No India or Hindustan—Bharat only !

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent suggestion asking people not to use the word “India” and instead use “Bharat”, has already generated heat and dust  in both India and I.N.D.I.A.  While some high profile dignitaries have already taken a cue from Bhagwat’s speech in avoiding INDIA,  the word BHARAT is right now  viral, notwithstanding the fact that Hindi and Urdu media  have already been using this word since decades  for our Country, like our neighbor—Pakistan who is also addressing us as Bharat—  now a  viral word !   

 Kashmir Rechords in the meantime located J Sai Deepak’s book `India That is Bharat’   from its library.  The book is arigorous survey of India’s political history since the Papal Bull of 1493 and a topical one to discuss right now!

      India That is Bharat: Book Review

The Book touches upon issues like colonisation of India so much so that scholars from the West interpreted everything about India from a Christian perspective.  In addition to Colonialist, Deepak discusses Bharat’s Civilization and Constitution.

 The Book lays the foundation for its sequels by covering the period between the Age of Discovery, marked by Christopher Columbus’ expedition in 1492, and the reshaping of Bharat through a British-made constitution-the Government of India Act of 1919. This includes international developments leading to the founding of the League of Nations by Western powers that tangibly impacted this journey. It also puts forth the concept of Middle Eastern coloniality, which preceded its European variant and allies with it in the context of Bharat to advance their shared antipathy towards the Indic worldview.

Naming India as Bharat

The Book discusses the presence of ‘India, that is Bharat’ in Article 1 of the Constitution, besides the Resolution adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 January 1947. In addition to the above-proposed amendments with respect to constitutionally naming the country as Bharat, the insertion of Part 1-A to the Constitution  after Part 1 was proposed by Shibban Lal Saksena, which have also been touched upon by the author.

Kalidasa and Bharat

The Book also talks about the most celebrated and world-famous poet Kalidasa, who had used `Bharat’ in his immortal work depicting the story of his two great characters-King Dushyanta and his queen Shakuntala. The son born of them was named ‘Bharat’ and his Kingdom was known as ‘Bharat’. The Book questions as to why “ we are reluctant to accept from the core of our heart the word ‘Bharat Varsha’ as the name of our country’’.

Like Mohan Bhagwat,  it says that “  We must know that this name (India)  was given to our country by foreigners who having heard of the riches of this land were tempted towards it and had robbed us of our freedom in order to acquire the wealth of our country. If we, even then, cling to the word ‘India’, it would only show that we are not ashamed of having this insulting word which has been imposed on us by alien rulers.

The Book mentions that ‘Bharat’ or ‘Bharat Varsha’ is and has been the name of our country for ages according to our ancient history and tradition and in fact this word inspires enthusiasm and courage. The author sumps up his work with a Shaloka from Brihadaranyakqa Upanishad…. “Om, lead us from the unreal to the real; Lead us from darkness to light; Lead us from death to immorality; Om Peace, Peace, Peace’