Why do we stil call ourselves *India*?

A thought just occured to me when I was responding to a post on the controversy as to whether Buddha was born in India or in Nepal...

Why do we still call ourselves India?

India, Indies etc.. mean * The land of the Indus *... That was the name given to us by the Europeans who identified this ancient civilisation with the great river Indus and the Harappan civilisation that flourished around it... The name Indus itself is deireved from the river's original Sanskrit name- Sindhu....

This land was called Hind by the Arabs which is again derieved from the word Sindhu.....

Now the people of this land came to be called *Hindus* by some and *Indians* by the others... Hind was later modified to Hindustan and the native religion of the people was called Hinduism...

These are all names given to us by foreigners.... This is how we are identified by the world.... Is this how WE "Indians" identify ourselves??

Ages later when the Indus in no longer in India... When this land is much more than just the Indus valley civilisation (The Vedic Civilisations and the great empires of the South) why is it that our identity is still connected to that ONE civilisation...

**Hindus** have started calling themselves *Hindus*!! They have started calling their Religion *Hinduism* ... And Hindu fanatics have invented words like *Hindutva* .... Little do we remember that these were names given by people who knew very little about us....

How many Hindus actually know that their religion is called *Sanatan Dharm* and not *Hinduism* or *Hindutva* ?

Why do we still call ourselves India... when our true Identity is Bharat?

Even Article 1 of the Indian Constituton says "India, that is Bharat shall be a Union of States" why doesn't it say "Bharat, that is India..." ?

(The name Hindustan was officially scrapped because of the communal angle it was presenting... otherwise we would have stuck to that name too....)

Is it because of our urge to maintain status quo and carry on with what we have been christened by the world? (Whats in a name after all!!)

Or

Is it simply that we Indians especailly Hindus face a severe identity crisis as to what we are or rather what our real nomenclatural (I doubt if such a word exists😆) identity is???

I think it is more of a case of maintaining status quo...
An identity crisis should never be an issue for Hindus coz by n large Hinduism is a philosophy more than a religion!

In the current spate of patriotism filled topic...here comes another one... 😆 😆 😆 ....

Seriously...I do not mind the current name of my country as it stands and I do not advocate changing the name of the nation....It is far too expensive to do that and the cost of change will easily outweigh the benefits of doing that...

Let me ask you and all...
What did we gain by changing Bombay to Mumbai or Calcutta to Kolkatta, Madras to Chennai and now Bangalore to Bengaluru? Other than possibly quenching our base instincts of patriotism....But did it really do that? Do I feel more patriotic going to Mumbai instead of Bombay....I seriously doubt it....In my mind, Bombay and Calcutta and Madras will remain etched in my memory as long as I live....The next gen will probably benefits by the change of name...but what benefit...

And now changing India to Bharat or obliterate the name "INDIA" in favor of "BHARAT"....How do I feel more patriotic being called a BHARATI compared to INDIAN?...Not an ounce more or less...!!

Let us leave some things at status quo and worry about bigger problems....Infrastructure...Poverty etc etc....There are tonnes of ways of spending money, mind and time... 😃

Originally posted by: ChameliKaYaar

In the current spate of patriotism filled topic...here comes another one... 😆 😆 😆 ....

Seriously...I do not mind the current name of my country as it stands and I do not advocate changing the name of the nation....It is far too expensive to do that and the cost of change will easily outweigh the benefits of doing that...

Let me ask you and all...
What did we gain by changing Bombay to Mumbai or Calcutta to Kolkatta, Madras to Chennai and now Bangalore to Bengaluru? Other than possibly quenching our base instincts of patriotism....But did it really do that? Do I feel more patriotic going to Mumbai instead of Bombay....I seriously doubt it....In my mind, Bombay and Calcutta and Madras will remain etched in my memory as long as I live....The next gen will probably benefits by the change of name...but what benefit...

And now changing India to Bharat or obliterate the name "INDIA" in favor of "BHARAT"....How do I feel more patriotic being called a BHARATI compared to INDIAN?...Not an ounce more or less...!!

Let us leave some things at status quo and worry about bigger problems....Infrastructure...Poverty etc etc....There are tonnes of ways of spending money, mind and time... 😃

Bingo...👍🏼

Originally posted by: ChameliKaYaar

In the current spate of patriotism filled topic...here comes another one... 😆 😆 😆 ....

Seriously...I do not mind the current name of my country as it stands and I do not advocate changing the name of the nation....It is far too expensive to do that and the cost of change will easily outweigh the benefits of doing that...

Let me ask you and all...
What did we gain by changing Bombay to Mumbai or Calcutta to Kolkatta, Madras to Chennai and now Bangalore to Bengaluru? Other than possibly quenching our base instincts of patriotism....But did it really do that? Do I feel more patriotic going to Mumbai instead of Bombay....I seriously doubt it....In my mind, Bombay and Calcutta and Madras will remain etched in my memory as long as I live....The next gen will probably benefits by the change of name...but what benefit...

And now changing India to Bharat or obliterate the name "INDIA" in favor of "BHARAT"....How do I feel more patriotic being called a BHARATI compared to INDIAN?...Not an ounce more or less...!!

Let us leave some things at status quo and worry about bigger problems....Infrastructure...Poverty etc etc....There are tonnes of ways of spending money, mind and time... 😃

A small correction here.... We do not need to change the name of the Nation because our nation is officially called Bharat .... So we dont really need to spend money on change!! 😃

I am talking more abt mindest n usage....
The point is that out of Bharat and India the latter has been given more prominence even in domestically.... We have been taught to refer to our nation that way... Wht I fail to understand is Why?
Why has foreign nomenclature percolated so deep into our system that we have forgotten our real name??!! That name which is inherently linked to our true identity.... Why do Hindus refer to themselves as Hindus and why do they still call their religion Hinduism when their faith is actually called something else...

For instance...
Did the African slaves refer to themselves as Negroes?
or
Do the Red Indians call themselves *Red Indians*?

The British surely don't call themselves Angrez or Phirangi!! (Other than when they're probably talking to an Indian in Hindi)

Yes to the world We are *India* ....Bharatiya wouldn't sound any more patriotic than India cuz its the same nation we are talkin abt... But thats besides the point cuz we arent quite talking abt a official name change here...

Originally posted by: TallyHo

I think it is more of a case of maintaining status quo...
An identity crisis should never be an issue for Hindus coz by n large Hinduism is a philosophy more than a religion!

By nomenclatural identity crisis I meant confusion as to what nomenclature to use!! When it comes to philosophy... Hindus surely dont face any identity crisis....

IMO it was mistake to include that line "India that is Bharat...", we should have opted for Bharat only. I wouldn't mind if we were to correct that mistake today.

B'cos it is politically incorrect to call ourselves Bharat

and

It is unsecular to call ourselves Hindustan

So a secular and politically correct word to use is India 😆

Originally posted by: sareg

B'cos it is politically incorrect to call ourselves Bharat

How so? It could be the late hour and my current state of my (overworked, overly tired, utterly confused 😆).. but I don't see the reasoning.

Interesting topic... I'd read about this long time back in some book while doing research on an unrelated topic and it had always stuck with me... much like the quote "You can not convert to Hinduism, you must be born into it" ... though I suppose, considering context that should be "sanatan dharm" ...

What say about it....I dont call me anything... just me .... Not an Indian But does'nt call me something... COz, what i know is Belive on What YOu Are... but DO What YOur COunrty's Demand......... 😉