W.11
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The usage of the a single term for South Asia vs Europe has more to do with the lack of a detailed understanding of the complexity of the region. You can't used flawed/misinterpreted descriptions to justify a flawed understanding of the region.
Was South Asia ruled through conquest and force by various empires? Yes
Was it, at various points in history, an amalgamation of Princely States, Kingdoms, empires, vassal states etc? Yes
Did it have distinct geographical regions with unique cultures, languages (and after Islam) religious identities? Yes.
So on what empirical basis can you claim it had an identity as a single nation-State any more than the Greek, Roman, Mongolian, Persian, Arab, British Empires can claim to be a 'single nation-state'?
greek city states were still called greek, why? the city states were an amalgamation of several city states and were never united.
the reason is quite simple, cultural cohesion, sanskrit was used in india as a classical literary language , the indian texts denote those people who were not from india are mlecchas or foreigners, the indians themselves never regarded themselves as mlecchas. the cuisine is similar, the culture for instance, dances, traditions are also similar, the ancient texts such as natyashastra classify indian dances into southern, eastern, western central etc, they never listed any dance from the middle east, central asia for instance. the classical indian music follows the same root, the indian cuisine is also similar, follows the same pattern for instance making curries, the pan baked bread or chapati is almost universal in indian subcontinent, biryani etc, paratha is also universal, the halwas like sujji halwa is known in the entire subcontinent. The Indian empires strived to kicked out foreign rule in india for instance tipu sultan declared that he will not sit on his expensive throne until he pushes the british completely away from india, the marathas and sikhs united to push out durrani rule, ranjeet sikh wished to donate kohenoor diamond to a temple in orissa/pur etc
regards