The Many Names of India - Concepts - Chapter 1 Class 7 History - The Medieval World - History

The many names of India

• India is the name of our country, but it was known by different names in different times.
• Some of the earliest names of India were:
• Bharatvarsha
• Jambudwipa
• India was also called the land of the people who lived along the river Sindhu .
• The word Sindhu became Hindu in Persian and Inde in French.
• The word Inde became India in English.
• The word Hindustan had different meanings in different times.
• In the thirteenth century Minhaj - i - Siraj used the term ‘Hindustan. He meant the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna. 
• Some medieval scholars used it to mean the lands under the Delhi Sultanate.
• The Mughal emperor Babur used it to describe the geography and natural vegetation of the subcontinent.
• In the nineteenth century, during the British Raj, Hindustan became synonymous with India.