Hapankaali t1_isgotty wrote on October 15, 2022 at 9:13 PM

Reply to comment by Smart_Sherlock in TIL according to the Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages by Sistermateriial

Yep - but that empire was much smaller. My point was just that the British didn't glue together some disparate small realms, there was a precedent for a (mostly) unified Indian subcontinent.

Smart_Sherlock t1_isgpdc2 wrote on October 15, 2022 at 9:17 PM

Not that much smaller. It was comparable to what Mughals controlled for most of their existence.

Concept of Bharat was indeed there, even in times of Chandragupta as documented by Chanakya himself.

Places can have same culture (including religion) but at the same time be politically divided. This has happened many times in history