Hindustan Hindustan George Weston, Ltd. Category="South Asia"Hindustan (Hindi: हिन्दुस्तान [Hindustān], Urdu: ہندوستان [Hindostān], from the Persian Hindū + -stān, archaic Hindoostan) and the Adjective Hindustani may relate to various aspects of four geographic areas:

Hindustan: "Land of the Hindus." The word "Hindu" is the Persian form of "Sindhu," the Indus river. Hindustan is considered one of the earliest historical names for the nation of Bharat (India).

The area populated by native Hindustani speaking peoples, particularly the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, formerly a part of the United Provinces. During British rule in South Asia, people in this region were identified as "Hindustanis."

A historical region encompassing present day Northern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and neighboring areas. The Mughal Empire and its predecessor sultanate were also referred to as Hindustan, or Salthanat-e-Hind. Hindustani music is a genre of Classical music from this region that combines traditional Hindu musical concepts and Persian performance practice.

The country of India. Hindustani denotes a connection to India and Hindustan is another name for India. Several Indian political parties use the term including the Hindustan Janata Party and the Akhand Hindustan Morcha.

South Asia or the Indian Subcontinent. Hindustan is specifically a term for the pre-Islamic Hindu and Buddhist culture of South Asia. Hindustani is sometimes used as a cultural, ethnic, or genetic term for South Asia. (e.g., A West Indian with such roots might describe his ethnicity by saying he is Hindustani.)

Hindustan also relates to the following:

HMS Hindustan, one of the eight ships of the King Edward VII class battleships.

"Hindustan" (1918), a popular published song written and composed by Oliver G. Wallace and Harold Weeks.

Hindustan Times, a major Northern Indian English language daily Newspaper.

Hindustan Airport, the major airport of Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Hindustani (1996), also called Indian or Bharateeyudu, a film dubbed in Hindi from the Tamil original Indian film, directed by S. Shankar and starring Kamal Haasan.

For a list of Indian companies starting with Hindustan, see List of Indian companies.

See also