ABSTRACT
64 Despite the history of ancient India for most of the period being one of fragmented polities, there was a clear notion of the subcontinental political aspirations of kings. Afghanistan at least up to the river Oxus was included in this concept of “Bharatavarsha,” which much later came to be commonly called India, following the Greek practice of referring to the peoples around and beyond Indus as people of Indos, hence the name India. The common use of the name India belongs to the period after the Europeans found their way to it. The Muslims, invaders and rulers, almost invariably called it Hindustan, “the country inhabited by the Hindus.” (page 84)
