How India got its name?

The origin of the word India and Hindu

Source: Balaji Malliswamy(Unsplash)

Around 5000 years ago, when many cultures around the world were nomadic forest dwellers, India had a well-established settlement named Harappan culture on the bank of the river Sindhu. The civilization is now popularly known with the name Indus Valley Civilization.

Source: History 101

The Harappan culture had well-planned cities with houses with drain. The people were prosperous and involved in trade with Afganistan, Iran, and other neighboring countries of today.

The game of name

• In brief, the name ‘India’ originates from the River Sindhu, the very ancient and popular Indus valley civilization.
• Initially, there was no word like India or Indus. It all started with the word Sindhu.
• The Aryan(Indo-Iranian people) referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu(a Sanskrit word).
• The old Persian equivalent of Sindhu is Hindu. So, the Persian invaders started calling the Sindhu “Hindu”. Time Period: 600 BCE to 300 BCE
• Scylax of Caryanda a Greek explorer explored the Indus river for the Persian emperor and presumably…