India, That Is Bharat — Class 6 Social Science
Exploring Society: India and Beyond · Chapter 5
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- Space weighted by chapter size
- Charts from the book's own data
- Traps corrected
- Space weighted by chapter size
- Charts from the book's own data
- Traps corrected
- Space weighted by chapter size
- Charts from the book's own data
- Traps corrected
- Space weighted by chapter size
- Charts from the book's own data
- Traps corrected
- Space weighted by chapter size
- Charts from the book's own data
- Traps corrected
Chapter summary
Key ideas & terms
- Indian Subcontinent
- The large region of South Asia that includes present-day India and its neighbours, with many natural boundaries.
- Sapta Sindhava
- The ‘land of the seven rivers’, the name the Ṛig Veda gives to the northwest of the subcontinent.
- Bhāratavarṣha
- An ancient name meaning ‘the country of the Bharatas’, used in the Mahābhārata for the whole subcontinent.
- Jambudvīpa
- An ancient name meaning ‘the island of the jamun tree’, used for the Indian Subcontinent, including by Aśhoka.
- Sindhu
- The ancient name for the Indus River, from which foreign names like Hindu, Indoi and India are derived.
- Constitution
- The document that spells out the basic principles and laws of a nation; India's opens with ‘India, that is Bharat’.
Extra questions & answers
What is the Indian Subcontinent?
It is the large region of South Asia, with many natural boundaries, that has had many names and shifting borders through history.
What name does the Ṛig Veda give to the northwest region?
It calls it ‘Sapta Sindhava’, meaning the land of the seven rivers.
What does ‘Bhāratavarṣha’ mean?
It means ‘the country of the Bharatas’; ‘Bharata’ first appears in the Ṛig Veda as the name of a Vedic group of people.
What does ‘Jambudvīpa’ mean and who used it for all of India?
It means ‘the island of the jamun tree’; Emperor Aśhoka used it in his inscriptions for the whole of India around 250 BCE.
How does the Viṣhṇu Purāṇa describe Bhārata?
It describes Bhārata as the country that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains.
Which phrase appears at the beginning of the Indian Constitution?
The phrase ‘India, that is Bharat’ appears at the very beginning of the Constitution.
Why did the Persians call India ‘Hindu’?
They adapted ‘Sindhu’ (the Indus River) into ‘Hind’ or ‘Hindu’, using it as a purely geographical term, not a religious one.
How did the Greeks come to call the region ‘Indoi’?
They based the name on the Persian ‘Hindu’ but dropped the initial ‘h’, which did not exist in Greek, giving ‘Indoi’ or ‘Indike’.
What did the ancient Chinese call India?
They called it ‘Yintu’ or ‘Yindu’, and also ‘Tianzhu’, all ultimately derived from ‘Sindhu’.
When did the term ‘Hindustān’ first appear?
It first appeared in a Persian inscription about 1,800 years ago and was later used by many invaders for the subcontinent.
The Big Questions
1. How do we define India?
India today is defined as a modern nation with clear political borders, a federal structure of States and Union Territories, a Constitution and a known population. Geographically it is the large part of the Indian Subcontinent that lies north of the Indian Ocean and south of the Himalayas, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Culturally and historically it is also defined as an ancient continuous civilization that had many names like Bhārata and Jambudvīpa and was united by shared traditions despite changing boundaries.
2. What were the ancient names for India?
Names given by Indians included Sapta Sindhava for the northwest region in the Rig Veda, Bhāratavarsha or Bhārata meaning the country of the Bharatas, and Jambudvīpa meaning the island of the jamun fruit, used by Emperor Ashoka around 250 BCE. Names given by foreigners, mostly derived from the river Sindhu, included Hind, Hidu or Hindu by the Persians, Indoi or Indike by the Greeks, India by the Romans, Yintu, Yindu or Tianzhu by the Chinese, and later Hindustan by Persian and Arabic writers.
THINK ABOUT IT
Consider the physical map of the Indian Subcontinent at the start of the chapter. What are its natural boundaries that you can make out?
The map shows clear natural boundaries on all sides. In the north and northwest are the high Himalayas and the Hindu Kush mountains, which form a wall. On the other three sides the land is bounded by water - the Arabian Sea in the west, the Bay of Bengal in the east, and the Indian Ocean in the south. Many rivers like the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra also flow from the mountains to the seas, but the mountains and seas are the main natural boundaries.
LET'S EXPLORE
Do you recognise the names of any regions given in the map (Fig. 5.4) on page 79? List the ones that you have heard of.
Yes, several names on the Mahabharata map are still familiar today. For example, Kāshmīra sounds like Kashmir, Kaccha is Kutch in Gujarat, Kerala is still Kerala, Vanga is part of Bengal, Prāgjyotiṣha is roughly Assam, and Kurukṣhetra is in Haryana. Other names like Surashtra for Saurashtra and Avanti for Malwa are also recognisable. The map shows that these ancient kingdoms covered almost the whole Subcontinent from north to south.
THINK ABOUT IT
Have you identified the ‘snowy mountains’? Do you think this brief description of Bhārata is correct?
