Bharat or India? G20 invitations pose centuries-old questions

The use of the word "Bharat" in official invitations extended to international leaders as India gets ready to host the G20 summit this weekend has sparked speculation that Narendra Modi's nationalist administration may be planning to phase out the English moniker.  Some have hailed the decision as a triumphant step toward freeing the country from colonial shackles, while others have decried it as the prime minister's terrible vanity project.

India ostensibly had three names, each with its own history, connotation, and validity in 1947, when British dominion was ultimately thrown out.

India, the name used to allude to the Indus River, which flows through the northern part of the nation, and is believed to have Sanskrit roots. More than 2,000 years ago, the Persians, the Ancient Greeks, and the Romans used it for the first time in various forms. British maps began to use it extensively in the 18th century to designate to the areas of the subcontinent that were under British control.

There was Hindustan, the term given to a sizable portion of the north and center of the subcontinent by the Persians, Greeks, Delhi sultans, and Mughals for hundreds of years.