Bharata: The Great Emperor of India

Bharata was an emperor of India, and is referred to in Hindu and Jain theology. Bharata had conquered all of Greater India, uniting it into a single political entity which was named after him as "Bhāratavarṣa". Bhārata Gaṇarājyam (Republic of Bharat) is the official Sanskrit name of the India.

Story of Bharata

According to the "Mahābhārata", Bharata was the son of King Dushyanta of Hastinapur and Shakuntala and thus a descendant of the Lunar Dynasty of the Kshatriya caste. Dushyanta was a King of Puru Dynasty of Vedic India. The lineage of Sakuntala is not well known. Sakuntala is mentioned as the abandoned daughter of an Apsara named Menaka and a Kshatriya sage named Vishwamitra. Shakuntala was brought up by Sage Kanva in his hermitage.

King Dushyanta encountered Shakuntala while travelling through the forest with his army. Pursuing a male deer wounded by his arrow into the hermitage, he saw Shakuntala nursing the deer, her pet, and fell in love with her. He profusely begged her forgiveness for harming the deer and Dushyanta married Shakuntala there in the hermitage. King Dushyanta left hermitage after some time due to unrest in the capital city. At the time of leaving, he gave her a ring as a memory of their time spent together and promised her to come back later.

In due course, Shakuntala gave birth to a child. The Sage Kanwa named him as Sarvadamana. Surrounded only by wild animals, Sarvadamana grew to be a strong child and made a sport of opening the mouths of tigers and lions and counting their teeth.

 Bharat plays with lion cubs

Time passed on and the King Dushyanta never came back. So, Shakuntala reached King's palace with her son. During the journey, she lost the ring while crossing a river. Arriving at King's court, Shakuntala was hurt and surprised when her husband did not recognize her, nor recollected anything about her. Since she lost the ring, she didn't have any proof as well. A few days later, a fisherman found that ring inside a fish and presented it before the king. After a long course of arguments made by Shakuntala, the King accepted her as his wife. Because King supported his child after hearing the speech of Celestial Messenger, that Shakuntala's son came to be called Bharata (the cherished).

Bharata: The Emperor of India

He ruled virtuously and earned great fame and was known by the titles of Chakravarti (emperor). Young Bharata conquered and ruled the entire sub continent of India, from sea to Himalaya. His empire was named Bharatavarsha, the land of Bharata. According to the Mahābhārata, Bharata's empire covered all of the Indian subcontinent, Bactria, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgistan, Turkmenistan, Persia and all Southeast Asia Countries.

Vishnu Purana accounts the extent of Bharatavarsha,

उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् ।
वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।।

uttaraṃ yatsamudrasya himādreścaiva dakṣiṇam varṣaṃ tadbhārataṃ nāma bhāratī yatra santatiḥ

"The country (varṣam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam; there dwell the descendants of Bharata."

Bharata was an unconventional ruler. He ruled his empire more like a democracy giving control to his citizens. This could also be a necessity to rule a large territory which contained almost the whole of present day India. Usually a king's eldest son inherits his kingdom. Bharata had many sons. Mahabharata mentions about nine sons born of his three wives. But he did not give throne to any of them but chose Bhumanyu, who was adopted by Bharata as his son. Bharata believed that his decision of making Bhumanyu his successor was just, and in line with his principle of democracy.

Rigvedic Puru tribe lineage

The Purus were a tribe, or a confederation of tribes, mentioned many times in the Rigveda, formed around 3180 BCE. King Dushyant was descendant of Puru's dynasty and was born after 14 generations of Puru, who started Purus Dynasty. When Emperor Bharata conquired whole Greater India he called it Bhāratavarṣa (Land of Bharat).
King Kuru was born after 25 generations of Puru's dynasty and called it Kuru Dynasty.
Kaurav and Pandavs who fought the epic battle of Mahabharata, are also descendant of Purus Dynasty. they born after 40 generation of Purus Dynasty.

Rigvedic Chandravanshi Puru Dynasty Tree. From Yayati to Kauravas and Pandavas.

The King Porus of Alexander's time seems to reflect the old tribal name. Kosambi mentioned that the Puru name perhaps survived in the modern Punjabi surname Puri. while Naval Viyogi (1966) mentions in his work on the IVC that the modern Punjabi surname Puri may have originated with the Puru tribe. Buddha Prakash (1964) mentions that the Puru clan probably survived in Punjab under the name of Puri.
Source: Wikipedia