The British joined most of the subcontinent under one administration, but the idea of Bharat as one land is written in the Puranas, walked by pilgrims from Kedarnath to Rameswaram, and was ruled as one by the Mauryas from Kandahar to Karnataka.
The proof
- Vishnu Purana 2.3.1: the land north of the ocean and south of the Himalaya is called Bharata, where the descendants of Bharata dwell.
- Ashoka’s edicts stand from Kandahar in Afghanistan (in Greek and Aramaic) to Maski and Brahmagiri in Karnataka.
- Adi Shankaracharya’s four mathas mark the four quarters: Sringeri, Dwarka, Puri and Jyotirmath.
01One land, many kingdoms
Bharat was usually many kingdoms, as Europe was. That never stopped a Tamil pilgrim from carrying Ganga water to Rameswaram, or a Kashmiri pandit from debating in Kashi. The sankalpa recited at every puja still places the worshipper in Jambudvipa, in Bharatavarsha. And British India itself was not the whole: more than 560 princely states sat outside direct rule in 1947, and it was Sardar Patel and V. P. Menon who joined them to the Union.
Read on
Edicts of Ashoka
Fourteen major rock edicts, minor rock edicts and seven pillar edicts in which the Maurya emperor speaks in his own voice, as Devanampiya Piyadasi.
Ashoka
Ashoka conquered Kalinga in the eighth year after his consecration and then, in his own carved words, regretted it. He spent the rest of his reign cutting edicts on rocks and pillars from Kandahar to Karnataka, the oldest deciphered writing of Bharat.
Adi Shankaracharya
Born at Kalady on the Purna (Periyar) river in Kerala, Shankara wrote the classic commentaries on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Gita, and set up four mathas at the four corners of Bharat. He lived thirty-two years.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
A Gujarati barrister who led the Kheda and Bardoli satyagrahas, and as India’s first Home Minister brought over 560 princely states into the Union. He also pledged the rebuilding of Somnath in November 1947.
Maurya empire
Chandragupta Maurya, guided by Chanakya, overthrew the Nandas, drove out the Greek garrisons and took the Indus lands from Seleucus. His grandson Ashoka ruled almost all of Bharat and carved his edicts on rocks and pillars from Kandahar to Karnataka.