diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 20585e834..9488aedff 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ Deprecated
 * ``sphinx.io.SphinxRSTFileInput``
 * ``sphinx.registry.SphinxComponentRegistry.add_source_input()``
 * ``sphinx.roles.abbr_role()``
+* ``sphinx.roles.index_role()``
 * ``sphinx.testing.util.remove_unicode_literal()``
 * ``sphinx.util.attrdict``
 * ``sphinx.util.force_decode()``
diff --git a/doc/extdev/index.rst b/doc/extdev/index.rst
index 7203ec6fa..c3061852a 100644
--- a/doc/extdev/index.rst
+++ b/doc/extdev/index.rst
@@ -380,6 +380,11 @@ The following is a list of deprecated interfaces.
      - 4.0
      - ``sphinx.roles.Abbreviation``
 
+   * - ``sphinx.roles.index_role()``
+     - 2.0
+     - 4.0
+     - ``sphinx.roles.Index``
+
    * - ``sphinx.testing.util.remove_unicode_literal()``
      - 2.0
      - 4.0
diff --git a/sphinx/roles.py b/sphinx/roles.py
index e9a8786ca..d2e64c40c 100644
--- a/sphinx/roles.py
+++ b/sphinx/roles.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from sphinx.deprecation import RemovedInSphinx40Warning
 from sphinx.errors import SphinxError
 from sphinx.locale import _
 from sphinx.util import ws_re
-from sphinx.util.docutils import SphinxRole
+from sphinx.util.docutils import ReferenceRole, SphinxRole
 from sphinx.util.nodes import split_explicit_title, process_index_entry, \
     set_role_source_info
 
@@ -371,6 +371,8 @@ class Abbreviation(SphinxRole):
 
 def index_role(typ, rawtext, text, lineno, inliner, options={}, content=[]):
     # type: (str, str, str, int, Inliner, Dict, List[str]) -> Tuple[List[nodes.Node], List[nodes.system_message]]  # NOQA
+    warnings.warn('index_role() is deprecated.  Please use Index class instead.',
+                  RemovedInSphinx40Warning, stacklevel=2)
     # create new reference target
     env = inliner.document.settings.env
     targetid = 'index-%s' % env.new_serialno('index')
@@ -398,6 +400,30 @@ def index_role(typ, rawtext, text, lineno, inliner, options={}, content=[]):
     return [indexnode, targetnode, textnode], []
 
 
+class Index(ReferenceRole):
+    def run(self):
+        # type: () -> Tuple[List[nodes.Node], List[nodes.system_message]]
+        target_id = 'index-%s' % self.env.new_serialno('index')
+        if self.has_explicit_title:
+            # if an explicit target is given, process it as a full entry
+            title = self.title
+            entries = process_index_entry(self.target, target_id)
+        else:
+            # otherwise we just create a single entry
+            if self.target.startswith('!'):
+                title = self.title[1:]
+                entries = [('single', self.target[1:], target_id, 'main', None)]
+            else:
+                title = self.title
+                entries = [('single', self.target, target_id, '', None)]
+
+        index = addnodes.index(entries=entries)
+        target = nodes.target('', '', ids=[target_id])
+        text = nodes.Text(title, title)
+        self.set_source_info(index)
+        return [index, target, text], []
+
+
 specific_docroles = {
     # links to download references
     'download': XRefRole(nodeclass=addnodes.download_reference),
@@ -411,7 +437,7 @@ specific_docroles = {
     'file': emph_literal_role,
     'samp': emph_literal_role,
     'abbr': Abbreviation(),
-    'index': index_role,
+    'index': Index(),
 }  # type: Dict[str, RoleFunction]
 
 
diff --git a/sphinx/util/docutils.py b/sphinx/util/docutils.py
index ba5a9d0ea..71e8db268 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/docutils.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/docutils.py
@@ -421,6 +421,39 @@ class SphinxRole:
         """Reference to the :class:`.Config` object."""
         return self.env.config
 
+    def set_source_info(self, node, lineno=None):
+        # type: (nodes.Node, int) -> None
+        if lineno is None:
+            lineno = self.lineno
+
+        source_info = self.inliner.reporter.get_source_and_line(lineno)  # type: ignore
+        node.source, node.line = source_info
+
+
+class ReferenceRole(SphinxRole):
+    """A base class for reference roles.
+
+    The reference roles can accpet ``link title <target>`` style as a text for
+    the role.  The parsed result: link title and target will be stored to
+    ``self.title`` and ``self.target``.
+    """
+    # \x00 means the "<" was backslash-escaped
+    explicit_title_re = re.compile(r'^(.+?)\s*(?<!\x00)<(.*?)>$', re.DOTALL)
+
+    def __call__(self, typ, rawtext, text, lineno, inliner, options={}, content=[]):
+        # type: (str, str, str, int, Inliner, Dict, List[str]) -> Tuple[List[nodes.Node], List[nodes.system_message]]  # NOQA
+        matched = self.explicit_title_re.match(text)
+        if matched:
+            self.has_explicit_title = True
+            self.title = unescape(matched.group(1))
+            self.target = unescape(matched.group(2))
+        else:
+            self.has_explicit_title = False
+            self.title = unescape(text)
+            self.target = unescape(text)
+
+        return super().__call__(typ, rawtext, text, lineno, inliner, options, content)
+
 
 class SphinxTranslator(nodes.NodeVisitor):
     """A base class for Sphinx translators.