In a recent interviw, ‘Tanhaji’ actor Saif Ali Khan said that though he acted in the hit movie he was opposed to the ‘politics’ of the movie. Substantiating his stand he said that ‘concept of India’ did not exist before the British came and hence history is different from what we read today. However, this claim has been made several times by the Left historians and has been debunked by many other historians with proofs from ancient Bharatiya texts. Now, author and writer Aabhas Maldahiyar has demolished Saif’s claims with proofs from Bharatiya texts, ancient maps and Chinese travelers.
‘History buff’ SaifAliKhan has got it completely wrong. @anupamachopra, u may like to pass on this thread to him where I fix his misconceptions. He says “concept of India” didn’t exist before British but evidences state otherwise. Let me first quote Manusmriti.
a samudrat tu vai purvada samudracca pascimat |
tayorevantaram giryoraryavartam vidurbudhah ||
The country extending as far as the Eastern Ocean and as far as the Western Ocean, and lying between the same two mountains,—the learned know as ‘Aryavarta.’ MS 2.22
The two mountains spoken of are, the Himalaya and the Vindhya. Even Leftist historians believe Manusmriti was composed in 2nd millennium BC. Though as per evidences it predates a min of 15ka bp. But whatever concept of India goes to 2nd mil BC as per leftists.
Now let me give certain references for Bharata which was called Bharatavar?a & is official name of India too. @anupamachopra, heard of Vishnu Purana? I will love to understand from you how old do you think it is. Read 2.3.1
uttaram yatsamudrasya himadrescaiva daksinam
varsam tadbharatam nama bharati yatra santatih
“The country (varsam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bharatam; there dwell the descendants of Bharata.”Vishnu Purana, Vayu Purana, Linga Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Agni Purana, Skanda Purana, Khanda and Markandaya Purana do mention of Bharatavarsa wrt Geographical & Political extent. So @anupamachopra pl tell Saif Ali Khan that definitely concept of India existed b4 brits.
Well check this Mahabharata era map (below). It was called Mahabharatakalina Bharatavarshaca nakasa & stored in Library of Congress.
“He who conquers the whole of Bharatavarsa is celebrated as a samrat”. Vayu Purana, 45.86. The use of “Bharatam Janam” in RigVeda, 3.53.12 further reinforces ancient idea of India. As per Geological finds, RgVeda dates before 24ka bp.
You understand, concept of India ie Bharata existed even 24000 years ago, & our Saif Ali Khan says it didn’t exist before British. Amazing!
Now let me give you some more accounts of Older recorded concept of India. Tianzhu or Tenjiku is the ancient East Asian name for India coming from Chinese transliteration of the “Hindu”, which itself is derived from the Sanskrit Sindhu (Indus River)
Source: An Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation, vol 1, Pg 179, 181. Juandu (??) appears in Sima Qian’s Shiji and Tiandu (??) & is used in the Hou Hanshu. Yintejia (???) comes from the Kuchean Indaka,another transliteration of Hindu.A account of Tianzhu is well described in the “Xiyu Zhuan” in the Hou Hanshu compiled by Fan Ye.
Source for above: “China and the Ancient Mediterranean World: A Survey of Ancient Chinese Sources”. Sino-Platonic Papers (242) by Yu, Taishan pg 73, 77.
Tianzhu was also called Wutianzhu (“Five Indias”),for5geographical regions in India known to the them:Central,Eastern, Western,Northern,&Southern India. Xuanzang also referred to India as WuYin or “Five Inds”. Source:AnAnthology of ChineseDiscourse on Translation,vol 1,Pg179,181.
