Early Persian scholars had limited knowledge of the extent of India. After the advent of Islam and the
Muslim conquests, the meaning of
Hindustan interacted with its Arabic variant
Hind, which was derived from Persian as well, and almost became synonymous with it. The Arabs, engaging in oceanic trade, included all the lands from
Tis in western Balochistan (near modern
Chabahar) to the Indonesian archipelago, in their idea of
Hind, especially when used in its expansive form as "
Al-Hind".
Hindustan did not acquire this elaborate meaning. According to
André Wink, it also did not acquire the distinction, which faded away, between
Sind (roughly what is now western Pakistan) and
Hind (the lands to the east of the Indus River); other sources state that
Sind and
Hind were used synonymously from early times, and that after the
arrival of Islamic rule in India, "the variants Hind and Sind were used, as synonyms, for the entire subcontinent." The 10th century text
Hudud al-Alam defined
Hindustan as roughly the
Indian subcontinent, with its western limit formed by the river Indus, southern limit going up to the Great Sea and the eastern limit at
Kamarupa, the present day Assam. For the next ten centuries, both
Hind and
Hindustan were used within the subcontinent with exactly this meaning, along with their adjectives
Hindawi,
Hindustani and
Hindi. Indeed, in 1220 CE, historian
Hasan Nizami described
Hind as being "from
Peshawar to the shores of the Indian Ocean|[Indian] Ocean, and in the other direction from
Siwistan to the
hills of Chin." With the
Turko-Persian conquests starting in the 11th century, an accurate meaning of
Hindustan took shape, defining the land of the river Indus. The conquerors were liable to call the lands under their control Hindustan, ignoring the rest of the subcontinent. In the early 11th century a
satellite state of the
Ghaznavids in the
Punjab with its capital at
Lahore was called "Hindustan". After the
Delhi Sultanate was established, north India, especially the
Gangetic plains and the Punjab, came to be called "Hindustan". Scholar
Bratindra Nath Mukherjee states that this narrow meaning of
Hindustan existed side by side with the wider meaning, and some of the authors used both of them simultaneously. In the time of the
Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) and the
Mughal Empire (1526–1857), the ruling elite and its Persian historiographers made a further distinction between "Hindustan" and "Hind". Hindustan referred to the territories of northern India in
the Doab and adjacent regions under Muslim political control, while "Hind" referred to the rest of India. In the Delhi Sultanate, Hindustan referred to the territories of today's northern India, the Punjab and the lands of the Indus. The Mughals called their lands 'Hindustan'. The term 'Mughal' itself was never used to refer to the land. As the empire expanded, so too did 'Hindustan'. At the same time, the meaning of 'Hindustan' as the entire Indian subcontinent is also found in
Baburnama and
Ain-i-Akbari. The Mughals made a further distinction between "Hindustani" and "Hindu". In Mughal sources, Hindustani commonly referred to Muslims in Hindustan, while non-Muslim Indians were referred to as
Hindus. This meaning was also employed in the Delhi Sultanate, for e.g. the army of
Ghiyas ud din Balban was referred to as "Hindustani" troops, who were attacked by the "Hindus".
Colonial India The dual meanings of the terms "India," "Hindustan," and the "Mughal Empire" persisted with the arrival of Europeans. For instance, Rennel produced an atlas titled the
Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan or the Mogul Empire in 1792, which actually depicted the Indian subcontinent. This conflation of terms by Rennel illustrates the complexity and overlap of these concepts during that period. J. Bernoulli, to whom
Hindustan meant the Mughal Empire, called his French translation ''La Carte générale de l'Inde'' (General Map of India). This 'Hindustan' of British reckoning was divided into British-ruled territories (more often referred to as 'British India') and the territories ruled by native rulers. The British officials and writers, however, thought that the Indians used 'Hindustan' to refer to only North India. Probably for the same reason, the name 'Hindustan' did not receive official sanction of the
Constituent Assembly of India, whereas 'Bharat' was adopted as an official name. It was recognised however that 'Hindustan' would continue to be used unofficially. The
Indian Armed Forces use the salutary version of the name, "
Jai Hind", as a battle cry. == See also ==