Author: Balraj Madhok
Publisher: DAV Publication Division
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 176
ISBN/UPC (if available): N/A
Description
Hindu is the name by which the people of Bharat, i.e. Hindustan or India have known and recognized by the world over the ages. It is derived from the Sindhu, the most notable geographical landmark that meets the eyes when one enters this land from the West.
Hindustan and India as also Hindu and Indian are thus synonyms. They have a common derivation and refer to the same country and same people. Names India and Indian were introduced to the people of Hindustan only after the advent of Europeans in this country.
But they came in general use only after the establishment of British rule in the 19th century. The continued use of these names for Hindustan is thus a remanent of the colonial rule of the British.
Bharat-Varsha or Bharat is the third name by which our country is known.
It is an indigenous name with a political connotation. As the Aryan people and culture spread to the east from their original home of Brahmavarta or Sapt-Sindhawa, the Aryanised part of the country stretching from the Shidhu to the Brahmputra and from the Himalaya to the Vindhyachal mountains came to be described as Arya Varta.
It was also called Uttarpath-the Northern portion-as distinct from the Dakshina path-the Southern portion which stretched from the Vindhyachal mountain to the seas.
India has been and is a nation, a Rashtra through the ages and not a nation in the making, nor was it born in 1947. it is an ancient nation and not a congruence of castes and communities.
It is Hindu Rashtra, called India nations in English. Hindu Rashtra, Bharatiya Rashtra and Indian nation are synonymous. Hindutva reflects Nationalism or national feeling, Hinduness or Indianess, or Hindustan as a whole.
The modern definition of nation as given in Oxford Dictionary is : “Distinct race or people having common descent, language, history or political institutions”.
Contents
Contents
1. Hindu, Hinduism and Hindutva
2. Hindu Rashtra
3. Hindu State-Its Rationale and Relevance
4. Hindu State and Secularism
5. Hindu State and Minorities
6. Hindu State and Democracy
7. Advantages of Hindu State
8. Imperative Necessity of Declaring Hindustan a Hindu State
9. Postscript
Appendix
Letter to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi