A Himalayan Blunder – The Misnaming Of India!
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The first Article of the Constitution of India states that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states." Thus, India and Bharat are equally official names for the Republic of India. Hindustan is yet a third name mostly used by Muslims in the historical context of the period relating to Mughal and British rule. Thus India has three names Bharat, Hindustan and India.
It is the third name India by which the nation is most widely known which excites my curiosity .I discovered that the Indian’s have made a monumental error in retaining this name as the official post independence name for their motherland.
The name India is derived from the name of the Sindhu (Indus River) and has been in use in Greek since Herodotus times- 4 century BC.It denotes the region along the Indus (Ἰνδός) river- listed as a territory conquered by Darius I in the Persepolis terrace inscription, 4th century BC). Geographically The Indus River separates the Indian sub-continental plate from the land mass to the west of the river.
In fact the civilization which sprung up along the Indus is one of the oldest known civilizations, spanning the period from 7000 BCE to about 3200BCE.We do not know what these people called themselves. But it appears that another ancient people The Sumerians knew them as the Meluhha and Mekan.
During the period of British rule extensive excavations unearthed numerous
Sites of a remarkably organized and efficient people who traded with surrounding areas – ultimately with even as far as Hawaii! Starting with cultivating of crops, they developed their own seals, script, arts, tools–going on to build mighty cities. The archeologists named these people as the Indus valley civilization.
If we plonk the uncovered archeological sites of this civilization on a modern map, we find the sites confined exclusively along the Indus valley region with off shoots into what is now Baluchistan, Kashmir and NWFP! Thus Long before the Crescent and Star flew atop Islamabad, in fact even long before Chandra Gupta Vikramadatya ruled India, or even any known civilization developed in what is now wrongly called India; the people of Punjab, Singh, Sarah, Baluchistan and Kashmir were tied together as the people of The Indus Valley civilization.
The oldest arable land dating back 7000 years ago, the first implements, the first seals, the first script, the first cities –all have been discovered amongst these people of the Indus. Bainerjee and Sir Edmund Hill, the two founding archeologists clearly state in their writings, that the Indus valley civilization people did not have any organized religion. No “Temples” have been discovered either in Moenjadaro, Harappa or Taxila their major cities. But archaeologists have unearthed impressive public and private buildings that are evidence of a complex society based on a highly organized agriculture supplemented by active commerce. The arts flourished, and examples in copper, bronze, and pottery have been uncovered. Also found were examples of a pictograph script that long baffled archaeologists but was finally deciphered in 1969.
It is this Indus valley civilization(the Indians) which aided the emergence of the people of Bharati or Hindi people in the form of the Gangetic valley civilization in the sub-continent which came hundreds of years later. The fate of the Indus valley civilization remains a mystery, but it is believed that it fell victim to invading Aryans.
As the map above shows even with the arrival of the British in the Gangetic subcontinent the people of The Indus Valley(i.e.The Indians) were never a part of British rule till as late as 1850. Thus-except for a short period of about 100 years- historically as well as geographically the people of the Indus valley9The Indians) have always been distinct from the people of the Gangetic plains(The Hindis or Bharatis).
After the British left the two again separated . The people of the Indus valley (or Indians) setting up the state of Pakistan and the people of the Gangetic plains or Hindis set up Bharat. Calling this later state India is therefore a serious misnomer as well as a case of claiming of a false heritage along with a disowning of their real one by the people of Bharat or Hind.
