In ancient India upto 10th century only that ruler who ruled whole of the subcontinent was termed 'Chakravarti Samrat'. Mauryan rulers were referred so because they united all of India. From 10th century onwards Delhi was the seat of power. Whoever ruled Delhi was regarded as the ruler of Hindustan (India). Dynasties tried to expand their territory from their base at capital Delhi and to unite all of India. All dynasties From 11th century onwards strived for this as they wanted to be ruler of whole of India.China was a political entity as successive dynasties claim the throne of the previous dynasty. When you said that whoever rule Dehli rule India, this is using today's political perspective to view history, which is none factual.
After China first unified, there were time of disunity. But those kingdoms are aware that they were not unified. For example, even after Han dynasty, when China was split into competing kingdoms. Each of the kingdoms know that the country is split and they just rule portions of an empire. Some of the kings would claim as being the emperor and regard the other kingdoms as in rebellion. Fast forward to today, both Taiwan and China claim to be the legitimate ruler of China. So China today, as well as two thousand years ago, have awareness that it's one country.
India nation is a new concept that existed after Britain created India. Did the Chola empire realized that it rule only part of India and ever claimed north India as being in rebellion? Did the Gupta rulers regard itself as the successor of the Mauryan rulers. Fast forward to today, if India regard itself as one nation before British conquered it, than it would never split into two based on religion. But because India was none existent prior to Britain created it, it make total sense to split into two to create a new nation that will bring the benefit to each individual new entities.
Indians had awareness of being culturally united since times immemorial. Ancient texts have referred to the extent of boundaries of India, refer to my previous post on the verse mentioned in Vishnu Purana.
Nation as such is a modern concept. A Tibetan dynasty didn't relate to China nor did it think of uniting all of it. Same with small dynasties of India. PRC is the outcome of this modern concept which evolved in the West so is India. Circumstances under which they evolved may differ. Split of India was based on ideology, same as China-Taiwan split.
Last edited: