Question

In What ways has the meaning of the term "Hindustan" change over the centuries? ​

Answer 1

Answer:

Answer: In the thirteenth century the term "Hindustan" meant the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna. The term was used in the political sense for lands that were a part of the dominions of the Delhi Sultan. ... Today we understand the term "Hindustan" as "India", the modern nation-state.

Explanation:

Answer 2

It has been observed that language and its interpretation change with the change of time. The term 'Hindustan' was used for the first time by Minhaj-i Siraj, a thirteenth-century Persian chronicler. He, with this term, meant the areas of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and Yamuna. It was used in a political sense for lands constituting a part of the dominions of the Delhi Sultan. Though the term shifted with the extent of the Sultanate but it never included south India. Later in the sixteenth century, Babur, while using this term, meant the geography, the fauna and the culture of the inhabitants of the subcontinent. A fourteenth-century poet Amir Khusrau also used the term 'Hind' almost in the same sense. The remarkable point is that while the idea of a geographical and cultural entity like 'India' did exist, the term 'Hindustan' did not carry the political and national meanings that we associate with it today.