14
submitted 1 year ago by yogthos@lemmy.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/4495502

Britain renamed Bharat to India when it was colonized, and the name is a symbol of colonial slavery.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hindustani is a language spoken by both Hindus and Muslims (in both India and Pakistan) as Hindi and Urdu are essentially variants of it. Thus technically Hindustan is a religiously neutral term. The problem is that it only represents north-west India where this language is predominantly spoken. The rest of India would therefore not identify with this name which is also the problem with Bharat. Unfortunately due to India's extremely diverse multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious composition there is no optimal solution to this problem.

"India" also originally represented northwest part too.

[-] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And yet over time it became accepted by most of the subcontinent. Probably the same can happen with Bharat given enough time.

But ultimately this is not about what Indians call their own country, it's about a naming convention in the anglophone world. It's as if Germany tomorrow decided to demand that English speakers would be required to call their country Deutschland. It's doable but it will take time for people to adapt and some will still never let go of the old name they have become accustomed to using.

And that would still just be for English, other languages would still have their own names for some countries, like the Polish Niemcy for Germany.

Personally i have no opinion on this either way except to say that out of habit i will probably still sometimes use the name i originally learned.

It’s as if Germany tomorrow decided to demand that English speakers would be required to call their country Deutschland.

Turkey did exactly that.

Ukraine even tried to rename... Russia.

[-] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, in Turkey's case it's easier because the old and the new variant sound and are spelled very similarly so nobody will be confused no matter which you use.

As for the other one, well... Ukraine be crazy right now is all i can say to that.

[-] relay@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 year ago

What book in English would you recommend about India's internal politics and unity?

[-] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 year ago

You'll have to ask someone else i'm afraid, my own knowledge on this subject is rather limited.

[-] relay@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 year ago

I appreciate your honesty.

this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
14 points (85.0% liked)

World News

2317 readers
161 users here now

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS