Myth We gave our land the name India.

Transcription

1 Myth We gave our land the name India. It was foreigners who gave our land the name, India. We named our land Bharat. Today we call our land as Bharat and India. Bharat Bharat is the indigenous name of this country. Bharat etymologically stands for Bha which means light or the act of being enlightened. For example, the name Bhaskara denotes the Sun. Ratha means one who is a connoisseur, one who relishes. A beautiful example is the word Rati / Rathi. Rati means a beautiful lady, one who is pleasing, one who is to be appreciated, one who brings Very aptly, Rati, one who bring relish, is the name of the consort of the divinity of desires called Kama. Bharath thus means to relish light, to relish enlightenment and to relish knowledge. As the civilization spread and evolved, the people living here, gave their land the name Bharat, to denote that they were knowledge seekers.they thus created a knowledge based civilization and were well respected and famed the world over, for their knowledge. Myth We gave our land the name India. 35

2 Bharat also denoted that land that enjoyed good sunlight (Bha). Even though there are many lands along the equator, India has the advantages of being a fairly big mass of land as against many of the islands along the equator of receiving seasonal and copious monsoons, as against brief daily rains like equatorial regions of enjoying right amount of sunshine, Bha, neither too hot for long nor too cold for long and just ideal for most of the year. 36 Breaking The Myths - About Identity Myths About Our Origin

3 And India had learnt how to relish and harness the energy that the Sun poured upon her. All of which, made India an agriculturally rich land and therefore a prosperous civilization. Thus, the name Bharat stood for a land famed for its knowledge (Bha) and rich due to its agriculture enriched by the Sun (Bha). This name Bharat, can be found all the way back in the Veda and Purana. Hindustan This land later came to be known as Hindustan and even later as India. How and when did Bharat get the name Hindustan and India? In order to understand the term Hindu, Hindustan and India, we need to go back in history a bit. In northwest of India, we have the river called Sindhu Nadi, the Indus River. In the Persian language, the syllable Sa was pronounced as Ha. Sa pronounced as Ha Myth We gave our land the name India. 37

4 When the Persians and Arabs came east towards the river Sindhu, they called the land around and beyond the land of river Sindhu as Hind. Hind, the land beyond River Sindhu, Hindu Thus from the word Hind came the words Hindu and Hindustan. 38 Breaking The Myths - About Identity Myths About Our Origin

5 The term Hindustan was coined to describe the Stan, the place of the area around the Sind, Hind, Indus River. The inhabitants of this area were called Hindustani. India As the word Hind travelled westward towards Greece from Persia, in the Greek language, the syllable H in the Hind was dropped and thus Hind became Ind, Inde, India. The Greek scholars of 200 BCE, Peutinger and Ptolemy, both show India as Inde in their maps. Only thereafter, the terms Inde, Indi, India came to be. Bharat - The Name We Gave Ourselves Bharat is the original name of this land and civilization. Bharat is a name that stands for the name, fame and wealth of this land which had come about by relishing Knowledge and relishing the Sun. Bharat is a name that was coined by the forefathers of this civilization, to keep reminding the forthcoming generations to come, of the bounties endowed upon them by Nature, in the form of a knowledge seeking temperament and abundant sunlight as well as rains and how they will earn name, fame and riches if they learn to relish and harness them all well, with respect. Hind Given Due To Sind Hind From Sind, Not From Black or Slave In recent times, there has been a view put forth, that India and Indians came to be called Hind based on the word Hind for Black, Dark in Persian language, from Hind-e-Falak in Persian language which denoted Black of the sky, Saturn. According to this view, Indians were taken as slaves to Persia and as they were darker than Myth We gave our land the name India. 39

6 the Persians, these Indian slaves came to be called Black, i.e. Hind in Persian. From there, the land of India also came to be called Hind. The name of the mountain range Hindu Kush is cited to show how this mountain got its name Hindu Kush meaning that which causes suffering to the slaves from Hind. While no doubt Indians were taken as slaves to Persia and literally dragged across the harsh Hindukush range which gave it this name, this was more during the times of the Islamic invasions from Near West since the 11th century CE. Indians, prior to this period were held in high esteem even by the Persian rulers themselves, as the knowledge givers of the world. This can be gathered from Persian works that go as far back as 6th century CE, during the times of King Khosrau Anushirawan Adel of the Sasanian Dyansty who ruled between the years 531 and 579 CE. This Khosrau I, referred to as Anushiravan the Just, who ruled Persia then, has recorded his acceptance of knowledge and culture from India. An open minded ruler, interested in justice, knowledge, philosophy, Khosrau I had held knowledge and customs from India in high regard and amalgamated it with Persian knowledge systems. In his words, King Khosrau I Anushirawan Adel of the Sasanian Dyansty in the Tehran Courthouse He used to send ambassadors and gifts to Indian kings to request them to send scholars and philosophers to teach in Iran. It was not slaves who were going from India to Iran then in 6th century CE. Further more, the trend of switching S with H can be found in the case of yet other rivers of India. 40 Breaking The Myths - About Identity Myths About Our Origin

