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Undivided India has several socio-political, historical, and geographical meanings.

Raj

Officially, it is a term which refers to the major part of the South Asia which comprised the British Raj, and included the current sovereign states of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Undivided India did not include all geographical regions and nations of the South Asia like Nepal and Bhutan, but included most of the Princely states of India.

References to undivided India are found in some legal enactments including India’s Citizenship Act, 1955, which states that for the meaning of undivided India (in the context of this Act), the undivided India means India as defined in the Government of India Act 1935, as originally enacted. There are innumerable other references to undivided India, in a variety of contexts, but mostly indicating India with boundaries as it existed just before the partition of India into India and Pakistan.

Indies

The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and Southeast Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and also Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, which was last called the Dutch East Indies before independence.

The East Indies also include Iranian Baluchistan, Indochina, the Philippine Islands, Brunei, Singapore and East Timor. It does not, however, include Irian Jaya (West Papua), which is part of Melanesia.

The inhabitants of the East Indies are often called East Indians, distinguishing them both from inhabitants of the Caribbean which is also called the West Indies, and from the indigenous peoples of the Americas who are often called "Indians" or "American Indians."

Greater India

Greater India is another term sometimes used to describe the region between Central Asia in the North and tropical Indonesia in the South, and from the borderlands of Persia to Tibet and western China, which has had a significant Indian influence on its culture and civilizaton, including religious thought, language, art and literature.

This socio-cultural region is now part of the modern nations of (from the west): Iran (Seistan-Balochistan province), Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, the trans-Tsangpo and Yunnan regions of China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei, East Timor, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, the Mauritius, Maldives, Seychelles, Comoros and other islands of the Indian Ocean.

Indosphere

Indosphere is a term, defined as "a socio-political sphere subsuming those countries, cultures, and languages that have historically come under influence from the politics, culture, religion, and languages of India (notably, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma)."

Akhanda Bharatam

Akhanda Bharatam (literally "undivided India") is the historic homeland of the Hindus, before Islamic conquest and colonial partition, which resulted in the subsequent conversion of a significant number to Islam and Christianity. It includes all of present day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tibet.

The geographic frontiers of this region range from the Himalayan region in the north to the ocean in the south. This is derived from the Vishnu puranam text of India.

Uttaram yad samudrasya himadreschaiva dakshinam

varsham tad Bharatam naama Bharati yatra santati

Akhanda Bharatam is the Sanskrit name for this region. Hinduism and Buddhism are the predominant religions. The Indonesia-Malaysia region, the Pakistan-Afghanistan region and the Sistan-Balochistan region later were converted to Islam.

Akhand Bharat is largely based on the concepts of religious or ethnic nationalism rather than a political state. It is an important part of the irredentist ideology of Hindutva subscribed to by Hindu nationalist organizations such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and political parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Myth of Bharat

In modern times, bigoted Brahmins have projected Bharatavarsha as the ancient Sanskrit name for the whole of India. This, however, has no historical foundation. Bharatavarsha did not include the whole of India and never did, but only denoted the kingdom of the Aryan invader Bharata, who was a chieftain of one of the Aryan tribes that invaded India. This small region comprised only a small part of the upper Ganges valley.

Epigraphic Evidence

The epigraphic evidence confirms that Bharata originally did not mean the whole of India. but only a small part of North India. Kharavela who lived c.63 BC - c.23 BC ( C.R.Mishra, p.114 ), was one of the most famous kings of the Kolarian-Dravidian kingdom of Kalinga. His conquests ranged far and wide. They are celebrated in the Hathigumpha inscription. The nineth and tenth lines of this inscription clearly mention that he invaded Bharata from Kalingam thereby implying that Bharata at that time did not include the whole of India - Line 9-10: "And, in the nineth year, (His Majesty) Kharavela caused to be built the great victory place - royal residence at the cost of thirty eight hundred thousand (coins). " Then, in the 10th year (His Majesty) who embodied the principles of politics, diplomacy and peace, caused (the army) to march towards Bharatavarsha for conquest ." -- ( C.R.Mishra, p.128 )

Prof. C.R.Mishra notes that Bharata did not originally denote India: " Bharatavarsha, here is used in a general sense denoting the regions of northern India " (C.R.Mishra, p.121). Elaborating this, he states that Bharata is mentioned for the first time in the Hatigumpha inscription and that it denoted only a part of North India - " In the epigraphic records of ancient India, the name `Bharatavarsha' is mentioned for the first time in the Hatigumpha inscription. But the name denoted North India at that time." -- ( C.R.Mishra, p.130, n.79 )

A.L. Basham states that Bharatas was one of the invading Aryan tribes which settled in the region between the Satlaj and Jamna, which later became known as Brahmavarta (Basham, The Wonder that was India, p.30).

Thus, the first time that we have undisputed usage of the word Bharatavarsha, it denoted only North India. There is no evidence of Bharata's kingdom extending beyond Northern India.

Historical Evidence

Historical evidence refutes the Brahmanist claim that Bharata conquered the whole of India. Bharata's ancestors lived in the region of the Caspian sea in Central Asia; they were nomadic tribesmen of Aryan stock. Bharata's legendary capital lay in the Kabul valley, ie. Yusufzai territory of modern Afghanistan: " According to local tradition, the original seat of the empire of Bharata was much further to the morth-west, namely, at the site now occupied by the ruins of Takh-i-Bahi, in the country of the Yusufzais to the northward of Peshawer." (Wheeler, p.48n.2)

From this base he descended with his hordes of Aryan horsemen onto the plains of India. There he defeated Indra ( Wheeler, p.45 ), a descendant of the first Aryan invader Indra, earning himself the title "most renowned of the Lunar race" (Wheller, p.47). He then conquered the Upper Ganges valley, exceeding Indra's dominion.

After the wars of annexation, the Raj of Bharata extended over the enitre doab between the rivers Ganges and the Jumna right up to the junction of these 2 rivers (Wheeler, p.44). It is thus obvious that Bharata's empire, Bharatavarsha, only included a few provinces in the Ganges Valley.

His son Hastin founded Hastinapur further down the Ganges valley, after this second wave of Aryans had pushed on from the neighbourhood of Peshawar up to the banks of the Ganges (Wheeler, p.48.n2). It is thus evident that even the lower Ganges valley was beyond Bharata's control. Hence, the Brahminist concept of `One Ancient Bharata' under perpetual dominion of the Brahmin Aryans is a fallacy. In the words of Winston Churchill, `India is as much a nation as the equator' .

References (C.R.Mishra), `Kharavela and His Times' , in ` Comprehensive Hisotry and Culture of Orissa' , ed. P.K.Mishra, Kaveri Books, New Delhi 1997, Vol.I part I, p.108-131. (J. T. Wheeler), `India of the Vedic Age with Reference to the Mahabharata', J. Talboys Wheeler, Vol. I of `The History of India', 1973 reprint Cosmo Publns. Delhi 1973

See also

• Indian subcontinent

• Politics of India
• Indian independence movement
• British rule in India
• Irredentism
• Pakistan movement
• Pan movements