Names for India
Year Name Source Definition
c. 2334 BCE - 2154 BCE ( likely as earlier as 4500 BCE ) Meluhha / Melukhkha Sumerian and Akkadian texts Meluhhan is identified with the Indus Valley Civilization ( IVC ) in Sumerian texts , word 'Meluhha ' is derived from the Dravidian words mel-akam ( highland country ) and el or ellu ( sesame , ilu in Sumerian and ellu in Akkadian ) . ( Note : Ample archaeological evidence found at Sumerian and IVC sites which proves they traded with each other . )
c. 440 BCE India Herodotus Eastward of India lies a tract which is entirely sand . Indeed , of all the inhabitants of Asia , concerning whom anything is known , the Indians dwell nearest to the east and the rising of the Sun
c.400-300 BCE Hodu Book of Esther ( Bible ) Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus , the Ahasuerus who reigned from Hodu ( India ) to Cush ( Ethiopia ) over 127 provinces
300 BCE Aryavarta Vashistha , Vashistha Dharmasutra In the west [ for Aryavarta ] _ the boundary-river ( Indus ) , in the east the region where the sun rises ( Himalayas ) , - as far as the black antelopes wander ( between these two limits . )
c. 300 BC India/Indikē Megasthenes India then being four-sided in plan , the side which looks to the Orient and that to the South , the Great Sea compasseth ; that towards the Arctic is divided by the mountain chain of Hēmōdus from Scythia , inhabited by that tribe of Scythians who are called Sakai ; and on the fourth side , turned towards the West , the Indus marks the boundary , the biggest or nearly so of all rivers after the Nile
200 BCE Jambudvipa Chanakya Arthashastra This ( Brahmaputra ) is the eastern boundary of Jambudvipa , its western boundary being the mouths of the Indus and its southern boundary being the Indian Ocean or Rama Sethu
Between first century BCE and Ninth century CE Bhāratavarṣa ( realm of Bhārata ) Vishnu Purana उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् । वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।। i.e . The country ( varṣam ) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam ; there dwell the descendants of Bharata
100 CE or later Bhāratam Vishnu Purana उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् । वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।। i.e . The country ( varṣam ) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam ; there dwell the descendants of Bharata
c. 140 Indoi , Indou Arrian The boundary of the land of India towards the north is Mount Taurus . It is not still called Taurus in this land ; but Taurus begins from the sea over against Pamphylia and Lycia and Cilicia ; and reaches as far as the Eastern Ocean , running right across Asia . But the mountain has different names in different places ; in one , Parapamisus , in another Hemodus ; elsewhere it is called Imaon and perhaps has all sorts of other names ; but the Macedonians who fought with Alexander called it Caucasus ; another Caucasus , that is , not the Scythian ; so that the story ran that Alexander came even to the far side of the Caucasus . The western part of India is bounded by the river Indus right down to the ocean , where the river runs out by two mouths , not joined together as are the five mouths of the Ister ; but like those of the Nile , by which the Egyptian delta is formed ; thus also the Indian delta is formed by the river Indus , not less than the Egyptian ; and this in the Indian tongue is called Pattala . Towards the south this ocean bounds the land of India , and eastward the sea itself is the boundary . The southern part near Pattala and the mouths of the Indus were surveyed by Alexander and Macedonians and many Greeks ; as for the eastern part , Alexander did not traverse this beyond the river Hyphasis . A few historians have described the parts which are this side of the Ganges and where are the mouths of the Ganges and the city of Palimbothra , the greatest Indian city on the Ganges. ( ... ) The Indian rivers are greater than any others in Asia ; greatest are the Ganges and the Indus , whence the land gets its name ; each of these is greater than the Nile of Egypt and the Scythian Ister , even were these put together ; my own idea is that even the Acesines is greater than the Ister and the Nile , where the Acesines having taken in the Hydaspes , Hydraotes , and Hyphasis , runs into the Indus , so that its breadth there becomes thirty stades . Possibly also other greater rivers run through the land of India
c. 650 Five Indies Xuanzang The circumference of 五印 ( Modern Chinese : Wǔ Yìn , the Five Indies ) is about 90,000 li ; on three sides it is bounded by a great sea ; on the north it is backed by snowy mountains . It is wide at the north and narrow at the south ; its figure is that of a half-moon
c. 950 Hind Istakhri As for the land of the Hind it is bounded on the East by the Persian Sea ( i.e . the Indian Ocean ) , on the W. and S. by the countries of Islām and on the N. by the Chinese Empire ... The length of the land of the Hind from the government of Mokrān , the country of Mansūra and Bodha and the rest of Sind , till thou comest to Kannauj and thence passest on to Tibet , is about 4 months and its breadth from the Indian Ocean to the country of Kannūj about three months
c. 1020 Hind Al-Birūnī Hind is surrounded on the East by Chín and Máchín , on the West by Sind ( Baluchistan ) and Kábul and on the South by the Sea
Hindustan John Richardson , A Smaller Manual of Modern Geography . Physical and Political The boundaries of Hindustan are marked on every side by natural features ; e.g. , the Himalayas , on the N. ; the Patkoi Mountains , Tippera Hills , & c. , on the N.E . ; the Sea , on the E. , S. , and W. ; and the Hala , and Sulaiman Mountains , on the N.W
Definitions -- Historical definitions of India
See also : Bharata Khanda and Sapta Sindhu Some historical definitions prior to 1500 are presented below . [ 76 ]
The Republic of India has two principal short names in official Hindi and English usage, each of which is historically significant, India and Bharat. A third name, Hindustan, is sometimes an unofficial alternative name for the region when Indians speak among themselves. Meluhha or Melukhkha is the oldest known name for India, associated with Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), mentioned in the Sumerian and Akkadian text since c. 2334 BCE - 2154 BCE (possibly as earlier as 4500 BCE). Bhārät, the name for India in several Indian languages, is variously said to be derived from the name of either Dushyanta's son Bharata or Rishabha's son Bharata. Initially Bharata referred only to the western part of the Gangetic Valley in North India, but was later more broadly applied to the Indian subcontinent and the region of Greater India, as was the name India. Today it refers to the contemporary Republic of India. The name India is originally derived from the name of the river Sindhu (Indus River) and has been in use in Greek since Herodotus (4th century BCE). The term appeared in Old English as early the 9th century and reemerged in Modern English in the 17th century. According to Manusmṛti North India (i.e., India north of the Vindhyas) is also known as (Sanskrit: , abode of the Vedic people).