How India got its name?

 The game of name:


    • In brief, the name ‘India’ originates from the River Sindhu, the very ancient and popular Indus valley civilization.




    • Initially, there was no word like India or Indus. It all started with the word Sindhu.
    • The Aryan (Indo-Iranian people) referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu (a Sanskrit word).
    • The old Persian equivalent of Sindhu is Hindu. So, the Persian invaders started calling the Sindhu “Hindu”. Time Period: 600 BCE to 300 BCE
    • Scylax of Caryanda a Greek explorer explored the Indus river for the Persian emperor and presumably took over the Persian name and passed it to Greek (Europe). Time Period: 550 BCE to 450 BCE



    • The loss of the /h/ from the dialects 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.
    • By the time of Alexander, Alexander’s companions were aware of North India up to the Ganges delta. Later, Megasthenes included the southern peninsula in India. Time Period: 356 BCE to 290 BCE
    • The names Sindhu and Hindu gave rise to the name “Hindustan” that refers to the land of the Hindus.
    • “Bharat”, the name is said to be derived from the name of the Bharata clan(an ancient tribe).


    The use of the word “    India”, “Hindustan”, or “Bharat” depends on the language of conversation and context.


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