The word "India"

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--- friend vijai <friend_vijai wrote:

 

> VFA-members

> friend vijai <friend_vijai

> Mon, 13 Sep 2004 11:34:45 -0700 (PDT)

> [VFA-members] The word "India"

>

> Dear All,

>

> Now comes the word "Indian".

> Lets see its origin and how it came to be used for

> Indians and Native American Indians.

>

> I did a reasearch on this and this is how I

> understand might have happenned.

> It is like to put all the bits of truth into a

> puzzle and coming out with the right answer.

>

> 1. Arabs do not have the word "sa" or "si", they

> usually called as "ha" or "hi"

> 2. So people and practices on the side of "river

> sindu" became "hindu"

> 3. Before the advent of Islam, the word Hindu was

> considered as a noble word and people named their

> daughters as Hind, meaning from Hind or beautiful.

> 4. Persians and Arabs called mathematics as Al-Hind

> or something like that, that which has its origin in

> Hind. Unforutnately most european scholors give the

> Arabs the credit for mathematics, when the Arbas

> themselves give credit to Hind or Bharat.

> 5. After the advent of Islam, Hind became equal to

> idol worshippers and it became a derogatory term.

> 6. The greeks did not know how to promounce "hi" or

> "ha" instead prefered "in", so hind became "indi"

> and british made it indian.

> 7. After the advent of Islam the middle east trade

> routes were closed and hence the europeans had to

> discover new trade routes to India and China.

> 8. Columbus and others were trying to find a route

> to "indi" and when they reached America they

> mistakenly or delibrately called it "indian"

> 9. Later when they found that the land was Ameirca

> and not India and the people were reddish in color,

> they started calling them as red-indian to

> diffrentiate with the brown-indians in Bharat.

> 10. so both the words "hindu" and "Indi" have both

> geographical and culture implications. It is a

> corrupted word for "sindu".

>

> Dhanyavaad,

> Vijai

>

>

>

> Michael Gressett <fourgirldad wrote:

> Mr. Youngwolf and All,

>

> I know that some Apaches, Cherokees, Navahos (Dene),

> etc. prefer to be called American Indians rather

> than Native Americans. Frankly (and respectfully)

> though, it's absurd. How can they be Indians?

> Michael Gressett.

>

> SD Youngwolf <sdyoungwolf wrote:

> Namaste, I have to ring in here, with my own

> perception on this issue. I

> think there is a big difference, even if it is only

> a perceived difference,

> in the word "Hindu" and the word "dharma". I would

> say I am Hindu only in

> the very broadest dense of the word, but I would

> rather not, as I don't like

> to use it, because it implies so many things-

> termple worship, caste system,

> gods and deities. The Buddhist is a follower of

> dharma, but I think most

> would object to the term Hindu being applied to

> them. And what about the

> other religions that have their roots in Bharat,

> including Indigenous ones

> like Donyi Polo, Rangfraa, Seng Khasi? Are they

> Hindu? Also, one could be

> interested in the dharma but not a follower of any

> particular belief system.

> Are these people to be included as Vedi Friends? I

> think to use the term

> Hindu may automatically exclude those who follow

> other dharmic ways, but who

> have common purpose. By the way, the preferred term

> among American Indians

> is American Indian, not Native American, though that

> term is also used,

> depending on the context, but definitely not "Red

> Indian". SD Youngwolf

>

>

>

>

> >srinandan

> >VFA-members

> >VFA-members

> >[VFA-members] Not All Hindus want the name

> Hindu

> >Mon, 13 Sep 2004 10:59:14 EDT

> >

> > Here is another commentary from another

> person, although I don't know

> >him, from the vedic research group list who also

> brought up the issue on

> >the name

> >of "Hindu". However, I'm not proposing that we

> delete the use of the name

> >Hindu at all. I still use the name quite often, as

> anyone can see from the

> >VFA

> >Conference Schedule. Yet, as the person below

> points out, there are better

> >terms

> >that we can use for those of us who know the real

> meaning of such terms, to

> >be used in reference to Vedic dharma or Hindu

> dharma.

> > Thus, as we can see herein, some people may be

> content with being

> >called

> >Hindus, yet others feel it is a carry-over from

> times when India and

> >Indians

> >were far less than independent to decide for

> themselves what they wanted to

> >be

> >called.

> > Hari Om and Hari bol,

> > Stephen Knapp

> >

> >

> >An excellent and objective account of the history

> surrounding the misnomers

> >'Hindu' and 'Hinduism'. Why is it that, more than

> 54 years after the

> >Constitution officially recognised our newly born

> Republic as BHARAT, we

> >are still so

> >reluctant to drop the parochial and slavish words

> 'India', 'Hindu',

> >'Hinduism',

> >etc.? We should feel proud to replace them with

> 'Bharat' or 'Bharatavarsha'

> >(deliberately retaining the last vowel sound 'a' to

> indicate its Sanskrit

> >origin), "Bharateeya' and 'Sanatana Dharma' or

> 'Bharateeya Dharma'. If the

> >old

> >pejorative terms 'American Indian' can be discarded

> in favor of 'Native

> >American'

> >and 'Negroes' can be replaced by 'African

> American', why can't we as a

> >nation

> >go back to the roots of our glorious past and

> recapture more unifying and

> >dignified vocabulary for our identities, thus

> eliminating in one stroke all

> >the

> >distortions, abuse and exploitation associated with

> the disparaging

> >terms???

> >After all, the word 'Sanatana Dharma' cannot be

> easily turned into an

> >'ism', and a

> >'Bharaeeya' can be labelled as a Kaffir or a

> Heathen only at the risk of

> >dubbing the Indian minorities also as such. BJP

> will automatically become a

> >more

> >inclusive epithet and VHP can take a more welcome

> rebirth as VSP, Vishwa

> >Sanatani Parishad. Best of all, RSS will disabuse

> itself of all the slander

> >and

> >ignominy with its new Avatar as BSS, Bharateeya

> Sevak Sangh. If all the

> >Dharmagurus and educated Hindus can be duly

> educated (about their true

> >identities) along

> >the lines of this article by Stephen Knapp, then a

> mass petition campaign

> >can

> >easily be created to insist on these name changes

> forthwith, to pave the

> >way

> >for a newly proud and resurgent Bharata.

> >Vijay

>