India, that is Bharat

Also called: Bharat arthat India · Topic: India, That Is Bharat: Names of India and Unity in Diversity · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 5 "India, That Is Bharat"

Meaning

"India, that is Bharat" are the opening words of Article 1 of the Constitution of India. Article 1 gives the country two official names and calls it a "Union of States". In the Hindi version the order is reversed: "Bhārat arthāth India". It matters because this one sentence joins two very old names into one legal name. It also states the country's identity and its structure in the same breath.

Explanation

Background: two names, two streams

• The Constitution did not invent either name. It joined two naming streams that had existed for thousands of years.
• Stream 1 — Bhārata (the name from inside):
• It first appears in the Ṛig Veda. There the Bharatas are a jana (a people or tribe).
• It continues in the Mahābhārata, the great epic whose title is built on this name.

• The Vishnu Purana gives it a clear geographical meaning. It describes the land itself as Bhārata.

• Stream 2 — India (the name from outside):

• It comes from the river Sindhu.
• Outsiders changed the word step by step: Sindhu → Hindu (Persian) → Indos/Indus (Greek) → India.

• So "India" was not made up by the people of the land. It is what outsiders called the land beyond the Sindhu.

• Before 1950 the two names lived in different worlds:

• Bhārata was used in Sanskrit texts, epics and Puranas.
• India was used in Greek, Persian, Latin and later English writing, including British-era official papers.

The words of Article 1

• The Constitution of India is the country's founding document. It was first written in English.
• Article 1(1) reads: "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States." [2][3]
• This one line does two jobs:
• It names the country, and it gives two names, not one.

• It describes the country as a Union of States.

• The Hindi version reverses the order: "Bhārat arthāth India", which means "Bharat, which is India".

• The meaning stays the same. Only the name that comes first changes.
• The English text puts the foreign-origin name first. The Hindi text puts the indigenous (native) name first.

Result: one State, two names

• After 1950 both names are equally official. Neither is a nickname. Both are constitutional.
• There is one State with two names. It is not two countries, and neither name is the "correct" one with the other "wrong".
• An indigenous name from the Ṛig Veda and a foreign name taken from a river now sit side by side in one sentence. Neither was dropped.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: The name story runs from the Ṛig Veda to 1950. The constitutional phrase belongs to the founding of the Republic of India.
• Key dates (keep them separate):
• The Constituent Assembly (the body of elected members that wrote the Constitution) adopted the Constitution on 26 November 1949. This day is marked as Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas). [4]
• Members signed it on 24 January 1950, at the Assembly's last sitting. At the same sitting Dr Rajendra Prasad was announced as the first President of India. [4]

• It came into force on 26 January 1950. NCERT gives the year as 1950. [4]

• Size at the start: 395 Articles and 8 Schedules, making it the longest written constitution in the world. [4]

• How we know:
• The text of the Constitution of India itself, published by the Legislative Department / India Code. [2][3]
• Press Information Bureau fact sheets on the Constitution give the dates and figures. [4]
• For the older names: the Ṛig Veda, the Mahābhārata and the Vishnu Purana (for Bhārata), and Greek and Persian usage (for India).
• NCERT Class 6, Ch 5 "India, That Is Bharat".

Don't confuse with

• Bharatas of the Ṛig Veda: In the Ṛig Veda they are a jana (a people), not a country. The name Bhārata only became the name of a land later, as in the Vishnu Purana.
• Hindi text "Bhārat arthāth India": It has the same meaning as the English Article 1, but Bharat comes first. The English original puts India first.
• Adoption (26 November 1949) vs commencement (26 January 1950): Constitution Day marks adoption. The Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950. It was signed on 24 January 1950.
• "India" vs "Hindu" vs "Indus": All three come from Sindhu. "Hindu" is the Persian form, "Indos/Indus" is the Greek form, and "India" is the final form of the name.

Prelims Hooks

• Article 1(1): "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States." [2][3]
• The Constitution was first written in English. Its Hindi version renders Article 1 as "Bhārat arthāth India".
• Chronology trap: adopted 26 Nov 1949 → signed 24 Jan 1950 → in force 26 Jan 1950. [4]
• At commencement the Constitution had 395 Articles and 8 Schedules, the longest constitution in the world. [4]
• Order of texts for "Bhārata": Ṛig Veda → Mahābhārata → Vishnu Purana.
• "India" comes from the river Sindhu: Sindhu → Hindu (Persian) → Indos/Indus (Greek) → India.

Mains Points

• Continuity, not just a label: "India, that is Bharat" links the new republic of 1950 to a name first heard in the Ṛig Veda.
• The new State claims an old civilisational identity.

• It does not reject the name the wider world already knew it by.

• Naming from inside and from outside, accepted together:

• Bhārata is self-naming: a people naming their own land.
• India is other-naming: outsiders naming the land beyond the Sindhu.

• Article 1 accepts both. This is itself an example of "many in the one", or unity in diversity.

• Identity and structure in one sentence: Article 1 does more than name the country. It also calls India a "Union of States". [2][3]

• Keeping both names meant no single language stream was favoured. This was a small but real act of accommodation (making room for different groups) at the founding moment.
• This lets an answer link the "names of India" theme to Indian polity and national integration.

Read more

• 'India, that is Bharat' in the Constitution