Most Indians who use the word to describe India are probably unaware that it excludes a substantial part of modern day India.įrom the beginning of the 20th century the people have accepted a form of western Hindi, actually the Khariboli speech of Delhi, as their language of education, literature and public life. Hindustan actually means ‘Urdu speaking areas of the Indian sub-continent’. The word 'Bharat' is also used in the Holy Gita and refers to Arjuna as the best, foremost among the Bharata dynasty. Bharata is also the name of an ancient King whose name means ‘one who is capable of nourishing and protecting’.
Thousands of years later India is still known for spirituality. In a spiritual sense it means knowledge of inner self attained by removing ignorance. Bharata means devoted to light as against darkness. Bha means light and knowledge and rata means devoted. The Constitution uses two words for our country, India in English and Bharat in Hindi. Sanatana means perennial, referring to eternal truths that manifests in ever-new names and forms.’ Because of its intrinsic nature Sanatana Dharma cannot be straight jacketed into a definition. Dharma means universal law, the fundamental principles behind this marvelous universe like the Law of Karma. The word Hinduism is not representative of the original word ‘ Sanatana Dharma’ which means ‘the Eternal or Universal Dharma’. Murthi Puja was started by the followers of Buddha so the second definition is not entirely correct.ĭuring British rule the word Hindu became Hinduism just like socialism, Marxism. The Urdu Hindi Shabdkosh (Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan Lucknow) defines Hindu as ‘one who believes in Murthi Puja and follows the Vedas’.īeing aware of the English meaning a few Sikh friends refused to be called Hindus. The Urdu English dictionary (Standard 20th century Dictionary by Educational Publishing House, Delhi) defines a Hindu ‘as slave, thief, and black’. Times had changed so Savarkar’s definition reflected a cultural and nationalist perspective. In the 1920’s Veer Savarkar defined a Hindu ‘as one who regarded India from the Indus to the Seas as his fatherland and holyland’ (Veer Savarkar by Dhanajay Keer). The word Hindu originates from the Arabic word ‘Hind’. Note that in no Indian scripture is the word Hindu mentioned. I am told that in the Gulf, Arab Muslims refer to all Indians as Hindus. Having said that it would be appropriate to say that atleast 96 per cent of Indians today have Hindu ancestry. Western writers then adopted these terms for the sake of convenience, and Eastern writers conformed to the norms set by those in power.’ Seven Systems of Indian Philosophy by Pandit Rajmani Tugnait. ‘As part of their divide and rule policy the British used the words Hindu and Hinduism, emphasising the religious and political overtones of these words. Later the invaders used the term Hindu to refer to original residents and became a label to distinguish the locals from the invaders i.e. This definition was apt till the Muslim invasion.
(Bramchari Siddheswar Shai v State of West Bengal, 1995 AIR Supreme Court 2089).Īs per this definition all those living in India are Hindus. It implies residence in a well defined geographical area”. The term ‘Hindu’ according to Dr Radhakrishnan had originally a territorial and not a creedal significance.
Scholar and ex-President Dr S Radhakrishnan wrote: “The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu were called Hindu by the Persian and the later western invaders (The Hindu View of Life by Dr Radhakrishnan pg 12). This article seeks to throw light on the subject.
Realms of paper written on these words! Our problem is that we look at these words from a non-Indic perspective.