Hindustan

Hindūstān (), along with its shortened form Hind, is the Persian-language name for India, broadly the Indian subcontinent, that later became the commonly used name of the region in the Hindustani language. Since the Partition of India in 1947, Hindustan continues to be used to the present day as a historic name for the Republic of India. Hindustan was the classical Persian word for India, but when introduced to the subjects under Persianate rule, the subsequent culture which resulted from these events gave it another specific meaning that of the cultural region between the river Sutlej (end of Northwestern India) and the city Varanasi (start of Eastern India). As the area where Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb and the Hindustani language traces its origins, it corresponds to the plains where the river Yamuna flows or the regions/states encompassing Haryana, Delhi and western and Central Uttar Pradesh (more precisely, the central Indo-Gangetic plain). Hindustan was also commonly spelt as Hindostan, which is even sometimes preferred in modern-day contexts to refer to the Indian subcontinent, especially to avoid the incorrect interpretation of Hindustan as land of followers of present-day Hinduism. Other ancient toponyms for the subcontinent include Jambudvīpa and Bharata Khanda. Hindustan is derived from the Persian word Hindū cognate with the Sanskrit Sindhu. The Proto-Iranian sound change *s > h occurred between 850 and 600 BCE, according to Asko Parpola. Hence, the Rigvedic sapta sindhava (the land of seven rivers) became hapta hindu in the Avesta. It was said to be the "fifteenth domain" created by Ahura Mazda, apparently a land of 'abnormal heat'. In 515 BCE, Darius I annexed the Indus Valley including Sindhu, the present day Sindh, which was called Hindu in Persian. During the time of Xerxes, the term "Hindu" was also applied to the lands to the east of Indus. In middle Persian, probably from the first century CE, the suffix -stān was added, indicative of a country or region, forming the present word Hindūstān.