Indian Empire

Indian Empire and its linguistic variations have been historically attributed to the Mauryan Empire, the Mughal Empire and the British Indian Empire.^{[note 1]}

Historical usage

Mauryan Empire

The Greeks applied the term Indian Dominion to the Mauryan Empire and its emperors as the King of the Indians^[1] or the King of India.^[2] It is not clear whether this was used in general geographical or political context.

The Mauryans themselves used the title Chakarvarti, meaning a emperor which rules all lands of the Indian Subcontinent. In one of the edicts of King Ashoka (which is now lost), he mentions his realm as Jambudvipa, an ancient term for the Indian subcontinent.^[3]

Indostan being used synonymous with the Mughal Empire.

Western scholars from the period of the British Raj apply the term First Indian Empire to the Mauryan Empire.^[4][5]

Mughal Empire

With the Age of discovery and rise of Mughal Empire during the 16th and 17th century, various western maps used the terms Hindoostan, Indostan and in some rare cases India to describe the territories of the Mughal Empire, although the common term used to describe the empire still remained as Mogul.^[6]

1909 Map using Indian Empire to describe the territories of the British Raj.

Mughal administrative records also refer to the empire as dominion of Hindustan,^[7] country of Hind, Sultanate of Al-Hind as observed in the epithet of Emperor Aurangzeb,^[8] all of these being other names of India.

British Indian Empire

The region under British control was commonly called India. The region was sometimes called the Indian Empire, though not officially.^[9]

Historical Maps

Various historical maps attributing Indian Empire or India and its linguistic variations to a political entity.

Indian Empire in the Imperial Gazeteer of India (1908)

Hindoostan (India) being used synonymous with the Mughal Empire.