India original name

[Nanakidarkangel]

Does anyone know what Indian was called back in the days, when the Gurus walked this earth. I hope it’s not a stupid question – forgive me for my stupidity.

I’m doing some research and a part of it is to do with some Sikhs wanting a separate state for the Sikh community (khalastan). It was Gurpur yesterday and it got me thinking, that Guru Teg Bahadur Ji sacrificed himself for the Hindus and as Guru Gobind Singh Ji put it in the Bachitar Natak, “To protect their right to wear their caste-marks and sacred threads, did he, in the Dark Age, perform the supreme sacrifice”. - FACT

The question is would any of our ten masters want India divided, Guru Nanak Dev Ji says that were all children of one God, but to meet our father again he has given us different paths to reach him – but as man is dammed by his ego religions have been corrupted and miss interpreted, the main message of meditating on god is lost. Living an ego free life, helping people not looking at their cast or creed……………………………… (When I talk about men and his ego I include both men and women)

So, coming back to was India called anything else, I’ve been looking but its all the modern names mother India, bharat and of course Hindustan I did come across some reference to ARYADESA ???? Any information most welcome!!!

Thanks

Nanaki

[amardeep]

I think it was called bharat, as the word bharat is used i the uggardanti bani.

Guru Nanak uses the word hindustan

Page 723, Line 3

ਕਾਇਆ ਕਪੜੁ ਟੁਕੁ ਟੁਕੁ ਹੋਸੀ ਹਿਦੁਸਤਾਨੁ ਸਮਾਲਸੀ ਬੋਲਾ ॥

काइआ कपड़ु टुकु टुकु होसी हिदुसतानु समालसी बोला ॥

Kā▫i▫ā kapaṛ tuk tuk hosī hinḏusaṯān samālsī bolā.

The body-fabric will be torn apart into shreds, and then India will remember these words.

Guru Nanak Dev -

[valli singh]

.

[tonyhp32]

The term Hindustan used in Guru Nanak's bani does not refer to the Indian subcontinent as we know it or even the Indian state. Hindustan at that time meant the empire of the Lodhis which at that time consisted of the strip of land running across northern India from Bengal to Punjab. It probably consisted of at it's maximum extent about 15-20% of the present Indian subcontinent.

Also the concept of the nation state was unknown so it is not wise to ascribe concepts such as these to that time.

As for Khalistan, the present Indian state is a British creation and the name itself is taken by the British from the Greek Indica. Apart from a spell under when it formed parts of an Empire, India has never been united country.

[ringdingding]

The term Hindustan used in Guru Nanak's bani does not refer to the Indian subcontinent as we know it or even the Indian state. Hindustan at that time meant the empire of the Lodhis which at that time consisted of the strip of land running across northern India from Bengal to Punjab. It probably consisted of at it's maximum extent about 15-20% of the present Indian subcontinent.

Also the concept of the nation state was unknown so it is not wise to ascribe concepts such as these to that time.

As for Khalistan, the present Indian state is a British creation and the name itself is taken by the British from the Greek Indica. Apart from a spell under when it formed parts of an Empire, India has never been united country.

Some important concepts to be noted here in any serious research.

when you understand this then you will realise that its not straight forward enough to simply ask:

"Does anyone know what Indian was called back in the days?"

[Mithar]

The term "Bharat" applies to all the lands from Gandhara(eastern Afghanistan) to Assam and from the Himalaya to Sri Lanka. These are the lands according to Mahabharat ancient India.

During the Muslim era, the Term Hindustan was all the lands within South Asia where roughly the IndoAryan languages were spoken. The present day Pakistan, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP, Bihar, Bengal, MadhyaPradash composed of Hindustan. UP/Bihar being the heartlands of Hindustan.

India itself has never been a centralised nation state like China was. It was always localised powers from the village up that ruled. Until the British came to India, there was also never any concept of ethnic nationalism amongst the people of India. Since 1947, for the first time in history of India, India has been a centralised nation state where the individual states have very little power left. It is also the first time in India’s history that India is now a land without a class of nobility/royalty/monarchs ruling petty kingdoms. Ideally right after 1947, India should have been a confederation of states like the EU.

[Mekhane'ch Jannat]

actually in fact India was known as Jambudvipa, the innermost of the seven concentric islands that make up the world

[Nanakidarkangel]

JAMBUDVIPA Thanks Jannat I'll check that out!!!!

[shaheediyan]

The above are all correct according to their various sources Simriti, Puranic, Islamic and Buddist traditions. Even the term India is old, it was used by the British in teh 9th Century!

I believe the best term is of Bharata-varsa. Ths is mentioned in the Vayu Puaran and also the Vishnu Purana. The latter provides a perfect geographical definition:

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