Article 1 of Constitution of India 1949, begins with the decree stating “India that is Bharat shall be union of state.” The question is why it can’t be “Bharat that is India” what else could be the perfect start that this?
If we look at the etymology of the name Bharat into the consideration then for the very first time it was discussed in “The land of seven rivers, the Rig Veda’s 18th hymn of seventh book which describes about Dasarajña yuddha, in this battle the dasrajna or the ten kings sought to overthrow the king Sudasa of the Bharat Tribe of Trtsu Dynasty and the battle ground was river Ravi in Punjab. Where Sudasa Triumphed over the dasrajana, uplifted the identity of king Sudasa and led people to call themselves as a proud member of Bharat Tribe, which eventually became Bharat Varsha.
One can find the traces of word Bharat in our holy books like mahabharta, according to the Epic Mahabharata the word Bharat Varsha was attributed after the name of Chakravarthy king Bharat.
Following the chronology the Vishnu Puran 2.3.1 shloka which is as followed “Uttaram yatsamudrasya himadrescaiva dakshinam Varsham tad bharatam nama Bharti yatra santatih” which means “The country that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called bharatam there dwells the descendants of bharata.”
Coming to our one of the oldest language we found the term Bharata as itself a sanskrit word rooted from the term ‘bh’ verbal noun which means ‘to bear’ or ‘to carry’ with a literal meaning of to be maintain (of fire). Even history embraces the word Bharat as an emotion which lies in the heart of every individual it has its own cultural, ethical value which holds together the notion and emotion of inhabitants.
The etymon of the word Bharat had great journey, which arise out of our holy books that holds noteworthiness till date and will continue to be same forever. Bringing cultural heritage it clearly depicts that the name is even older than that history. It reflects the unity and diversity of our country, representing the collective identity of its people. This name invokes a sense of continuity with India’s historical past and its enduring cultural values. Bharat represents national identity and is still used as a patriotic refrence to nation.
Transformation to India
The etymology of word India is derived from the Sanskrit word “Sindhu” symbolizing the Indus river, the term India is adopted from the Greek word Indika later transitioned to latin.
The loss of /h/ from the dilects of Greek spoken language gave rise to the word Indos. And over the passage of time, it ended up being called India. They also coined the term “Indian” for the people of the lower Indus basin.
Historical references depicts Megasthenes “Indica during 4th century BCE.
The name India is given by the foreign invaders due to their inability in pronouncing the word correctly made the word India to came into existence. It was the result of their dominance and enslaving. After colonizing our country , britishers firstly tried to cahnge our rich prosperous and indigenous culture. The always wanted to established the empire of their culture by ruining ours. The name of any country identifies its existence than by changing its name to n another name.
We all are well known with the literal meaning of word Bharat but do we know what does India means?
The word Indica and Indus holds meaning but India is only the result of missaccentation of invaders hence it doesn’t hold any literal meaning.
Our national anthem say “ Jana-gana-mana adhinayak jaya he Bharat bhagya vidhata”, no one can deny this, I don’t know whether I’m right or wrong but even our constitution has prioritized India over Bharat as it states India that is Bharat, rather than Bharat that is India . The unfortunate thing is that even after independence we are still recognized by the name given by foreign invaders.
Why to get recognized by the name which is given by the one who enslaved us for years?
That too when we have our own name with a magnificent meaning. Switching to called Bharatiya filled me with immense proud. In my sense it holds our cultural heritage, with itself being called Bharatiya resonates the way in every body’s mind. Bharat is not only the name or word but a reflection of its deep-rooted history and culture that shaped its civilization. Switching to Bharata will send the message of our power to the entire world.
Shubhra Tripathi is first year law student at DES Shri Navalmal Firodia Law College, Pune, Maharashtra.
