Date of usage of the word Bhaarata to denote India

[Michael Witzel]

bharata- , bhaarata- has been used since Rgvedic times, but not for  
"India".

The Bharata were just one of dozens of Rgvedic tribes (or if you  
like, polities), and the Bhaarata dynasty (started by Sudaas after  
his victory  in the "10 Kings' Battle", RV 7.18) existed for the next  
few hundred years.

See undersigned on the Kuru realm, EJVS 4 <http:// 
www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/>  and the still useful Macdonell- 
Keith's Vedic Index, II 94 sqq.

The Bharata occupied just Kuruksetra and surroudings (Haryana,  
Western UP): no "India" then.

Bharatavarsa is of course post-Vedic. Even Manu Smriti still has just  
Aryavarta.


Holiday (Solis Invicti, Mithrae) cheers,

Michael



On Dec 25, 2010, at 9:15 AM, Dr. T. Ganesan wrote:

> We also find in the first section of the Taittiriiya AraNyaka which  
> is called
> aruNakAThaka or aruNaprashna the use of the word Bhaarata as in the  
> mantra "
> agnimicchadhvaM bhaarataaH".
> Ganesan
>
>
> 25 12 10
>> Harisvāmin’s commentary on the Śatapatha-Br.1.8.1.2 aughá  
>> imāḥ sárvvāḥ prajā́ḥ
>> nirvvoḍhā runs as : sa imāḥ bhāratavarṣanivāsinīḥ  
>> prajāḥ nirvoḍhā niḥśeśaṃ
>> deśāntaraṃ prāpayitā. The word will be found in all the major  
>> Purāṇas in
>> Jambudvīpavarṇanam. Cf.,Matsya-P.122.te bhāratasya varṣasya  
>> bhedā yena
>> prakīirtitāḥ . Emperor Asoka knew only the word Jambudvīpa.
>> Best
>> DB
>>
>>

============
Michael Witzel
witzel at fas.harvard.edu
<www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm>

Dept. of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
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Cambridge MA 02138, USA

phone: 1- 617 - 495 3295, 496 8570, fax 617 - 496 8571;
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