In the last few days we have been seeing heated debates about whether our country should be called India or Bharat. While there are pros and cons, one thing is clear is that our constitution refers to ‘India that is Bharat’. In all regional languages, our country is referred to as Bharat. The term Bharat goes back to the Vedic Ages with a mention in the Vedas, Puranas and even in the sankalpa that one does in a puja for thousands of years.
The liberals justify the name ‘India’ because of the Indus river which is actually Sindhu river. Hence, we were called Hindustan, the land on the side of the Sindhu. This is what conquerors do. When they conquer a country, they change the name so that we are disconnected to our past heritage and culture because only then one can be conquered. As a result, a conquered people do not have enough self-respect and knowledge of one’s own culture which makes one stand apart. Interestingly the Congress party was formed by an Englishman Sir Hume. The party was always asking about their rights as British citizens, as citizens of the empire, at the most, home ruled. The call for Independence came much later from people like Bhagat Singh, Bose and Tilak who were in touch with their heritage, even if they had some sort of English education.
The attempt to name us ‘India’ was to isolate us from our heritage and culture. They closed down the gurukulam-s. They created a system of English education which was meant to produce clerks for the Empire. Renaming our country was a part of the strategy. It is perfectly okay to return to claiming our heritage as ‘Bharat’. In the last twenty years, about 13 countries including our next door neighbour, Ceylon has returned to being ‘Sri Lanka’. It is not clear why there is such a big uproar about this issue. Let us call it Bharat, by being in touch with our heritage which was all inclusive and move forward by building a new Bharat.
The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com
