Ancient Pakistan, being at the crossroads of civilizations, was split into many kingdoms and empires ruled by local or foreign dynasties, and different areas of the region had different names. The oldest recorded name of Pakistan is Meluhha (𒈨𒈛𒄩𒆠), the Sumerian name for the Indus Country.[8] The oldest recorded native name of the country is "Sapta-Sindhu," meaning the land of seven rivers. This name is mentioned in the Rigveda, an ancient religious book composed in the Punjab region of Pakistan.[9]Chinese called this region as “Shendu (身毒)”, “Tiandu (天篤)” and “Tianzhu (天竺)," specifically referring to the Indus Valley.[10] In the historical records of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, the land of Pakistan is known as Tenjiku (天竺), Cheonchuk (천축), and Thiên Trúc, respectively. These names are derived from the Chinese version "Tianzhu."Ancient Pakistan, especially the region of Gandhara, had a significant influence on East Asia and was responsible for spreading Buddhism in these countries.[11]
Modern Names
The modern name of the country, Pakistan was coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist and a founder of modern-Pakistan, who in January 1933 first published it (originally as "Pakstan") in a pamphletNow or Never, also known as the Pakistan Declaration, using it as an acronym. Rahmat Ali explained:
“
It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our homelands, Indian and Asian, Panjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan.
”
He added, "Pakistan is both a Persian and Urdu word... It means the land of the Paks, the spiritually pure and clean."[4]Etymologists note that پاک pāk, is 'pure' in Persian, Urdu and Pashto and the Persiansuffix ـستان -stan means 'land' or 'place of'.[12] Sthan or Stan is a very common root word in Indo-European languages. The letter 'I' was added later in Pakstan and stands for the Indus, the national river of Pakistan.[5]
Akkadian Empire cylinder seal with inscription: "Šu-ilišu, interpreter of the Meluhhan language": "Meluhha" appears with the standard cuneiform as 𒈨𒈛𒄩𒆠 (Me-luḫ-ḫaKI, "KI" standing for "country").[18]Louvre Museum, reference AO 22310.[19]
In an old writing, Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BCE) mentioned ships coming from Meluhha, Magan, and Dilmun.[22] His grandson Naram-Sin (2254–2218 BCE) listed rebel kings to his rule, mentioning "(..)ibra, a man from Melukha".[23] In another old writing, Gudea of Lagash (c. 21st century BCE) talked about the Meluhhans who came to Sumer to sell gold dust, carnelian, etc. In the Gudea cylinders, Gudea mentions that:
"I will spread in the world respect for my Temple, under my name the whole universe will gather in it, and Magan and Meluhha will come down from their mountains to attend."
The earliest native mention of Ancient Pakistan is found in the sacred verses of the Rigveda. Which is believed to have been written along the banks of the Indus River and its tributaries in Pakistan.[30] In the Rigveda, the Indus Valley is called "Sapta Sindhua" or "Sapta Sindhu," which means the "land of seven rivers." "Sapt" means seven in the Vedic language. This term is also found in Avestan and Persian as "Hapt" and "Haft," both meaning seven.[31]
The word "Sindhu" itself means sea in the Vedic language, showing how massive the Indus River was. It was so big that the Aryan tribes coming in compared it to a sea. The seven main rivers of the Sapta Sindhu are the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Sarasvati and Hakra, covering Ancient Pakistan.[32] In the Rigveda (I.35.8) it states:
“He has surveyed eight summits of the Earth, three shore or desert regions, seven rivers (Sapta Sindhu).” (aṣṭaú vy àkhyat kakúbhaḥ pr̥thivyā́s trī́ dhánva yójanā saptá síndhūn).[33]
“I and Mazda created the fifteenth country. It is Hapta-hendu and it spans seven rivers”.[34]
