http://ichr.ac.in/Chairman_Perspective%20Plan.pdf

From this document it says that:

National Seminar on “Antiquity, Continuity and Development of Civilisation and Culture in Bharat up to first millennium B C”: Theme:The land south of Meru (the Himalayan range) was traditionally known as Bharat, of which the land south of the Vindhya Range was known as Dakshinapath as an integral part of it. 

I find my interest piqued by the following assertion that:

Ancient literature describes the country as a single well defined geographical unit from the Himalayas in north to the Indian Ocean in south. It is generally agreed that the culture and civilization of Bharat was continuous without a break.