Sindhu - Hindu - Hindustan : Aryan - Persian - Mughal
Ye India hai jalfrezi: thoda global, thoda local.
India gets its name from the river Indus, which the Indians knew as the river Sindhu, which the Persians, struggling with the initial ‘s’, called Hindu. From Persia, the word spread to Greece and thereupon the whole of India became known by the name of the river. The Mughals made it Hindustan. The ancient Indians, however, knew their sub-continent as Jambudvipa (the land of the jambu tree). - Source: AL Basham
Today, the river Indus/Sindhu is mainly in Pakistan. Which begs the question, in tune with the current Indian government’s note to ‘give priority to Hindi’: should we change the name of India to Jambudvipa, and Hindi to Jambudvipi/dvipani/ ...
And some clarity from the PMO on the exact form of this ‘Jambudvipi Hindi’ will be helpful: will it have the salt of Bhojpuri Hindi? the masti of Mumbaiyya Hindi? the hybrid riot of Hyderabadi Hindi? the vowel-snuffing of Punjabi Hindi? ...
Hindi kaise ich bolne ka yaaro?!
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