The 'S' in Vedic language changes to 'H' in Avestan language. So, Sapta Sindhu becomes Hapta Hendu in the Avestan language. In Zoroastrianism, Hapta Hendu is fifteenth of the sixteen good lands and countries created by Ahura Mazda. The seven rivers in Hapta Hendu are: Indus (Sindhu), Kabul, Kurram, Jhelum (Vitasta), Chenab (Asikni), Ravi (Airovati), Sutlej (Vipasa) rivers joining the Indus in the east and south banks. The Hindu texts are mainly concerned with the eastern & southern tributaries of the Indus while the Zoroastrian texts are concerned with the upper reaches of the Indus and all its tributaries.[35][36]
Achaemenid Era Names
Satrapies of the Indus Valley (Ancient Pakistan) on the Statue of Darius I
Around 535 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus the Great started a long campaign to take parts of the Indus Valley into his new Achaemenid Empire. In this first move, the Persian army took control of a big area to the west of the Indus River (Western Pakistan), making the early eastern borders of their new realm. After Cyrus died around 530 BCE, the campaign kept going under Darius the Great, who started to take back old provinces and grow the Achaemenid Empire's political borders even more.[37][38]
Around 518 BCE, the Persian army moved deeper into Ancient Pakistan to start another period of conquest by taking over areas up to the Jhelum River in what is now Punjab.[39] At its height, the Persians managed to control most of modern-day Pakistan and add it to their territory. As shown in many Achaemenid-era writings, the Indus Valley became part of the Persian empire with different regions having their own names like Gandāra, Hindush, Gedrosia, and Sattagydia. These regions of Ancient Pakistan became Satrapies (provinces) of the Achaemenid Empire:[40]
Xerxes I tomb, Hindush soldier circa 480 BCE (enhanced detail).
Hindush (𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁), derived from Indus, was another province of the Achaemenid Empire in Ancient Pakistan. It was established after the Achaemenid conquest in 500 BC. According to the ancient Greek historianHerodotus, it was the "easternmost province" of the empire. The territory of Hindush covered the lower and central Indus basin (present-day Sindh and the southern Punjab region of Pakistan).[45] Hindush bordered Gandāra to the north. These areas remained under Persian control until the invasion by Alexander.[46][47]
Arachosia, also known as Harauvatis (𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁 Harauvatiš), was another satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire. It was mainly centred around the Arghandab River, a tributary of the Helmand River, and extended as far east as the Indus river in Ancient Pakistan.[53] It shared its northern boundary with the Gandara satrapy.[54] "Arachosia" is the Latinized form of GreekἈραχωσία (Arachōsíā). "The same region appears in the AvestanVidēvdāt (1.12)." In Old Persian inscriptions, the region is referred to as 𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁, written h(a)-r(a)-u-v(a)-t-i. This form is the "etymological equivalent" of Vedic Sanskrit Sarasvatī-, the name of a river literally meaning "rich in waters/lakes" and derived from sáras- "lake, pond." (cf. Aredvi Sura Anahita).[55]
In Chinese sources
In Chinese historical records, many different names are used to refer to the Indus Valley (i.e. Ancient Pakistan). Among these, the most common is Tianzhu (天竺) or the "land of a Thousand Bamboos" (Vietnamese: Thiên Trúc). Other names include "Ấn Độ" (Yindu, 印度), "Thân Độc" (Shendu, 身毒), and "Thận Đậu" (Shendou, 腎豆), all of which are variant transcriptions of "Indus," the national river of Pakistan. At first, Tianzhu only meant the Indus Valley of Pakistan, but later on, it started to be used to refer to all of the Indo-Pak subcontinent.[56][57]
A detailed account of Tianzhu is given in the "Xiyu Zhuan" (Record of the Western Regions) in the Hou Hanshu compiled by Fan Ye (398–445):
