians. Even though one shall not rise at the cost of others, it is considered derogatory.
I always wonder why we call our country as India and ourselves as Indians? Why do we use a corrupt name to describe ourselves? Why not make Bharat, the official name of the country and all Indians as Bharatians (or Bharat vasis). We call the country Bharat Desh, anyway, in almost all our local languages. Only, it shall be made official internationally. Of course, we shall not use Hindustan as the country is also home to many other religions.
What is there in name, so ask many. However, to me, every thing starts from name. Even a small spelling mistake in our name offends us and it is strange that we, as a nation, are not at all offended by a corrupt name given to us by some foreigners. We continue to take pride in that and call ourselves proud Indians. I think it’s time we shall know the truth...
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Copyright ©2007 BharatWisdom
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3 comments so far...
Bharat : Not India
I totally agree your views. For the last few days I was also thinking the same thing , why its so that none of us say that we are Bharatwasi. The word diference may not matter much to a lot of people , but since name Bharat is much more ancient then India , I would prefer that our country must be called as Bharat...
By Arvind on
3/3/2008 5:35 AM
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Re: Bharat : Not India
I completely agree with your views. The same question I too raised in another blog site but there I could not get proper response and I got excuses such as we call our mother -father mom-dad but we have same respect.
I am not able to understand when will people wake up and think like we few do. How to convince them to take ORIGINAL name of our MOTHERLAND , sweet name BHARAT MATA.
Let us ask govt. media , to put on official name as BHARAT not India.
By Ankur on
4/10/2008 12:12 AM
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Re: Bharat : Not India
This is true and every citizen of this country should feel proud in using BHARAT instead of India. Whenever we say we are BHARATIYA is generates lot of enthusiasm rather Indians.
For this purpose if media persons,political leaders,
celebrities come ahead it will affect more.
Many of people find that if they can call their parents mom-dad they feel proud in calling India. But they need to know that mother land is above all relations.
By ankur on
4/10/2008 12:12 AM
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