Thread by @shrikanth_krish

I always took the word "bhArata" for granted

Understood it to mean "scion of the Bharata dynasty" - founded by the great Chandravamshi king Bharata

The dynasty which lent its name to India

But the great Advaitin scholar Madhusudana Saraswati's take on the word is v interesting

A quick word on Madhusudana Saraswati -

He was a great Advaitin scholar who lived between 1490s and 1590s.

Though he lived in many places, he was born in modern Bangladesh with the name Kamalanayana

His ancestor rAma Mishra Agnihotri is said to have migrated from Kanyakubja in UP to modern Bangladesh (Faridpur district) in 12th century

The book I am browsing through at the moment is Madhusudana Saraswati's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita (known as Gudartha Dipika)

The verse in question is from Chapter 4, verse 7

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham

Now this is a v well known verse. The word Bharata in the second line above is what we are concerned with

Now the literal translation of the verse is "Whenever there is a decline fo righteousness and origin of Adharma, then O Scion of the Bharata race, I manifest with my body on earth

It is straightforward enough

But Madhusudana Saraswati imbues the word "Bharata" with a meaning that goes far beyond dynastic considerations in his Bhashya.

He says -

"Arjuna (you) cannot tolerate a decline of righteousness, because you have been born in the Bharata dynasty, OR because you are engaged (rata) in the pursuit of knowledge (bhA)"

So here, bhArata is not merely a descendant of the Bharata race, but someone who is engaged in the pursuit of knowledge - or more precisely spiritual knowledge

I found this very interesting, because I have never personally come across this etymology of the word bhArata before

It probably needs to be a tad more well known, because it really is so very apposite

BhArata then ceases to be an arbitrary name of a dynasty chosen for our nation.

But instead it comes to connote a land of "spiritual seekers" - seekers of knowledge.

Not bad at all given the penchant of Indians for spiritual truths!

Postscript : I don't have Madhusudana Saraswati's Sanskrit original of his bhAshya with me.

What's mentioned above is based on the English translation of Swaraswati's work by Swami Gambhirananda of RK Mutt