Our country is referred to as ‘Bharat’, ‘Hindustaan’ and ‘India’. Some people think that ‘India’ is the English word for ‘Bharat’. However, this is not true. Have you ever tried to know that how our country ‘Bharat’ also came to be known as ‘India’?
From ‘Bharat’ to ‘India’:
Origin of name India can be traced back to ‘Indus Valley Civilization’ which thrived along the bed of River ‘Indus’ around 2500 BC.
River Indus is one of the major rivers of Asia that flows through China, India and Pakistan. It is believed that name ‘India’ evolved from the name ‘Indus’.
When British arrived, the local name for our region was ‘Bharat’, ‘Hindustan’ and ‘Hind’. But British people found it difficult to pronounce these ancient names. So when they learned that River Indus flows through this region, they named it as ‘India’.
With British people using the name ‘India’, it became prominent across the world and thus ‘Bharat’ or ‘Hindustaan’ started being referred to as ‘India’. When India attained independence from British, people of India too had accepted this name and started calling themselves as Indians. Even our Constitution states that “India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states”.
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Team HopyTapy