Indians always embraced a national identity. It was unfortunate that India failed to unite under one king in the history. The connecting link between indian states was dharmic culture or religions. vishnu puran (sacred book in Hinduism which talks about life of vishu (krishna) mentions that उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्यः हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् ।

वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम: भारती यत्र संततिः ।। The country

that lies north of the ocean and south of the

snowy mountains is called Bhāratam (India);

there dwell the descendants of Bharata. So we can say that concept of India as nation is not new.