‘India, that is Bharat…’: One Country, Two Names
The politics of naming is shaped by broad socio-political conditions and can be studied from several angles. Adopting a cultural history perspective, this paper considers some of the inherited discourses on ‘Bhārata’ both prior to and at the time of its official equation with ‘India’ in the Constitu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud
2014-12-01
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| Series: | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3717 |
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| _version_ | 1846134609287315456 |
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| author | Catherine Clémentin-Ojha |
| author_facet | Catherine Clémentin-Ojha |
| author_sort | Catherine Clémentin-Ojha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The politics of naming is shaped by broad socio-political conditions and can be studied from several angles. Adopting a cultural history perspective, this paper considers some of the inherited discourses on ‘Bhārata’ both prior to and at the time of its official equation with ‘India’ in the Constitution (1950). It focusses on three successive definitional moments: the Puranic definition of Bhārata; the shift to its colonial definition, when the old toponym became the ‘indigenous’ name for a budding nation exposed to the imported political and geographical conceptions of (British) India; and, lastly, the choice of the Constitutional assembly to register the nation under a dual and bilingual identity: ‘India, that is Bharat’. The paper concludes with a sample of contemporary reactions that show that this double-name formula remains a baffling subject for Indian citizens. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-35b1c78b430249d897ab670f4148dce3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1960-6060 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2014-12-01 |
| publisher | Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-35b1c78b430249d897ab670f4148dce32024-12-09T13:01:30ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602014-12-011010.4000/samaj.3717‘India, that is Bharat…’: One Country, Two NamesCatherine Clémentin-OjhaThe politics of naming is shaped by broad socio-political conditions and can be studied from several angles. Adopting a cultural history perspective, this paper considers some of the inherited discourses on ‘Bhārata’ both prior to and at the time of its official equation with ‘India’ in the Constitution (1950). It focusses on three successive definitional moments: the Puranic definition of Bhārata; the shift to its colonial definition, when the old toponym became the ‘indigenous’ name for a budding nation exposed to the imported political and geographical conceptions of (British) India; and, lastly, the choice of the Constitutional assembly to register the nation under a dual and bilingual identity: ‘India, that is Bharat’. The paper concludes with a sample of contemporary reactions that show that this double-name formula remains a baffling subject for Indian citizens.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3717Indiacultural historypolitics of namingIndian ConstitutionBharatBharata |
| spellingShingle | Catherine Clémentin-Ojha ‘India, that is Bharat…’: One Country, Two Names South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal India cultural history politics of naming Indian Constitution Bharat Bharata |
| title | ‘India, that is Bharat…’: One Country, Two Names |
| title_full | ‘India, that is Bharat…’: One Country, Two Names |
| title_fullStr | ‘India, that is Bharat…’: One Country, Two Names |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘India, that is Bharat…’: One Country, Two Names |
| title_short | ‘India, that is Bharat…’: One Country, Two Names |
| title_sort | india that is bharat one country two names |
| topic | India cultural history politics of naming Indian Constitution Bharat Bharata |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3717 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT catherineclementinojha indiathatisbharatonecountrytwonames |