"The state of Tianzhu: Also, named Yuandu, it lies several thousand li southeast of Yuezhi. Its customs are the same as those of Yuezhi, and it is low, damp, and very hot. It borders a large river. The inhabitants ride on elephants in warfare; they are weaker than the Yuezhi. They practise the way of Futu [the Buddha], [and therefore] it has become a custom [among them] not to kill or attack [others]. From west of the states Yuezhi and Gaofu, and south until the Western Sea, and east until the state of Panqi, all is the territory of Yuandu. Yuandu has several hundred separate towns, with a governor, and separate states which can be numbered in the tens, each with its own king. Although there are small differences among them, they all come under the general name of Yuandu, and at this time all are subject to Yuezhi. Yuezhi have killed their kings and established a general in order to rule over their people. The land produces elephants, rhinoceros, tortoise shell, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin. It communicates to the west with Da Qin [the Roman Empire], and [so] has the exotica of Da Qin.[58]"
The term "Shendu" comes from "Sindhu" in Sanskrit and "Hindu" in Iranian, referring to the Indus valley. Originally, it was pronounced as "l̥induk" or "*qʰl'iːn tuɡ" in Old Chinese.[59] This came from the Chinese way of saying the Old Persian word "Hindush (𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁)," and the Sanskrit word "Sindhu," the original name of the Indus River. Tianzhu is just one of the many ways that Chinese write Sindhu, with other ways like Yuāndú (身毒) in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian and Tiandu (天篤) in the Book of the Later Han. The word "Yintejia" (印特伽) comes from the Kuchean "Indaka," another way of writing "Hindu". The modern words "Hindu" and "India" also come from this pronounciation of the Indus river of Ancient Pakistan.[60]
Sinosphere influence
In Japan, Tianzhu was said as Tenjiku (天竺). This word for the Indus Valley is used in the Japanese translation of the Journey to the West.[61] Meanwhile in Korea, Tianzhu was said as Cheonchuk (천축). This variant of Indus is used in Wang ocheonchukguk jeon (An Account of Travel to the Five Indus Kingdoms), a book by the 8th-centuryBuddhist monk Hyecho from the Korean Kingdom of Silla.[62]
Persian and Arabic names
Hind / Hindūstān
The words Hindū (Persian: هندو) and Hind (Persian: هند) came from the Sanskrit word Sindhu (the Indus River or its region). The Achaemenid emperor Darius I conquered the Indus valley (Ancient Pakistan) in about 516 BCE, upon which the Achaemenid equivalent of Sindhu, viz., "Hindush" (𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁, H-i-du-u-š) was used for the lower Indus basin (modern-day Sindh).[52][63] The name was also known as far as the Achaemenid province of Egypt where it was written 𓉔𓈖𓂧𓍯𓇌 (H-n-d-wꜣ-y) on the Statue of Darius I, circa 500 BCE.[64]
In middle Persian, probably from the first century CE, the suffix -stān (Persian: ستان) was added, indicative of a country or region, forming the name Hindūstān.[65] Thus, the region of Sindh during this time was referred to as Hindūstān in the Naqsh-e-Rustam inscription of Sassanid emperor Shapur I in c. 262 CE.[66][67]
To ArabHistorians, the region on Pakistan was known as Bilad ul-Sindh meaning the 'Land of Sindh (Indus)' or in short Sind (Sindhi: سنڌ).[73][74] The word Sind is an arabic derivation of the word Sindhu, the native name of the Indus Valley. Sindh, Pakistan became an administrative division of the Umayyad Caliphate and later of the Abbasid Caliphate in post-classical period, from around 711 CE with the Umayyad conquest of Sindh by the Arab military commander Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, to around 854 CE with the emergence of the independent dynasties of the Habbarid Emirate and the Emirate of Multan.[75] The "Governor of Sind" (Arabic: عامل السند, ‘āmil al-Sind) was an official who administered the caliphal province over what are now Sindh and South Punjab in Pakistan, with Makran in Balochistan also usually being under his control.[76]
Besides Sindh being a geographic area and a strong kingdom before it was conquered, Muslims probably used this naming to tell Sindh and Hind apart. They wanted to show which areas had many Muslims and which were beyond the Islamic world's borders.[78]
This religious and geographic difference is clear in the early Muslim book Kitab Al Masalik Wa Mamalik [The Book of Roads and Countries]. The author talks about South Asia by saying "Sindh-wal-Hind" (Sindh and Hind), showing the parts under Muslim rule and the non-Muslim apart.[77]
The separation of South Asia based on religion done by Arab geographers seems to have become a deeply rooted idea in the Islamic world. Later, in the 11th century, Ghaznavid chroniclers Utbi and Gardezi often called the Indus River (Pakistan) as "Sayhun," which was the name of the Jaxartes River in Central Asia. Clifford Bosworth, an English historian, says they did this because both rivers marked the border between the land of Islam and Paganism.[78]
The name ultimately comes from SanskritSindhu, which is another native name for the Indus River and the lower Indus basin (Sindh, Pakistan).[23][82] The Old Persian word for Síndhu was Hindu.[83]Darius I conquered Sindh around 516 BCE, after which the Persian word Hinduš was used for the area at the lower Indus basin in Ancient Pakistan.[84] Scylax of Caryanda, who explored the Indus for the Persian emperor, probably took the Persian name Hinduš and passed it into Greek.[85] The terms "Indos" (Ἰνδός) for the Indus River and "Indian" are found in Herodotus's Geography.[86] The loss of the /h/ sound was probably due to the Greek dialects spoken in Asia Minor.[87][88] Hecataeus used the term "India" and "Indians" in a strict sense for the groups dwelling in Sindh (Ancient Pakistan) only.[89] Herodotus later expanded it and used the term "Indian" for the people of the lower Indus basin (modern-Pakistan) and all the people living east of Persia, even though he did not know the geography of the land.[77]
By the time of Alexander, Indía in Koine Greek meant the region beyond the Indus. Alexander's companions called India the Indus river basin, which is mainly the area of Pakistan. Later, Megasthenes included in India the areas beyond the Indus basin, including the southern peninsula.[90]
It was in the days of Ahasuerus (Xerxes) who reigned from Hodu (Indus Valley) to Cush (Ethiopia) over 127 provinces, in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in Susa [the capital of the Persian Empire].[95]
Similarly, Esther 8:9 narrates:
The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from Hodu (Indus Valley) to Ethiopia (Cush), 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.[96]
↑"I will spread in the world respect for my Temple, under my name the whole universe will gather in it, and Magan and Meluhha will come down from their mountains to attend"
"J'étendrai sur le monde le respect de mon temple, sous mon nom l'univers depuis l'horizon s'y rassemblera, et [même les pays lointains] Magan et Meluhha, sortant de leurs montagnes, y descendront" (cylinder A, IX:19)" in "Louvre Museum".
↑"J'étendrai sur le monde le respect de mon temple, sous mon nom l'univers depuis l'horizon s'y rassemblera, et [même les pays lointains] Magan et Meluhha, sortant de leurs montagnes, y descendront" (cylinder A, IX:19)" in "Louvre Museum". Archived from the original on 2013-09-16. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
↑James Darmesteter (1880). The Zend-Avesta Part 1 The Vendidad. HYD STATE CENTRAL LIBRARY, HYD STATE CENTRAL LIBRARY, HYD BIS/STATE CENTRAL LIBRARY. AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
↑An anthology of Chinese discourse on translation. Cheung, Martha P. Y. Manchester, U.K. 3 June 2014. p. 77. ISBN978-1-317-63928-2. OCLC881183919.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
↑Mukherjee, Bratindra Nath (1989). The Foreign Names of the Indian Subcontinent. Place Names Society of India. The term Hindustan, which in the Naqsh-i-Rustam inscription of Shapur I denoted the lower Indus, and which later gradually began to denote more or less the whole of the subcontinent...
↑Ray, Niharranjan; Chattopadhyaya, Brajadulal (2000). A Sourcebook of Indian Civilization. Orient Blackswan. ISBN978-81-250-1871-1. Among the countries that fell before Shapur I the area in question appears as Hndstn, and Hindy respectively in the three languages mentioned above [Middle Persian, Greek and Parthian].
