Traditional names for India and Hinduism
Traditionally it was most common to refer to India as “The Nation”, Hinduism as The Dharma, and one’s language as Language.
I first noticed this in my grandmother’s lingo, then in Indonesians & Malays just calling their language “Bahasa” (Bhāṣā) and then in ancient literature.
What we call India was the universe for most people in those times, with foreign countries merely being footnotes on the frontier. What we call Hinduism was the aether they swam in, all other beliefs were either heresies or curiosities, depending on how tolerant their outlook was.
Related:
One consequence of secularism is people consider “religion” to be a category that exists separately from a system of general morality whereas in the past it was considered to be the truth given by God himself.
So religion was morality with a strict codes of conduct for man.
This is also a way to see what divisions were traditionally “real” vs made-up.
My grandmother only ever referred to our state by its name, not “our pradeśa”, because it’s a modern identity invented within her lifetime. “Our dēśa” OTOH has been said since time immemorial.
A standard feature of ancient Indian culture was that we rarely referred by specific names the water we lived in.
Sanskrit was usually just called “Bhāṣā”, India was usually just called “Loka”, Hinduism was just called “Dharma” or “the practices of the Āryas”. Even when there were actual names for these. This doesn’t mean there wasn’t a sense of identity; they just didn’t care to mention it by name.
This practice in still preserved in the speech of old people (“our country” etc.), and among Indonesians/Malays who just call their language “Bahasa”.