Hindustan
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The term Hindustan (Hindi: हिन्दुस्तान [Hindustān], Urdu: ہندوستان [Hindostān], [ɦɪn̪d̪ʊst̪aːn] from the (Persian) Hindu + -stān, often formerly rendered Hindoostan) and the adjective Hindustani may relate to various aspects of three geographical areas:
- The modern Republic of India.
- Historically, the Indian subcontinent. The adjective Hindustani is a term applied to the syncretic Islamic and Hindu culture of South Asia. Hindustani is sometimes also used as an ethnic term applied to South Asia. (e.g., A West Indian man with roots in South Asia might describe his ethnicity by saying he is Hindustani. See also, Hindoestanen)
- A region in northern India, between the Vindhya mountains and the Himalayas, where Hindi/Hindustani language is spoken.
Hindustan may also refer to a Hindi newspaper published from New Delhi and six other centres of northern India.
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[edit] Etymology
According to Historical linguistics, Proto-Indo-Iranian sound /*s/ is preserved in the Indo-Aryan languages (including Sanskrit) as /s/, but was changed to /h/ in prevocalic position in the Iranian branch (including Avestan and Old Persian language). Simultaneously, the murmured voiced dental plosive /d̪ʰ/ becomes deaspirated to /d̪/ in the Iranian languages; hence, the term Sindhu became the term Hindu by regular phonetic correspondence. See also Indo-European sound laws.
The Persian term was borrowed by the Ancient Greeks as Indos (for the Indus river), and India (ΙΝΔΙΑ), from which in Latin was derived the name India, Indianus. The term Hindu was also loaned into Sanskrit, as hindu (हिन्दु), appearing in some early-medieval texts (e.g. Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, Kālikā Purāṇa, Rāmakośa, Hemantakavikośa and Adbhutarūpakośa). It may be noted that in Middle English as well as in French, India was/is called Inde.
From the geographic sense comes the modern (religious) term Hindu, with the meaning of being a follower of Hinduism.
[edit] Common usage
The primary and the most popular usage of the term Hindustan in both Hindi as well as its variant Urdu refers to the modern Republic of India. This usage is hotly debated in modern India by some people, especially by the followers of non-Hindu religions (who see the term Hindustan as meaning the land of the Hindu religious community) and by the speakers of non-Hindi/Urdu languages (who see the term as meaning the land of the Hindi-speaking community). The geographic sense of the term had appeared long ago and the linguistic and religious senses are comparatively newer. Hindi language (officially) also recognizes another name of India, which is Bhārat (Hindi: भारत). However, Hindi exhibits a significant degree of diglossia—wherein there is a formal and High-Standard variety of the language (called Shuddha Hindi, used in formal writing, announcements, and public speaking), and a colloquial, informal variety (which could be called Hindustani language, used in daily, informal speech and in entertainment, cinema, etc.). Hence the term Bhārat is used almost exclusively in official correspondences and nomenclatures, news, and formal speaking and writing. In everyday-spoken Hindi, term Bhārat is hardy ever used, the more popular term being Hindustan to refer to India (the contemporary Union of India). The Hindi cinema also uses the term Bhārat sparingly, rather referring to India as Hindustan or by its English name. In this sense, the adjective of Hindustan is Hindustani. Contrary to the perception of Hindustan being the land of the Hindu religious community, it is the Indian Muslims who (in Urdu) call India as Hindustan, and almost never as Bhārat (which has a Sanskrit origin). But many non-Hindi speakers in India still prefer to call India as Bhārat, and not as Hindustan.
The first sentence in the Constitution of India (after the preamble) is 'Bhārat, that is India, shall be a Union of States'.
The term Hindustan also has a short-form: Hind (Hindi: हिन्द). In Hindi-Urdu, it has the same usage as that of Hindustan. In some other countries, the usage has changes. In contemporary Persian language, the term Hindustan has come to mean the Indian subcontinent, and the modern Indian Union is called Hind. The same is the case with Arabic language, which calls the Indian Union as Al-Hind.
[edit] Other particular usages
Hindustan can also refer to the following:
- HMS Hindustan, one of the eight ships of the King Edward VII class battleships.
- "Hindustan" (1918), a popular published song written and composed by Oliver G. Wallace and Harold Weeks.
- Hindustan Times, a major Northern Indian English language daily newspaper.
- Hindustan Airport, the major airport of Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
- Hindustani (1996), also called Indian or Bharateeyudu, a film dubbed in Hindi from the Tamil original Indian film, directed by S. Shankar and starring Kamal Haasan.
- Hindustan, a small town in Indiana, just south of Martinsville, Indiana.
For a list of Indian companies starting with Hindustan, see List of Indian companies.
[edit] Trivia
- In Scottish Gaelic (language), India is called Na h-Innseachan.
- The Sanskrit name Sindhu is probably derived from the verbal root sidh, which means to go, referring to the river Indus as a fast-going river.
- In the early-Vedic era, the often-mentioned Sapta-Sindhu probably included the following seven rivers of the north-west Indian subcontinent: Saraswatī, Shutudri (now called the Sutlej), Vipāshā or Vipāsh (now called the Beas), Askinī (now called the Chenab), Parushinī (now called the Ravi), Vitastā (now called the Jhelum) and Sindhu (now called the Indus) [1]. These seven rivers have never been properly enumerated in the Rigveda, but the repeated mention of these seven rivers at several instances in the Vedas implies that these must have been the principal seven ones.
- Some modern Hindu nationalists (see Hindutva) have tried to enumerate the meaning of the term Sapta Sindhu to mean the following seven rivers that span the whole of "modern" India (based on certain quotations from the Hindu scriptures of the post-Vedic era): Indus, Ganges, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna, Narmada and Kaveri. They often call Hindustan as its Sanskritized equivalent Hindusthān(a). The Sanskrit word Sthāna corresponds to Persian Stān.
- The term Jai Hind is used in India to mean Hail, India!. It is often used by the Indian Army and the police, as well as by the citizens.
[edit] See also
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