I endorse the name "BhAratham" of even "BhArathi" for India. It is high time we changed the name of the country especially when we have changed the names of several cities to their native ones. Let us establish the preeminence of our country once again.

It is interesting to know how the word 'Bharat' derived. Space is not enough to discuss. There are theories about the early history of India. According to historians, the origin of Hinduism dates back to 5,000 or more years. The word "Hindu" is derived from the name of River Indus, which flows through northern India. In ancient times the river was called the 'Sindhu', but the Persians who migrated to India called the river 'Hindu', the land 'Hindustan' and its inhabitants 'Hindus'. Thus the religion followed by the Hindus came to be known as 'Hinduism'. Apparently, Prabhubada is also of the view that the word Hindu is not a sanskrit word. It was given by Mohammedans. The river Indus is called Sindhu in Sanskrit. German historian Max Muller proponded a theory about Aryan migration. Accordingly it speaks of the influx of Aryan tribes from the North West of India and their merger with the earlier inhabitants resulted in the Vedic culture. The other theory is on the basis of archeological, linguistics and study of available literature from that period that the Aryan culture was an indigenous culture which enjoyed continuous development in the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years. The discoveries of Vedic elements in the Harappa and Mohenjodaro and the recent excavation study in Gujerat presents some contradictions. The great Vedic Saraswathi River is the dry river bed that is been identified in North-Western India (now Pakistan). The white Aryan race is nothing more than indigenous India tribes. This theory of the Aryan culture establishes Vedic Indian culture to have been in existence in about 5000 BC., and began developing at a time when Harappa and Mohenjodaro cultures was disappearing gradually. But this theory has not been proved conclusively. . It was earlier believed that the basic tenets of Hinduism were brought to India by the Aryans who invaded the Indus Valley Civilization and settled along the banks of the Indus river about 2000 BC. However, there is reservation on this theory as it has been proved to be a flawed one. It is considered nothing more than a myth. Moreover, the word 'Bharat' is a sanskrit word. Sanskrit is the language of Gods and therefore is of Vedic origin. Rishis laid down some principles of morality and ethics for mankind to abide by it. Moreover, there are evidences that Rome traded with India usage of the word India) for which coin of the Emperor Augustus was found at Puthukoddai in South India. Consider also the word 'Bharat' and split it into three namely, 'Bha', 'Ra' and 'Ta' depicting Sruthi, Ragam and Talam. Bharata is a word to signify with those of Agni, Vayu and Rasni. Bharatha is another name for Prajapati who is the embodiment of Dharma. In the Vedas, the word Prajapati depicts a Hindu deity as the Creator, Brahma. Even the great epic Maha Bharatha mentions about Prajapati through sage Narada. The word Bharat is found in several contexts of the Veda. Like asking whether egg or chicken came first, there is also an issue whether philosophers or Vedas came first. The conclusion is that if the word 'Bharat' is found in the Vedas, then the conclusion is the origin of the word 'Bharat' is in the Vedas themselves. Brahma is generally considered to be the Vedic Prajapati, but Saraswathi is independent of and superior to the Prajapati. Saraswathi and Bharathi are synonyms and Bharati refers to the Vedas. The element of divinity is complete in the word Prajapati. Desire, ability and knowledge of how to operate are termed as 'Bha', 'Ra' and 'Ta' and described as different paths deriving from one Bharat. In the premises, since both Bharat and India refer to one and same, it may be properly called Bharat India.