India History

History of India 

The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens, as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago.

              India, officially the Republic of India (Bharat),India is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

Indian names History

 

Hindoostan_map_1823

The English term is from Greek Ἰνδία (Indía), via Latin Bharat. Indía in Koine Greek denoted the region of the river in Islamic Republic of Pakistan, since Herodotus (5th century BC), he "Indian land", Indos, "an Indian", from previous Persian (referring to what's currently called Sindh, a province of present day pakistan, and listed as a conquered territory by king within the metropolis terrace inscription). The name springs ultimately from Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name of the river, however additionally that means "river" generically. Latin Bharat is employed by Lucian (2nd century).

            The name India was known in Old English, and was used in King Alfred's translation of 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 onwards, 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, listed by, among others, Colonel James Todd in his Annals of Rajputana. Todd describes ancient India as under control of tribes claiming descent from the Moon, or "Indu" (referring to Chandravanshi Rajputs).

Synonyms of India

1) Bharata, (Bharatavarsha)

             The name Bharata (भारत) has been used as a self-ascribed name by people of the Indian Subcontinent and the Republic of India.Bharata is the official Sanskrit name of the country, Bharata Gaṇarajya, and the name is derived from the ancient Indian texts, that which refers to the land that comprises India as Bharata varṣam, and uses this term to distinguish it from other varsas or continents.For example, the Vayu Puranas says he who conquers the whole of Bharata-varsa is celebrated as a samrat (Vayu Purana 45, 86).However in some puranas,the term 'Bharate' refers to the whole Earth as Emperor Bharata is said to have ruled the whole Earth. Until the death of Maharaja Parikshit, the last formidable emperor of the Kuru dynasty, the known world was known as Bharata varsha.

           According to the most popular theory the name Bharata is the vrddhi of Bharata, a king mentioned in Rigveda.The Sanskrit word bharata is a vrddhi 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 fero. This term also means "one who is engaged in search for knowledge".

            

1935 Narayana-God Vishnu Nepal India Hindu Statue

 According to the Puranas(Gita), this country is known as Bharatavarsha after the king Bharata Chakravarti. 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, Khanda (37,57) and Markandaya Purana (50,41) it is clearly stated that this country is known as Bharata Varsha. Vishnu Purana mentions.

            The country (varṣam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bharatam; there dwell the descendants of Bharata.

             The term in Classical Sanskrit literature is taken to comprise the present day territories of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Republic of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. This corresponds to the approximate extent of the historical Maurya Empire under emperors Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka the Great (4th to 3rd centuries BC). Later political entities unifying approximately the same region are the Mughal Empire (17th century), the Maratha Empire (18th century), and the British Raj (19th to 20th centuries).

2)Hindustan

(The name Hind (Persian) is derived from the Iranian equivalent of Sindh.The Persian -stan means "country" or "land")

3)Aryavarta

Aryavarta (Sanskrit: आर्यावर्त, "abode of the Aryans") is a name for North India in classical Sanskrit literature.

4)Jambudvipa

Jambudvipa was used in ancient scriptures for the name of India before Bharata became the official name scriptures began using.

5)Nabhivarsha

According to the Bhagavata Purana, before India was called Bharatvarsha, it was known as Nabhivarsha after Nabhi Rajah, the son of Agnidhara (ruler of India) and father of Rishabha.

6)Tianzhu 

Tianzhu  Chinese Tang dynasty in reference to the Indian origins of Buddhism.

7)Hodu

Hodu (Hebrew) is the Biblical Hebrew name for India mentioned in the Book of Esther part of the Jewish Tanakh (Bible), and Christian Old Testament. In Esther 1:1, Ahasuerus (Xerxes) had been described as King ruling 127 provinces from Hodu (India) to Kush (Ethiopia).