The Rig Veda knows of Bharata only as an ancestor of contemporary dynasties, tribes and clans. There is nothing in the Rig Veda about Bharata the person, let alone Bharata the emperor. There is absolutely no mention of any wars that he may have fought, enemies that he vanquished or territories annexed, not even the wealth he may have amassed or gifted.
This clearly indicates that in the primary Vedic scripture the Rig Veda, there is no mention of a country known as Bharat or Bharata or Bharatversha.
The shape of India is described in the 'Mahabharata' which is believed to be a text of around first century AD, as an equilateral triangle, which was divided into four smaller equal triangles. The apex of the triangle is Cape Comorin, and the base is formed by the line of the Himalaya mountains. No dimensions are given, and no places are mentioned.
Another description of India is that of the Nava-Khanda, or Nine-Divisions, which is first described by the astronomers Parasara and Varaha-Mihira, although it was probably older than their time and was later adopted by the authors of several of the Puranas. According to this arrangement, Pdnchdla was the chief district of the central division, Magadha of the east, Kalinga of the south-east, Avanta of the south, Anarta of the south-west, Sindhu-Sauvira of the west, Hdrahaura of the north-west, Madra of the north, and Kauninda of the north-east. But there is a discrepancy between this epitome of Varaha and his details, as Sindhu-Sauvira is assigned to the south-west, along with Anarta. There however is absolutely no agreement among the scholars with regard to deciphering the exact location of Sindhu-Sauvira and different scholar state different locations.
With regard to the detailed lists of the 'Brihat-Samhita' with those of the Brahmanda, Markandeya, Vishnu, Vayu, and Matsya Puranas; although there are sundry repetitions and displacements of names, as well as various readings, yet all the lists are substantially the same. Some of them, however, are differently arranged. All of the Puranas, for instance, mention the Nine Divisions and give their names, but only the Brahmanda and Markandeya state the names of the districts in each of the Nine Divisions; as the Vishnu, Vayu, and Matsya Puranas agree with the Mahabharata in describing only five Divisions in detail, namely, the middle Province and those of the four cardinal points. The names of the Nine Divisions given in the Mahabharata and the Puranas differ entirely from those of Yaraha-Mihira.
At times I really wonder as to why we the Pakistanis have to explain the details of Vedic or Hindu scriptures to the Indians, who misquote the essence of what is said in their own books. It is a shame.
, which translates as "the people of the Indus".
