The terms Sanatan Dharm and
Bhartiya are used throughout this site. They are original names that refer
to the same eternal knowledge that the modern world calls Hinduism.
Sanatan Dharm
The eternal (sanatan) universal religion. It
contains the knowledge for the spiritual well-being of all the souls. It
provides the guidelines for all kinds of people of the world, which, if
followed, leads them towards God realization. It is the universal religion
of the Upnishads, Gita and the Bhagwatam which Bharatvarsh has introduced
for the whole world.
Bhartiya
According to the scriptural description of the brahmand (the
planetary or solar system and the celestial worlds) the entire earth
planet is called Bharatvarsh, but particularly the area of the continent
that lies south of the Himalayas is called Bharatvarsh. It is also called
Aryavart. The inhabitants of Aryavart are called the Aryans as referred to
in the Rigved. Thus, the words Bhartiya or Aryans were both used for the
inhabitants of Bharatvarsh or Aryavart, however, the words Bhartiya and
Bharatvarsh were more popular.
Hinduism & India
Persians used to call ‘Hindu’ for the Sindhu river, which was a
localized version of the word Sindhu. When Muslims invaded Bharatvarsh
from the west (which was the land of the Sindhu river) they started
calling the inhabitants of Bharatvarsh ‘the Hindus.’ Accordingly, the
country of the Hindus was called Hindustan by them which means the place (sthan)
of the Hindus (Hindu). For speaking convenience the colloquial form of
the word ‘sthan’ became ‘stan’ and in this way the word
Hindustan (Hindu + stan) came into being. The Greeks used to call ‘Indu’
for ‘Hindu,’ because there is no letter ‘h’ in the Greek alphabet. When
English people came, for their convenience, they altered the names of
quite a few places and also some of the rivers. They called ‘Indus’ for
the Sindhu river and, accordingly, ‘India’ for Hindustan or Bharatvarsh.
Thus, the words India and Hindu became popular, and the religion and
culture of Hindus began to be called the Hinduism.
Hindu philosophy, religion and history are all intertwined. The
Sages
and the acharyas who produced the scriptures (which form the body
of Sanatan Dharm) are the prominent personalities of Bhartiya history.
Thus, the main part of our history is the history of the Divine
personalities; and our religion is the universal religion of devotion to
God.