7 Croatia Living Proof of Sa-Ha Interchange Just as Indians are fighting myths about their identity, another group of people surrounded by myths about their identity are the Croatians. Croatia came under Yugoslavia when it was formed in Croatia was forced to become a totally Slavic nation in many a sense such as language, culture, customs and more. Much of its antiquity was suppressed by the ruling political regime then. However, what little survived, of the over 200 year old research done by those who wanted to keep Croatian memory alive, despite the Yugoslavic suppression, shows a different story. It traces how Croatians have their roots in Iran. With more and more of these works finding their way upto the public, it is not only an Iranian root that is emerging but an Indian connect as well. Let us see what it is and how it has bearing on the discourse on the name Hind. The description of ancient Croats has now been traced across times through Persia. Summarized from The Old Iranian Origin of Croats, Paper by Late Prof. Lovric in the Proceedings of Symposium, Zagreb, June 4, 1998 Myth We gave our land the name India. 41

8 Of significant interest to India, is the paper by Mato Marcinko in the 1998 Zagreb Symposium, which discusses the origin and gradual evolution of the Croats as they migrated from their Indian Homeland to Persia, to Caucasus and finally upto the Adriatic. Mato further traces this evolution from India in the following linguistic and geographical sequence: From Vedic Sarasvati to Harahvaiti and Harauvati in ancient Iran and Afghanistan, to Hurrwuhe and Hurravat in Armenia and Kurdistan, to Horouathos in Azov and Black Sea, to Medieval harvati and Horvati, to Hrvati in Croatia today. This shows how linguistically, Sa changed to Ha through Persia and further Ha to Ca, a guttural Ca sound with air expelled as in Ha, closer to the Adriatic and Greece. Evidence of India being the original homeland of the Croats also lies in the name Harauvati they gave for the river flowing through Afghanistan. It flows even today as Helmand. It is obvious that the Croats carried memories of life along Sarasvati as they moved. Infact, this river Sarasvati, Harauvati and the land around it is called Arachosia by the Greek, showing a morphing of Ha to Ca as well as the dropping of the Ha in the beginning, just as they did to Hind to make it Ind. The recent administrations in Croatia have accepted and made official this Indo-Iranian origin of the Croats or Hrvats. Their land has been called Hrvatska and language Hrvati for long. So much so that, their internet domain has always been.hr just like India s is.in. Researchers such as Dr.Samar Abbas, who have been studying Iranian history, clearly show a philological, cultural and traditional connect between Croats, Serbs and the Jats of India. 42 Breaking The Myths - About Identity Myths About Our Origin

9 The Croats show their memories of their Indo-Iranian past in the chessboard like coat of arms in the flag of Croatia. Chess is after all a game that went from India to Persia. Who knows, perhaps it was these Croats or Hrvats who took it with them as they moved from their Indian homeland and later from their Iranian homeland. Croatian Coat of Arms, older and not later than 1494, from the remains of Church of St. Lucija, Jurandvor near Baska, island of Krk Source - Regni Sigillum, State Stamp of the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia from 1527 with the display of the Croatian coat of arms, stamp of the Cetinski Parliament Source - Flag of Croatia today Many Croatian historians trace this flag to their ancestry from the counsellor of the Sassanid king Khosrau I called Bozorgmehr. Bozorgmehr, Buzurgmihr or Dadimihr as he was variously called to denote his elderliness, is mentioned in Persian literature and paintings Myth We gave our land the name India. 43

10 as the one who exchanged Indian Chaturanga and Persian Nard between India and Iran. A Painting from Bayasanghori Shahnameh showing Buzurgmihr playing chess with Indians Source - Housed in Golestan Palace, Tehran, Iran, Photo - Unesco Photo Gallery Buzurgmihr or Dadmihr demonstrating Nard to an Indian King Researchers such as Dr.Samar Abbas, who have been studying Iranian history, clearly show a philological, cultural, traditional as well as genetic connect between Croats, Serbs and the Jats of India. For others it may be Croatia, but for the Croats, it is Hravtska, Hrvati from Harauvati aka Sarasvati. Is Sind different from Hind and Sindhi from Hindi? Since the names Sind for the region of Sind and SIndhi for the language of the people there, have not changed and continue to have the syllable S and not H, some favour the argument that the name Hind, Hindu came from black and slave rather than Hind having come from the morphing of Sa to Ha by the Persians. What we have to note here is that, the region of Sind, the language Sindhi etc. are indigenous names given by the people in this region of 44 Breaking The Myths - About Identity Myths About Our Origin

