Origin of Bharat

The two words that our country is attached with is India and Bharata. Now where is this word ' India'  derived from? The word Indus called Sindhu in Sanskrit is believed to have derive the word India for our nation.

However, there is another notion in this regard. Its believed that the Iranians and the Greeks called the Indus, the Hindos or Indos, thereby calling it’s land India.

The term Bharata was used for the group of people residing on the lands of North West. About which Rigveda, the earliest Sanskrit composition also elaborates.

Ways to find out about the past

There are many ways of finding about the past. One such way is to read books written by the people long ago. Such books were called manuscripts. The word Manu was derived from the Latin word Manu meaning hands. Manuscripts were books written by hands long ago on palm leaves or the bark of the tree called birch Which grows in the Himalayas.

However a few manuscripts have been destroyed over the years while some are still preserved in the temple or the monasteries. These manuscripts were based on the subject like religion, people, dance, music, etc. These manuscripts were later translated into the languages of the common people like Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tamil.

Another way of finding about the past were reading the inscription. Inscription were letters inscribed on hard surface like stone or metal. These include stories of the king’s or the ordinary people. The kings got their orders also inscribed so that his subjects could follow him.

Another ways of knowing about the past were studying the old objects once used by earlier people. Those objects were called artefacts and the people who studied them were known as archaeologists. Their subject of study include the buildings, the sculptures, painting, digging the earth and excavating things dug into the earth like utensils, ornaments, cookware, etc.

These objects were made of metal, baked clay ,stone etc. Archaeologists also excavated for the food remains like bones, teeth of the animals, fish or the grains or the seeds of the fruit to find out about the food habits of the earlier people.

People who were skilled in finding out about past were known as historians. They used were things as their source to reveal the truth behind the evolution of the civilization.