How did Villages, Towns and Cities in India get their names?
Hello, How did Villages, Towns and Cities in India get their names As per 2011 census of India, there are a total of 649,481 villages and 7,935 towns, municipalities, and urban agglomerations (within 620 districts/ 543 parliamentary/ 4120 state assembly constituencies).
The size of these villages varies considerably. 236,004 Indian villages have a population of fewer than 500, while 3,976 villages have a population of 10,000+.
Total Number of towns; 7935. It’s is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. These are classified into two categories; Statutory Towns and Census Towns.
Statutory Towns (ST)- All places having local bodies like municipal corporations, municipalities, municipal committees, etc.
Census Towns (CT)- All the towns with the population of more than 5000 and where the 75 % of the people are engaged in non-agrarian sector with a population density of nearly 400 people per sq km.
Total Number of cities (with million+ population); 53. It’s a large human settlement which are larger than towns.
Apart from above villages there are two important classifications which are Urban Agglomeration (UA) and Out Growths (OG).
Urban Agglomeration – It is a continuous urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining outgrowths (OGs), or two or more physically contiguous towns together with or without outgrowths of such towns. Examples: Greater Mumbai UA, Delhi UA, etc. Total number of UA- 475.
Out Growths- An Out Growth (OG) is a viable unit such as a village or a hamlet or an enumeration block made up of such village or hamlet and clearly identifiable in terms of its boundaries and location. Examples are railway colony, university campus, port area, military camps, etc. Total number of OG- 981.
In Indian culture, names hold profound significance and play a crucial role in an individual’s life. The importance of names is deeply rooted in the country’s diverse and ancient cultural heritage. Names are also influenced by religion /culture /caste and may come from epics.
Most place names are named after prominent geographical features, such as mountains, rivers and lakes. Others are named after personalities such as kings or historical figures.
In the case of India’s villages, that list tells us, we love Gods, Goddesses, nation builders above all else, and that, when they migrate, they often take the name of their place of origin with them.
Lord Ram ranks way up there, with 3,626 villages named after him, in almost all parts of the country except Kerala, while Lord Krishna is a close second at 3,309.
Other Ramayana characters too figure among the names, although Bharat (187 villages) is marginally ahead of Lakshman (160). Hanuman has 367 villages in his name, while Sita has 75.
While at least six villages in the country exist in the name of Ravana, and three in the name of his father Ahiravan (all in Bihar), no village is named after Ravana’s brother Vibheeshan who crossed over to Ram’s side. Some villages in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are named Ayodhya.
There are 17 villages in the name of Prayag (the old name of Allahabad) and 41 named Kashi (the old name of Varanasi). There are 28 Agras outside Uttar Pradesh (most of them in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam), while 189 village names start with Bihar, of which 171 are outside Bihar. There are 28 villages named Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh) and 40 in the name of Nepal.
Besides, there are 47 villages whose names start with Badri and 75 which feature Kedar, invoking the religious sites which were among the worst hit in the Uttarakhand floods. Most of these villages are located in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
There are 92 villages in the country whose names start with Bengal/ Bangal and all of them are located outside West Bengal, including Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. There are 33 villages named Kerala outside the state, mainly in the northern parts.
How did Villages, Towns and Cities in India get their names
Origins of names of these towns and cities can be broadly attributed to 3 major periods –
1. Colonial era/British Raj
2. Mughal empire and other Islamic rulers of India
3. Pre-Islamic and Ancient India,
Ranthambore used to be Ranasthambapura, Patna was Patliputra, Ujjain was Ujjayini, Multan in Pakistan was Mulasthana, modern day Jalandhar was Prasthala, Taxila, the ancient University town in Pakistan used to be Takshashila founded by King Taksha, Kandahar in Afghanistan used to be Gandhara. Paithan in Maharashtra used to be Pratishthana. Some towns have their ancient name till date like Srinagar, Mathura, Puskar.
