Friday, August 22, 2008

NAMING OF INDIA

The official Sanskrit name for India is Bharat. India has been called Bharat even in the very early ages, at the very dawn of civilization.

The name `India’ is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. It was the home of the earliest urban civilization of India, namely the Harappan Civilization. The most famous sites of the Harappan Civilization are Mohenjodaro and Harappa. The Aryan settlers also started the spread of their civilization from the Indus valley. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.

The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name `Hindustan’ combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.

1 comment:

Supriya said...

I want to elaborate more on name HINDU. The persons living beside the river sindhu are also called as sindhu. But the invaders could not pronounce sindhu,instead called them as hindu. As such the area where they live was also called as hindusthan.