India or Bharat?

What’s in a name? Perhaps, everything is in a name. Maharshi Patanjali said 'एक: शब्द: सम्यक् ज्ञात: सप्रयुक्त: स्वर्गे लोके च कामधुग् भवति।' which basically means that “A word properly understood and properly used fulfils all desires". Time and again, people have repeatedly asked this question whenever the renaming policy has been put into practice. People who pose this question, more often than not, try to justify the invasions and colonialism. It is important to know why they pose this question whenever we try to reclaim our ancient identity and the glory attached to a name. In recent times, many cities, towns, and streets have been renamed to reclaim their original name as they stood before their names were changed by foreign invaders or were anglicized by the colonisers. The recurrent attacks by foreign invaders and subjugation by colonial forces were not only aimed at political control and exploitation of economic resources but also at the subversion of native identity and demonization of the socio-cultural conditions of the people of Bharat. And one of the means employed by them to subvert the native identity was the renaming of places as per their whims and fancies. This time, it is not a town, a city, or a street that is in the process of reclamation but the very idea of the nation that we live in. It may be true or it may be a rumour that the Central Government may, in coming days, bring a resolution to rename ‘India’ as ‘Bharat’. Be that as it may, why should we carry a name i.e., India, when this holy land has an ancient, spiritual, and historical name i.e., Bharat? This is a pertinent question that we, as a Bharatiya, should ask ourselves. This act, however, may not itself lead us to a pristine past but this would certainly create an effective framework in the movement of reclamation of native or indigenous identity devoid of forced imported spirit. This process of reclamation of native or indigenous identity may considered to be part of the re-assertion of national consciousness but it may not be limited to decolonisation. What can better highlight the significance of birth in the land of Bharat than गायन्ति देवा: किल गीतकानि धन्यास्तु ते भारत भूमिभागे। स्वर्गापवर्गास्पदमार्गभूते भवन्ति भूय: पुरुषा: सुरत्वात्। which means that ‘the men born in the land of Bharat, the gateway to heavens and salvation, are more blessed than the gods themselves-so sing the gods’. उत्तरं यत् समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् । वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र सन्ततिः - ‘The land to the north of the oceans and south of the Himalayas is called Bharatavarsha, and Bharatis are her children’. We consider this land as divine mother and that is why it was proclaimed that समुद्रवसने देवी पर्वतस्थानमंडले । विष्णुपत्नी नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्वमे ॥ which means that ‘O Mother, the Divine Consort of Almighty, with ocean as Thy embroidery and mountains as Thy breasts, forgive me for touching Thee with my feet’. When Swami Vivekananda was returning from England to Bharat, he was asked what he thought of his motherland after having visited the luxuriant countries of the West like America and England. He said, "Bharat, I loved before. But now every particle of dust in Bharat is extremely holy. It has become a place of pilgrimage for me." Nothing can better explain the significance of ‘Bharat’ than the examples given above. We do not consider this land as a mere territory or an abstract entity but so much more than that. It was always the idea of Bharat which people lived by. The struggle for independence was not for the idea of India posited by the Britishers but the idea of Bharat for which people sacrificed their lives. It has been stated in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s ‘Vande Mataram’ that ‘When millions upon millions of voices roar out your name, and millions upon millions of swords rise up to defend you, who says, Mother, that you are weak?’. Therefore, what encapsulates the best is the term ‘Bharat’ and not the term ‘India’. There is no reason why we should carry a term given to us by the ones who considered us, Bharatiyas, of lower status and degraded our lives in every way possible. In order to have a national consciousness, that is indigenous in matter and spirit, we have to adopt a process of reclamation in the best way possible. When the other civilizations have disappeared into the limbo of history, Bharat remains a long-surviving and thriving civilizational state. So, why should we not head in a direction that can lead us to indigeneity, and decolonization, and instill in us the sense of Bharatiyata? In a poem titled “Brook” by Tennyson, Brook says, “Men may come and men may go, but I go on forever.” This is what describes the land of Bharat. Come what may, this ancient land has always survived and will continue to survive and thrive.