Suffix – Meaning – Examples of Town Names
Pur/Pura/Puri/Puram/Pore – City or Settlement or Walled City – Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kanpur, Nagpur, Rampur, Bilaspur, Hoshiarpur, Bahawalpur, Kolhapur, Udhampur, Jabalpur, Palampur, Anuradhapura, Hastinapur, Puri, Dharmapuri, Thiruvanthapuram, Malappuram, Singapore,
Nagar – Town in Sanskrit – Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Ganganagar, Yamunanagar, Ramnagar
Kot/Kode/Kotla/Durg – Fort, Fortification – Sialkot, Rajkot, Pathankot, Dharamkot, Kozhilkode, Ferozeshah Kotla, Nandidurg, Jaladurg
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Garh – Fort, Hub – Chandigarh, Chittaurgarh, Ramgarh, Aligarh, Fatehgarh, Lohgarh, Keshgarh,
Pat or Prastha – Level ground – Sonipat, Panipat, Baghpat, Tilpat, Indraprastha
Nath – Refers to a Hindu deity or shrine – Amarnath, Badrinath, Kedarnath,
Eshwar/Eswaram – God in Sanskrit – Rameshwaram, Bhubaneshwar, Bageshwar, Ankleshwar, Mahabaleshwar,
Nadu – Country in Tamil – Tamil Nadu
Giri – Mountain in Sanskrit – Chandagiri, Dhaualagiri,
Malai – Hill in Tamil – Annamalai, Kollamalai,
Mer, Meru – Mountain or High – Ajmer (Ajayameru), Barmer, Jaisalmer
Conda/Konda – Hill in Telugu – Golconda, Penukonda,
Wada – House – Bhilwada, Teliwada,
Bandar/Bandra – Port – Porbandar
Dwar – Door – Haridwar, Kotdwar,
Ur/Uru/Oor – Village/Town in Tamil, Kannada – Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Conoor,
Patnam – Port – Masulipatnam, Vishakhapatnam
Sar/Tal – Lake, Natural Lake – Amritsar, Nainital, Bhimtal, Naukuchiatal
Hat/Hati/Het – Market or Fair – Guwahati, Jorhat, Sylhet
Pet – Market – Begumpet, Hospet
Guri – Place in Bengali – Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Mainaguri
Modern day names are modified or simplified versions of Sanskrit names of the ancient towns.
1. Tiruchirapalli; It is widely believed that the name is derived from three-headed demon Trishira.
2. Vadodara gets its name from Vatpatrak or the leaf of Banyan tree and Vatodar or the heart of the Banyan Tree.
3. Thiruvananthapuram; The name can be broken down in Malayalam as Thiru-anantha-puram or the city of Lord Anantha, who is the chief deity at the now famous Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
4. Mumbai; The name is a combination of the words Mumba (Maha Amba) or Goddess Mumbadevi and Aayi or ‘mother’ in Marathi.
5. Madras to Chennai; ‘Madras’ was a colonial version of Madraspattinam, a fishing town in current Chennai. As for the origins of the word ‘Chennai’, there are multiple explanations. Some say the city is named after Telugu ruler Damarla Chennappa Nayakudu, others believe the name comes from Chenna Kesava Perumal temple.
6. Kochi gets its cute name from kochu azh i which means ‘small lagoon’ in Malayalam.
7. Calcutta to Kolkata is a shorter version of Kolikata, which is the name of one of the three villages that existed in the region before the British took over India.
8. Pondicherry to Puducherry; Also known as ‘Pondy’, its name in Tamil, Puducherry, literally means ‘new town’.
9. Kanpur; There are two theories for the origin of its name, one being that it is the city of Karna from Mahabharata (Karnapur) and the other suggests that it is modeled after the name of nearby town Makanpur.
10. Belgaum to Belagavi; Its name originates from Sanskrit word Velugrama or ‘bamboo village’.
11. Indore; The city is named after its Indreshwar Temple, where lord Indra is the presiding deity.
12. Panaji; Derived from Sanskrit words panjani and khali that mean ‘a boat’ and ‘a small creek’ respectively.
13. Pune; Literally translated to ‘city of virtue’ Pune gets its name from punya giri . The oldest reference of the city’s name was found on a copper plate dating back to the Rashtrakuta Dynasty from 937 CE where it was called Punya Vishaya.
14. Shimla; Derived from the name of Goddess Shyamala Devi, a reincarnation of Ma Kali.
15. Varanasi; The name of the city probably originates from two rivers, Varuna, that continues to flow in the city, and Asi, a stream near Assi Ghat. The Ridveda mentions the city as Kasi or Kashi.
16. Visakhapatnam; Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam or Vizag, as it is often called, Vizag’s folklore suggests that the name comes from a Lord Visakeswara temple established by an Andhra Dynasty king.
17. Thanjavur; Its name is derived from the name of the legendary demon Tanjan in Hindu mythology.
18. Jabalpur; The city’s name is suggested to be associated with sage Jaabaali from Ramayana.
19. Udhagamandalam; The Tamil Nadu tourist destination continues to be called by its short name Ooty despite the name change. Located in the Nilgiri Hills, the origin of the city’s name isn’t clear. While ‘Mund’ is the Tamil word for a Toda village, ‘Ootaca’ could be a derivative of Oota-Calmeaning ‘single stone’ or a revered stone/deity.
