Bharat

Also called: Bharatam, Bharatavarsha, Bharata-varsha, Bharatvarsha · Topic: India, That Is Bharat: Names of India and Unity in Diversity · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 5 "India, That Is Bharat"; Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE"

Meaning

Bharat (in Sanskrit, Bhārata or Bhāratavarṣha, meaning "country of the Bharatas") is an old Indian name for the whole Subcontinent. It became the general name for the land a few centuries after Aśhoka, and it is still India's name in most Indian languages.

• It matters because one name has lasted from a Ṛigvedic clan, through the epics and Purāṇas, into modern Indian languages and the Constitution. This shows how long Indian culture has carried on without a break.

Explanation

Where the name comes from

• Bharata first appears in the Ṛig Veda as one of the main Vedic clans. A clan here is a jana (a people or tribe).
• Later texts name several kings called 'Bharata'. Over time, the name picked up many layers of meaning.
• Bhāratavarṣha = Bhārata + varṣha (a land or a division of a country). So it means "country of the Bharatas".
• Reference works give the same meaning: Bharatavarsha = "Land of the Bharatas". They link it to a legendary King Bharata, who is said to have brought many peoples of India together. The Mahābhārata and other old texts use the name for the Indian Subcontinent. [2]

From a region to the whole land

• Step 1, a region only: The Ṛig Veda's Sapta Sindhava ("land of the seven rivers") names just the northwest.
• Step 2, knowing the whole map: The Mahābhārata (composed from a few centuries BCE onward; the exact date is not certain) lists regions all over the Subcontinent. These include Kāshmīra, Prāgjyotiṣha (Assam), Vanga (Bengal) and Kerala.
• Step 3, names for the whole land: Bhāratavarṣha and Jambudvīpa both came to mean the entire Subcontinent.
• Step 4, Bhārata wins: A few centuries after Aśhoka, Bhārata became the general name for the land. A verse from the Vishnu Purana records this.
• According to this verse, Bhārata is the land north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains (the Himalayas). Its people are called Bhāratī.

The name today

• 'Bharat' is used in north India.
• 'Bharatam' is used in the south.
• It is the name of India in most Indian languages. That includes languages from different language families, such as Indo-Aryan and Dravidian.
• Article 1 of the Constitution of India (in force from 1950) begins: "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States". So both names are official.

Time, place and evidence

• Earliest use: Bharata as a clan name in the Ṛig Veda, India's most ancient text and the oldest of the four Vedas. [4]
• The Ṛig Veda was kept alive by memory and careful chanting for centuries before anyone wrote it down.

• Its manuscripts are kept at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune. They are on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. [4]

• Epic stage: The Mahābhārata (from a few centuries BCE onward) uses Bhāratavarṣha for the Subcontinent. [2]

• Date peg: Around c. 250 BCE, Aśhoka used Jambudvīpa, not Bhārata, in an inscription for the whole of India. At that time this land also included Bangladesh, Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan.

• His edicts are mostly in Prakrit in Brahmi script. In the northwest they also use Kharoshthi, Greek and Aramaic. [5]

• General-name stage: A few centuries after Aśhoka, Bhārata became the common name. The Vishnu Purana is the text that carries this.

• How we know: Most of the evidence is literary (Veda, epic, Purāṇa). These texts are hard to date exactly because they grew over centuries. The Aśhokan inscription gives a firm, datable point to check the texts against.

Don't confuse with

• Jambudvīpa: also a name for the whole Subcontinent, but it comes from a tree (the jamun, also called jambul or Malabar plum). Aśhoka (c. 250 BCE) used Jambudvīpa in his inscription, not Bharat.
• Sapta Sindhava: the Ṛig Veda's "land of the seven rivers". It names only the northwest region, not all of India.
• India: this name comes from the Indus river, not from a clan. The chain is Sanskrit Sindhu → Greek Hindu / Indos → India. [3]
• Bharata the clan vs Bharata the king: the Ṛigvedic Bharata is a clan (jana). Later texts tell of several kings named Bharata, including a legendary King Bharata said to have united many peoples. [2]

Prelims Hooks

• Bhāratavarṣha = "country of the Bharatas". Varṣha = a land or country division. [2]
• Bharata first appears in the Ṛig Veda as a Vedic clan (jana), not as a king.
• The Vishnu Purana describes Bhārata as the land north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains.
• Trap: Aśhoka's c. 250 BCE inscription uses Jambudvīpa, not Bharat, for the whole of India.
• 'Bharat' is used in north India and 'Bharatam' in the south. It is India's name in most Indian languages.
• Order of names: Sapta Sindhava (Ṛig Veda, a region) → Mahābhārata region list → Jambudvīpa in Aśhoka's edict (c. 250 BCE) → Bhārata as the general name (a few centuries later).

Mains Points

• A name as proof of continuity: Bharat began as a Ṛigvedic clan name. It then passed through the epic (Mahābhārata), the Purāṇa (Vishnu Purana) and modern Indian languages, and finally into Article 1 of the Constitution. Few names in the world have lasted this long. This is strong evidence for India's cultural continuity.
• Unity in diversity, "Many in the One": Languages from different language families (Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and others) all call the land Bharat or Bharatam. A name shared by unrelated languages shows that people felt they belonged to one land long before there was a modern nation-state.
• Texts vs inscriptions in source criticism: We know about Bhārata mainly from literature, which is hard to date. Aśhoka's inscription (c. 250 BCE) proves that a single name for the whole land (Jambudvīpa) was already in official use by then. This helps date when Bhārata later became the general name. It is a good example of how epigraphy (the study of inscriptions) checks literary sources in GS-I answers.

Related concepts

• Regions in the Mahabharata
• Bharatas
• Jambudvipa
• Aryavarta

Read more

• How Indians named India