Why Is India Also Called Bharat? What the Constitution Actually Says Article

Why Is India Also Called Bharat? What the Constitution Actually Says

We have heard "Bharat Mata ki Jai" so many times. We have shouted it ourselves, in school assemblies, on Independence Day, in stadiums.

But do you know the official name of our country? Is it India or Bharat?

Honestly, both. And the answer is written in the very first line of our Constitution.

Article 1(1) says: "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States."

So India and Bharat are not two different ideas. They are two names for the same country, and the Constitution itself uses both.

Where Exactly Is This Written?

In Part I of the Constitution, titled "The Union and its Territory", in Article 1. It is the first article of the entire Constitution.

When Was This Name Decided?

On 18 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly adopted Article 1 with the words "India, that is Bharat". This was a few months before the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950.

Was There Another Option?

Yes, and this is the part most people don't know.

Assembly member H. V. Kamath proposed a different wording: "Bharat, or, in the English language, India, shall be a Union of States." In other words, he wanted Bharat to come first.

His amendment was put to a vote and lost by 38 votes to 51.

Why Did Members Want "Bharat"?

In the same debate, Seth Govind Das argued that the name Bharat appears in ancient Indian texts such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Mahabharata and the Vishnu Purana. He also pointed out that the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang called the country Bharat.

That is why many members felt Bharat had to find a place in the Constitution, even if India stayed as well.

Quick Facts

Question	Answer
Where is the name given?	Article 1(1), Part I
Exact words	"India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States."
Adopted by the Constituent Assembly	18 September 1949
Kamath's "Bharat first" amendment	Rejected, 38 to 51
Constitution came into force	26 January 1950

Test Yourself

1. Which Article of the Constitution says "India, that is Bharat"?
(A) Article 1 (B) Article 3 (C) Article 12 (D) Article 51A

2. India is described in Article 1 as a:
(A) Federation of States (B) Union of States (C) Union of Territories (D) Republic of States

So the next time someone asks whether it's India or Bharat, you know the answer.

It's both.

And the Constitution says so in its very first line.