India, That Is Bharat

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Sapta Sindhava, which means 'the land of the seven rivers'. The word 'Sindhava' comes from 'Sindhu', referring to the Indus River.

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'Bharatavarsha' means 'the country of the Bharatas'. It is mentioned in the Mahabharata and refers to the entire Indian Subcontinent.

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'Jambudvipa' means 'the island of the fruit of the jamun tree'. It was used to refer to the Indian Subcontinent in ancient times.

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Emperor Ashoka used the name 'Jambudvipa' in his inscriptions to describe the whole of India, which then included present-day Bangladesh, Pakistan, and parts of Afghanistan.

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The Vishnu Purana describes Bharata as the land north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains (Himalayas), inhabited by the descendants of Bharata.

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Persians called India 'Hind', 'Hidu', or 'Hindu'. These are adaptations of 'Sindhu' in their language, as they gained control of the Indus River region in the 6th century BCE.

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Greeks named India 'Indoi' or 'Indike' based on Persian sources. They dropped the initial 'h' from 'Hindu' because this letter didn't exist in Greek language.

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Ancient Chinese called India 'Yintu' or 'Yindu', and also 'Tianzhu'. All these names originally derive from 'Sindhu'. 'Tianzhu' could also mean 'heavenly master'.