The snowy mountains are the Himalayas, called Himādri in Sanskrit, where hima means snow. The Vishnu Purana verse says Bhārata is the country north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains. This is broadly correct because it captures the main geography of the Subcontinent - the Himalayas in the north and the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal in the south. It is a simple but accurate way ancient Indians described their land, even though it does not mention exact borders in the east and west.
LET'S EXPLORE
In this reproduction of the first page of the original Constitution of India in Fig. 5.5 (page 82), can you make out the phrase ‘India, that is Bharat’?
Yes. At the top of Part I titled The Union and its Territory, Article 1 reads India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States. The original calligraphed page shows this phrase clearly handwritten in English, and the Hindi version of the Constitution says Bhārat arthāth India. This shows that both names India and Bharat are officially accepted for our country from 1950 when the Constitution came into force.
LET'S EXPLORE
Can you complete this table of the many names of India?
The table can be completed as derived from Sindhu: Persian - Hind, Hidu, Hindu; Greek - Indoi, Indike; Latin - India; Chinese - Yintu, Yindu and also Tianzhu meaning heavenly master; Arabic & Persian - Hind, al-Hind, Hindustan; English - India; French - Inde. All foreign names except Tianzhu come from adapting the Sanskrit word Sindhu for the Indus River, while Indian names like Bhārata and Jambudvīpa were used by the inhabitants themselves.
Questions, activities and projects
1. Discuss what could be the meaning of the quotation at the start of the chapter.
Sri Aurobindo's quotation means that long before modern political unity, India already had a deep spiritual and cultural unity. From the Himalayas to the two seas, people across this vast land shared common ideas, values, stories, pilgrimage places and ways of life. This common culture became the heart and substance of life for everyone in the region, holding the country together as one civilization even when it was divided into many kingdoms.
2. True or false? The Ṛig Veda describes the entire geography of India.
False. The Rig Veda is several thousand years old and only gives the northwest region the name Sapta Sindhava, the land of the seven rivers around the Indus. It does not describe the entire Subcontinent. The fuller description of the whole land as Bhārata comes later in texts like the Vishnu Purana.
2. True or false? The Viṣhṇu Purāṇa describes the entire Subcontinent.
True. The Vishnu Purana gives a short definition of Bhārata as the country that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains, meaning the Himalayas. This verse is understood to cover the entire Subcontinent.
2. True or false? In Aśhoka’s time, ‘Jambudvīpa’ included what is today India, parts of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
True. Emperor Ashoka, around 250 BCE, used the name Jambudvipa in his inscriptions for the whole land he ruled, which at that time included present-day India plus areas that are now Pakistan, Bangladesh and parts of Afghanistan.
2. True or false? The Mahābhārata lists many regions, including Kashmir, Kutch, and Kerala.
True. The Mahabharata lists many janapadas and kingdoms such as Kāshmīra for Kashmir, Kaccha for Kutch, and Kerala, along with Kurukshetra, Vanga, Prāgjyotisha and others, showing knowledge of the whole Subcontinent.
2. True or false? The term ‘Hindustān’ first appeared in a Greek inscription more than 2,000 years ago.
False. The term Hindustan first appeared in a Persian inscription about 1,800 years ago, not a Greek one. The Greeks used Indoi or Indike derived from the Persian Hindu.
2. True or false? In ancient Persian, the word ‘Hindu’ refers to the Hindu religion.
False. In ancient Persian Hindu, Hind or Hidu was a purely geographical word adaptation of Sindhu, the Indus River. It referred to the land beyond the Indus, not to a religion.
2. True or false? ‘Bhārata’ is a name given to India by foreign travellers.
False. Bhārata is a name given by the inhabitants of India themselves. It comes from the Rig Vedic group Bharata and later kings named Bharata, and appears in Indian texts like the Mahabharata and Vishnu Purana. Foreign travellers gave names like Hindu, Indoi and India.
3. If you were born some 2,000 years ago and had the chance to name our country, what name or names might you have chosen, and why? Use your imagination!
If I lived 2,000 years ago I might call the country Sagar-Himalaya Bhumi because it lies between the Himalayas and the oceans, or Jambu Kshetra because the jamun tree grows everywhere and Jambudvipa was already known, or Sapta Sindhu Mahadesha because the seven rivers were the lifelines people knew. I could also choose Bharata to honour the brave Bharata people and kings remembered in stories. Each name would reflect geography, nature or shared history that everyone around me would recognize.
4. Why did people travel to India from various parts of the world in ancient times? What could be their motivations in undertaking such long journeys? (Hint: There could be at least four or five motivations)
People took long, difficult journeys to India for several reasons. Traders came for wealth, seeking spices, cotton, muslin, gems and silk routes. Scholars and pilgrims like the Chinese monk Xuanzang came to learn, collect Buddhist manuscripts and visit sacred places like Bodh Gaya and Nalanda. Invaders and emperors like the Persians came to conquer and control the rich Indus region. Explorers and geographers came from Greece and beyond to see and write about a distant famous land. Some also came to study knowledge in medicine, mathematics and philosophy for which India was respected as a land of wisdom.