↑Śivaprasāda, Rājā (1874). A History of Hindustan. Medical Hall Press. p. 15. The Persians called the tract lying on the left bank of the Sindhu (Indus) Hind, which is but a corruption of the word Sindh.
↑"Here they are to be pronounced not Hindūstāṉ and gu-lis-tāṉ, respectively, as usual, but Hindositāṉ and gul-si-tāṉ, respectively, to suit the meter." From: Pritchett, F. 2004. "Taraanah-i-Hindii" Columbia University, Department of South Asian Studies.
↑Eggermont, Pierre Herman Leonard (1975). Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan and the Siege of the Brahmin Town of Harmatelia. Peeters Publishers. ISBN978-90-6186-037-2. Sindhu means a stream, a river, and in particular the Indus river, but likewise it denotes the territory of the lower Indus valley, or modern Sind. Therefore, the appellation Saindhavah, means "inhabitants of the lower Indus valley"... In this respect Sindhu is no tribal name at all. It denotes a geographical unit to which different tribes may belong.
↑Mukherjee, Bratindra Nath (2001). Nationhood and Statehood in India: A Historical Survey. Regency Publications. ISBN978-81-87498-26-1. Apparently the same territory was referred to as Hi(n)du(sh) in the Naqsh‐i‐Rustam inscription of Darius I as one of the countries in his empire. The terms Hindu and India ('Indoi) indicate an original indigenous expression like Sindhu. The name Sindhu could have been pronounced by the Persians as Hindu (replacing s by h and dh by d) and the Greeks would have transformed the latter as Indo‐ (Indoi, Latin Indica, India) with h dropped...
↑Christidēs, Anastasios-Phoivos; Arapopoulou, Maria; Chritē, Maria (2007-01-11). A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-83307-3. The early loss of aspiration is mainly a characteristic of Asia Minor (and also of the Aeolic and Doric of Asia Minor)... In Attica, however (and in some cases in Euboea, its colonies, and in the Ionic-speaking islands of the Aegean), the aspiration survived until later... During the second half of the fifth century BC, however, orthographic variation perhaps indicates that 'a change in the phonetic quality of [h] was taking place' too.
↑Habib, Irfan (2005). India-studies in the History of an Idea. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. ISBN978-81-215-1152-0. The term 'Indians' was used by Herodotus as a collective name for all the peoples living east of Persia. This was also a significant development over Hekataios, who had used this term in a strict sense for the groups dwelling in Sindh only
↑ 92.092.1Newcomb, Jay (2014-09-25). Book of the Shining Path (in Arabic). Page Publishing Inc. ISBN978-1-62838-910-4. This included all the officials who governed the 127 provinces of the Medo-Persian Empire, which stretched from the Indus River (Hodu in modern Pakistan, which used to be part of India) to Ethiopia (Kush is modern-day Sudan)...
↑"Tarnegol hodu, a bird called turkey". The Dayton Jewish Observer. 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2024-06-21. Hodu is the biblical name for India (Esther 1:1), which is derived from the Persian word Hindu, a name for the region around the Indus River
↑The Ancient World. Ares Publishers. 1980. The Hodu of the Hebrew document was a derivation from the then current Persian pronunciation of the name of the Indus River Valley, which was Hidush, or Hindush , the form in which it appears in the Achaemenian ...
↑The Ancient World. Ares Publishers. 1980. Hodu of the Hebrew document was a derivation from the then current Persian pronunciation of the name of the Indus River Valley...
↑"When and how did Bharat became India?". The Times of India. 2023-09-05. ISSN0971-8257. Retrieved 2024-06-22. During British colonial rule (approximately 1757–1947), the British referred to the Indian subcontinent as "India." This term was derived from the river Indus, which marked the western boundary of British India. The British colonial administration used "India" as the official name.
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