Hindush
Also called: Hidush · Topic: India, That Is Bharat: Names of India and Unity in Diversity · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Hindush (also spelt Hidush) was the Old Persian name for the land along the Indus river. It comes from Sanskrit Sindhu. Persian speakers said 'h' where Sanskrit had 's', so "Sindhu" became "Hindu" or "Hindush". It was purely a place name, with no religious meaning. The Persians were the first foreigners to mention India. The Greeks then borrowed the Persian word and gave it the form that became "India".
Example
The Persian emperor Darius I took the Indus region into his empire in the late 6th century BCE. His royal inscriptions at Persepolis and Naqsh-i-Rustam (in Iran) list Hindush as one of the lands under his rule.
Don't confuse with
- Hindu as a religious word: in ancient Persian, 'Hindu' or 'Hindush' meant only "the Indus land". The religious meaning came much later.