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Hindustan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
þý
ुतान ; Urdu: ن凸တ✜✜و凸တ⸁⸖ᨁā
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Hindustan (Hindi: ᆡह䏘릡द䐴祰 ; IAST: Hindustān ; [ɦɪnd̪
ʊˈst̪
aːn]; pronunciation ;) is a
common geographic term for the northern/northwestern Indian subcontinent.[1][2]
Contents
1 Etymology
2 Current usage
2.1 Geographic area
2.2 People
2.3 Language
3 See also
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links
Etymology
Hindustan is derived from the Modern Persian word Hindū. In Old Persian, the region beyond the Indus
River was referred to as Hinduš (the Iranic equivalent of Sanskrit Sindhu[3]), hence Modern Persian
Hind, Hindū. This combined with the Persian suffix stān (meaning literally "place", and having the
same origin as the Sanskrit word sthān and the English word "stand") results in Hindustan, "land of
Hind". By about the first century BC, the term "Heintu" was used by the Chinese to refer to North
Indian people.[4][5] The term came into common use under the rule of the Mughals, who referred to their
dominion, centered on Delhi and Punjab, as 'Hindustan'.
Current usage
Geographic area
The term "Hindustan" has been historically applied to the Gangetic Plain of North India, between the
Himalayas and the Vindhyas[6] and the Indus river basin in Pakistan.[7]
Further, it may pertain to numerous aspects belonging to three geographical areas: the Indus River basin
(eastern Pakistan) during medieval times, or a region in northern India, east and south of the Yamuna
river, between the Vindhya mountains and the Himalayas, amongst the places where Hindustani
language is spoken.
The abbreviated version appears in the common nationalist salutation of India, Jai Hind, coined by
Major Abid Hasan Safrani of the Indian National Army as a shortened version of Jai Hindustan Ki
(translation: Victory to India).[8] It was popularized by Subhas Chandra Bose, who used it on Azad Hind
Radio during the Indian independence movement. It appears in the revered song, Aye Mere Watan Ke
Logon. Today, it is widely used as a salutation and a battle cry in the Indian Armed Forces. It is also
commonly used to sign off at the end of major speeches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan 1/3
8/1/2015 Hindustan Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Most formally, in the proper disciplines of Geography and History, Hindustan refers to the region of the
upper and middle Ganges valley; Hindustan by this definition is the region located between the distinct
lands of Punjab in the northwest and Bengal in the northeast. So used, the term is not a synonym for
terms "South Asia", "India", "Country of the Hindus" [sic], or of the modernday Republic of India,
variously interpreted.
People
In one of its current usages is among Hindustani speakers in India, the term 'Hindustani' refers to an
Indian, irrespective of religious affiliation. Among nonHindustani speakers e.g. Bengalispeakers,
"Hindustani" is sometimes used to describe persons who are from the upper Ganges, also regardless of
religious affiliation, but rather as a geographic term.
Hindustani is sometimes used as an ethnic term applied to South Asia (e.g., a Mauritian or Surinamese
man with roots in South Asia might describe his ethnicity by saying he is Hindustani). For example,
Hindoestanen is a Dutch word used to describe people of South Asian origin, in the Netherlands and
Suriname.
However, these people are now commonly referred to as Muhajirs. As well, within Pakistan, the term
"Hindustan" is sometimes used as a synonym for the modernday Republic of India. Even many Indians
still call India as 'Hindustan', though Bharat is more commonly used.
Language
Hindustani is also used to refer to the Hindustani language, which derives from the Khariboli dialect of
presentday Western Uttar Pradesh, Southern Uttarakhand and Delhi areas.
See also
History of South Asia
References
1. "Hindustan: Definition" (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Hindustan). Thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved
20120515.
2. Sindh: An Introduction (http://www.usindh.edu.pk/shaikh_ayaz_conf_07/sindh.html)
3. Lipner 1998, pp. 7–8
4. "Khotanese Texts, Volume 7", p. 23, by Harold Walter Bailey
5. "Foreign Influence on Ancient India", by Krishna Chandra Sagar, p. 6
6. "Hindustan" (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article9040520/Hindustan). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2007.
Retrieved 20070502.
7. A Geography of Hindustan, Ancient and Modern (http://books.google.ca/books?
id=ADUYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=hindustan+indus+river&source=bl&ots=2kbRMg_su6
&sig=Go9Ay_HeimuYCF5g0PlU17tQrzc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mwpWU4_sKaGD2AXe
YDYDQ&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=hindustan%20indus%20river&f=false), American Ceylon
Mission, 1843.
8. Leonard A. Gordon (1990). Brothers Against the Raj (http://www.amazon.com/BrothersAgainstRaj
LeonardGordon/dp/0231074433). Columbia University Press.
Sources
Lipner, Julius (1998). Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Routledge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan 2/3
8/1/2015 Hindustan Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ISBN 0415051827.
Further reading
A Sketch of the History of Hindustan from the First Muslim Conquest to the Fall of the Mughal
Empire by H. G. Keene. (Hindustan (http://www.jstor.org/pss/546854) The English Historical
Review, Vol. 2, No. 5 (Jan., 1887), pp. 180–181.)
Story of India through the Ages; An Entertaining History of Hindustan, to the Suppression of the
Mutiny, by Flora Annie Steel, 1909 E.P. Dutton and Co., New York. (as recommended by the
New York Times; Flora Annie Steel (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?
res=9D00E5D91439E733A25753C2A9649C946897D6CF) Book Review, February 20, 1909,
New York Times.)
The History of Hindustan: Post Classical and Modern, Ed. B.S. Danniya and Alexander Dow.
2003, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 8120819934. (History of Hindustan (First published: 1770
1772). Dow had succeeded his father as the private secretary of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.)
External links
Meaning and origin of the word "Hindu"
(http://www.shraddhananda.com/Meaning_and_Origin_Of_The_Word_Hindu.html)
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