Temples of India, the traditions and places of interest related to Sanatana Dharma
The name Bhārata is inseparable from the dynastic traditions at the heart of the Mahabharata. The epic repeatedly identifies its leading figures as descendants of Bharata, and the Kuru lineage itself belongs within the larger Bharata genealogical tradition. The geographical term consequently carries both ancestral and territorial meaning.
The principal Mahabharata reference occurs in the Tirtha-yatra section of the Vana Parva, where the sage describes sacred places that Yudhishthira may visit during pilgrimage.
One of the clearest political references occurs during Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya. The great ceremony at Indraprastha brings rulers and representatives from numerous kingdoms into the Pandava court, turning the sacrifice into a demonstration of political recognition extending far beyond the Kuru heartland.
Lanka appears most clearly during the preparations for Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya sacrifice. To establish the political authority required for the ceremony, the Pandava brothers undertook expeditions in different directions. Sahadeva was assigned the south.
The Sanskrit form is Cīna — चीन. Related forms later appear in several languages across Central and Western Asia, and the name has often been connected with the ancient Chinese state of Qin, which eventually unified much of China in the third century BCE.
The clearest military incident occurs in the Sabha Parva, during the campaigns undertaken before Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya sacrifice. Nakula advances westward to obtain the submission and tribute of rulers beyond the Pandavas’ immediate domain.
A direct geographical reference appears in the Vana Parva. After their mountain sojourn, the Pandavas spend time at Badari and then proceed towards the realm of Suvahu, king of the Kiratas. The narrative describes them crossing difficult Himalayan country and the regions of China, Tukhara, Darada and Kulinda before reaching his capital.
One of the clearest references occurs in the Sabha Parva, during the campaigns preceding Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya sacrifice. Nakula receives the western direction. His expedition brings him into contact with numerous rulers and communities, including the Madras, whose king Shalya is his maternal uncle.
The Sanskrit name Yavana and the related form Yona belong to a wider family of eastern names for the Greeks. The Old Persian designation Yauna is associated with the Ionians, whose name came to represent Greeks more broadly. This linguistic relationship explains why historians commonly identify Yavanas in early historical Indian contexts with Greek peoples. It does not mean that every community bearing the name came directly from Ionia.
The Sabha Parva places the Pahlavas within the account of Nakula’s western campaign before Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya sacrifice. In Kisari Mohan Ganguli’s translation, the name appears as “Palhavas.” The narrative includes them among the peoples Nakula subdues, alongside Kiratas, Yavanas and Sakas. Their inclusion gives them a direct place in the epic’s account of the Pandavas’ expanding political influence.