20. Kozhikode; It adopted its Malayalam name Kozhikode, which is a combination of kovil meaning palace and kota meaning fort, post Independence. The Arabs called the city Qualiqut, Tamils called it Kallikottai and the Chinese called it Kalifo.
21. Guwahati; A combination of the Assamese words guwa meaning ‘areca nut’ and haat meaning ‘market’.
22. Alappuzha; A combination of the words ala and puzha in Malayalam, the city’s name literally means the strip of land between the sea and rivers.
23. Mysore to Mysuru; Noted for its palaces and the delightful sweet Mysore Paak, the city gets its name from Mahishasura or Mahishuru. According to Hindu mythology, Mysuru is the place where the demon king ruled before Goddess Chamundeshwari killed him.
24. Mangaluru; The city is named after the presiding deity at Mangaladevi Temple.
25. Bengaluru; In a ninth-century Western Ganga Dynasty inscription in Begur, Bengaluru is referred to as the place in which a battle was fought in 890 CE. Also, this place continued to be a part of the Ganga rule up until the year 1004, when it came to be called ‘Bengaval-uru’ or the ‘city of guards’. Also, Bengaluru derives it’s name from the word ‘bendha kaal uru’, from when Kempegowda the founder of the city was wandering and ended up late night in an old house which serves him boiled/coked (bendha) beans(kaal).
26. Bhopal; Bhojpal got its name after the king Raja Bhoj who laid the foundation of the city.
In the Indianised cultures outside India, places were given Sanskritised names to make them sound more noble. The influence of Sanskrit and Hindu culture reached far in Southeast Asia in modern day Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia.
For instance, Peshawar in Pakistan used to be Purushapura and headquarters of Kushan empire headed by Kanishka.
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How did Villages, Towns and Cities in India get their names
Kashgar in China near Kyrgystan border gets its name from Kushan and so does Hindu Kush.
Ayutthaya in Thailand, named after Ayodhya, Rama’s hometown.
Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, named after “bhagavan”, a title for Gods. “Seri Begawan” was used as a title for Sultan.
Jayapura in Papua, Indonesia named from two Sanskrit words Jaya meaning “victorious” and Pura meaning “town”. The name was given by the first president and founding father of the country, Sukarno.
Yogyakarta in Java, Indonesia named after the city of Ayodhya in India, the hometown of Sri Rama. “Yogyakarta” means “fit to prosper”.
Siak Sri Indrapura in Sumatra, Indonesia named after the disbanded Sultanate of Siak Sri Indrapura. “Indrapura” means “town of Indra”.
Nakhon Si Thammarat in Thailand, from the Pali words “nagara Sri dhammaraja”, or “city of the lord and king who rules by dharma”.
Putrajaya in Malaysia, which means “victorious prince” or “victorious son”.
Singapura, which means “lion city” named by prince Parameswara from Palembang, South Sumatra present Indonesia.
Indonesia, as a hugely Sanskrit and Indic-influenced country, contains many Sanskrit-named cities and placements:
kota – “city”, from Tamil koṭṭam (town) — e.g. Kota Pinang, Lima Puluh Kota Regency, Kotabumi, Kotabaru, Kotamobagu, Kotawaringin, etc.
negara – “state”, from Sanskrit नगर (nagara) means “country” in Indonesian. The word Nagari is also a term used in West Sumatra referring to “village”.
pura – “town”, from Sanskrit पुर (pur) — e.g. Jayapura, Siak Sri Indrapura, Amlapura, Sangkapura, Semarapura, etc. In Indonesia, pura also refers to a Hindu temple.
Why do the people of South India write their village name / father’s name as initial before the actual name?
It was a widely used convention among many communities in South India. People wanted that their names be unique to them in their place of work or place they live in. It is believed that a person’s name can influence their destiny, and selecting the right name is essential for a prosperous and harmonious life.
Most given names in India are intentionally chosen with a specific meaning, and many are acutely aware of the meaning of their name. When comes to the cultural values, most South Indians prefer to balance their modern and cultural values. This system was used almost exclusively for men not women. The syntax is as follows.
[Name of the Native place] [Given Name of the Father] [Given name] [Surname/Caste Title].
However, in official records and in writing documents this syntax was used. This syntax was in essence was used to uniquely identify a person. How did Villages, Towns and Cities in India get their names? iiQ8 info
Source and Credits to Śrīrām 🇮🇳 @Vadicwarrior
How did Villages, Towns and Cities in India get their names
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How did Villages, Towns and Cities in India get their names? iiQ8 info