11 Punjab Sind and rest of Bharat, who had no problems in pronouncing Sindhu, Sind, Sindhi. These were not names given by the Persians. So we thus have Sind, Sindhi of the locals who were / are Indians for this province, which are different from Hind, Hindi of the Persians for the larger land and its people. More Morphs of Sa to Ha to Ca Similar morphing can also be seen in how the Sapta-Sindhu region has been called Hapta-Hindawa in the Avesta. Another instance of Sa to Ha. Likewise the river Sarayu was also glorified in Afghanistan. Researchers such as Raj Kumar working on the early history of Jammu, write that the name Aria for the river in Afghanistan, comes from the Persian Haraiva, Harayu for Sarayu, with the root going back to Saray as defined by Panini in VI.4, 174. Haraiva then became Herat. Here again we see a Sa Ha interchange. Similar morphing can also be seen in how there is no Ha in the ancient Tamil language. Ha is replaced with a guttural sound between Ka and Ga. For example Guha of Ramayana fame, becomes Gugan in Tamil. While this sequence of migration has lot of significane for many a myth that has been thrust on India, it vindicates that the name Hind for India cames from the morphing of Sind in the tongues of the Persians and not because Hind means black in Persian. Contrary, black in Persian would have acquired a synonym in the word Hind, when slaves were taken to Persia by the Islamic invaders post 10 th century CE. Not Hindu Kush or Hindu Killer, till recently Yet another evidence to vindicate that the name Hind for India, came from Sind and does not have a black or dark origin, is the very name Hindu Kush itself. This mountain range has been referred in the Purana of India from time immemorial by the name Paariyatra Parvat which conveys a meaning that they are mountains that are beyond crossing or formidable to cross over. Paar is beyond.yatra means journey and Myth We gave our land the name India. 45

12 Parvat means mountains. Even during the times of Alexander, this mountain range had been referred by the Greeks as Parapamisos, Paropanisos after the Indian name Paariyatra Parvat. Kabul of Afghanistan which lies in this range came to be called Paropanisadee, which was the Bablylonian equivalent of Paaruparaersa. As per Encyclopeadia Brittanica, 46 Breaking The Myths - About Identity Myths About Our Origin

13 For, in the Persian language, Kush means to kill. Khud Kushi for example, means Self killing or Suicide. The Hindu Kush mountain system spans 1000 miles long and 200 miles wide, running northeast to southwest in the Pamir Plateau. The Hindu Kush Range Khyber Pass a Painting It has extreme climates and most foreign invaders had entered the plains of India through the many difficult passes in this mountain range such as the Khyber Pass and the Bolan Pass. They include Alexander the Macedonian in 327 BCE, Mahmud of Ghazni in 1001 CE Timur Lane in 1398 CE and Nadir Shah of Iran in 1739 CE, who had used the Khyber pass. It also becomes clear that Ibn Batutah had named this Paariyatra Parvat as Hindu Kush, because during his times, Indians were being taken away as slaves by the Islamic invaders from the Near West and the only land route to India from the Near West was through these mountain ranges. Myth We gave our land the name India. 47

14 Map of Afghanistan showing Harauvati (Helmand) and Arachosia (Blue) as well as Hindu Kush range and Khyber Pass (Red) and Herat (Pink) Source - Alexander s Network of Cities and their Dynamics, Paper by Dimitrios S. Dendrinos, University of Kansas, published in net/publication/ What Is In A Name? All this labour here, only to establish a few things 1. The word Hind for India does not have any negative connotation of slave nor of religion. Rather every utterance of the word Hind, Hindu, Hindustan should fill Indians with pride about their roots and the rivers Sindhu and Sarasvati which have nurtured these roots. 2. Secondly, this word Hind also brings to fore, a long lost connect between the lost Sarasvati and Harauvati as well as the lost link with the lands and the people all along the way from the banks of the rivers Sarasvati and Harauvati / Arachosia to the land and the people by the Adriatic Sea today. 48 Breaking The Myths - About Identity Myths About Our Origin

15 Greek literature, popularized by the Europeans world over, post colonization, has had a Greeat role in covering and shrouding in myth, the link between the people, their languages and their names, all along this belt. How many times we would have come across names such as Arachosia, Hydaspes, Hyphasis, Hystaspes, Darius, Croatia etc. But have we ever seen connect between them and the local, regional names? Arachosia Hydaspes Hyphasis Hystaspes Darius Xerxes Croatia Sarasvati / Harauvati river Old Vitasta / now Jhelum river Beas river Vistaspa (father of Darius) Daryavus Kshayarsha Hrvati Indians read about the Battle of Hydaspes in their colonialized history books, but do not connect it with the present day Jhelum or the ancient Vitasta river, in the Sapta-Sindhu region, that is being talked about. Hydaspes seems like a place far away, perhaps even in Greece and all that happened in its banks therefore does indeed seem like a myth. As an Indian, one feels a tug in the heart, when one learns that Vistaspa, the father of the mighty Darius was actually connected with the river Vitasta through his name. India is a name that connects us with the West and Hindustan is a name that connects us with the Near West. Myth We gave our land the name India. 49

16 Bharat is a name that connects us with ourselves, knowledge of our ancients, light of the Sun and other elements of Nature. Bharat, Hindustan and India are all our names. We have in us, the option to choose the one that suits best, the context of reference, that which places us truly in that context of reference. 50 Breaking The Myths - About Identity Myths About Our Origin