Sanatan (सनातन) is a Sanskrit word, meaning of which in English is eternal, everlasting, or perpetual.

  • Sana (सना): An adverbial root meaning “always,” “from of old,” or “at all times”.
  • Tana (तन): A suffix used to denote “extending through” or “occurring”. 

Dharm (or “Dharma”), a Sanskrit word (धर्म), which implies “duty and righteousness”, but doesn’t have an equivalent single word in English, and often erroneously translated as Religion, which denotes to “belief in god”, hence they are not comparable.

Rigveda 3.3.1 versementions about Sanatan or Santa in following manner.

वैश्वानराय पृथुपाजसे विपो रत्ना विधन्त धरणेषु गातवे ।
अग्निर्हि देवां अमृतो दु वस्यति तथा धर्माणि सनता न दूदुषत् ॥

This verse is from Rigveda — Mandala 3 (Book 3), Sukta 3, Richa (Mantra) 1

Notes on Meaning

  • वैश्वानराय – to Vāiśvānara (a form of Agni or fire)
  • धर्माणि सनता – “laws (dharmas) that are sanatā (ever-established/eternal)”
  • The term सनता here is the Vedic form meaning “ever-lasting / always established” not a direct modern compound ‘सनातन धर्म’, but it is exactly the form used in this Rigvedic verse. 

This gives you an authoritative Rigvedic reference where सनता (sanatā) appears with the root sense of everlasting/eternal order.

Bharat (also called as India)is the birthplace of Sanatan Dharm. Sanatan Dharma was not invented by a person or a family. This is the evolution, the journey of a great civilization, which thrived on this massive piece of land, has mighty Himalaya Mountain on the north, the fertile plains of Holy Ganga River in the middle and vast Indian Ocean to its south.

Sanatan Dharma once thrived until the modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq in the west. The Mitanni Kingdom (1500–1300 BCE) in the west Asia practiced Sanatan Dharma and worshiped cosmic powers similar to the ones worshiped in Bharat, like Varuna (god of oceans) and Indra (god of rain).

In the far east, Sanatan Dharma is still the part of people’s lives until as far as Bali Island of Indonesia, as well as in the far-east in Japan. Key examples of Sanatan Dharma gods in Japanese temples include Saraswati (Benzaiten), Ganesha (Kangiten), Indra (Taishakuten), Shiva (Daikokuten), Lakshmi (Kichijōten), Yama (Enma), and Kubera (Bishamonten).

So how ancient or old is Sanatan Dharma?

There is no absolute answer to this question, since the word itself means eternal, everlasting, from the earliest ages. The journey of Sanatan Dharma continues till date and will continue to guide humanity on the path of wisdom till eternity.

References:

  1. Mitanni – https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mitanni
  2. Hinduism in Japan’s Shrines: Tracing Saraswati Through Time and Tradition – https://japan-forward.com/hinduism-in-japans-shrines-tracing-saraswati-through-time-and-tradition/