Tianzhu which also referred as Heaven is the historical East Asian name for India, 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, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 12 ...

, 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 (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

''Sindhu'', the native name of the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kash ...

. Persians travelling in northwest India named the region 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's ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...

'' and ''Tiandu'' () is used in the ''

Book of the Later Han The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Lat ...

''. ''Yintejia'' () comes from the Kuchean ''Indaka'', another transliteration of ''Hindu''. 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): Tianzhu was also referred to as ''Wutianzhu'' (, literal meaning is "Five Indias"), because there were five geographical regions in India known to the Chinese: Central, Eastern, Western, Northern, and

Southern India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

. 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 greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most po ...

''. In Korea, ''Tianzhu'' was pronounced as ''Cheonchuk''. It is used in ''

Wang ocheonchukguk jeon ''Wang ocheonchukguk jeon''往 means ''go to''. 五 means ''five''. 天竺 means ''India'', originally come of Sindhu or Hindu. 國 means ''lands'' or ''countries''. 傳 means ''diary''. (; pinyin: ''wǎng wǔ tiānzhú guó zhuàn''; "An account ...

'' (An Account of Travel to the Five Indian Kingdoms), a travelogue by the 8th century Buddhist monk

Hyecho Hyecho (; 704–787), Sanskrit: Prajñāvikrama; pinyin: Hui Chao, was a Buddhist monk from Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Hyecho studied esoteric Buddhism in Tang China, initially under Śubhakarasiṃha and then under the famous I ...

from the Korean Kingdom of

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of ...

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 History of India Toponyms for India

See also

References