Tianzhu () is one of the historical ancient Chinese
names for the Indian subcontinent. Tian (天) means heaven, and Zhu (竺) means bamboo in Chinese.
Tianzhu was also referred to as ''Wutianzhu'' (, literal meaning is "Five Indias"), because there were five geographical regions on the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
known to the Chinese:
Central,
Eastern,
Northern,
Southern, and
Western India.
Etymology
Originally pronounced as l̥induk or *qʰl'iːn tuɡ
天竺 in
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
, it comes from the Chinese transliteration of unattested Old Persian diminutive *Hinduka-, which is from attested
𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁 ''h-i-du-u-š'' (Hindu), which is itself derived from the Proto-Indo-Iranian *síndʰuš, the etymon also of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
''Sindhu'', the native name of the
Indus River
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...
. Persians travelling in northwest India (present-day Pakistani
Sindh
Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...
and
Punjab
Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
) named the subcontinent after the river around the 6th century BC. ''Tianzhu'' is just one of several Chinese transliterations of Sindhu. ''Yuāndú'' (
OC ''n̥i
d]ˤuk'') appears in
Sima Qian
Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...
's ''
Records of the Grand Historian'' and ''Tiandu'' () is used in the ''
Book of the Later Han''.
''Yintejia'' () comes from the Kuchean ''Indaka'', another transliteration of ''Hindu''. The western terms of Hindu and India also ultimately derive from the same Persian concept.
Extent
A detailed account of Tianzhu is given in the "Xiyu Zhuan" (Record of the Western Regions) in the ''Hou Hanshu'' compiled by
Fan Ye (398–445):
Other languages
In Japan, ''Tianzhu'' was pronounced as ''Tenjiku''. It is used in such works as the Japanese translation of ''
Journey to the West
''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the ...
''.
In Korea, ''Tianzhu'' was pronounced as ''Cheonchuk''. It is used in ''
Wang ocheonchukguk jeon'' (An Account of Travel to the Five Indian Kingdoms), a travelogue by the 8th century Buddhist monk
Hyecho from the Korean Kingdom of
Silla
Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...
.
See also
*
Names for India
*
Indus Valley civilisation
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the Northwestern South Asia, northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 Common Era, BCE to 1300 BCE, and in i ...
References
{{Reflist
Japanese historical terms
Historical Chinese exonyms
History of the foreign relations of Japan
History of the foreign relations of China
Names of places in Asia
Historical geography of India
Toponyms for India