The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.143

v1.c24.143

¹ The interpretation as Hindu Kush is given by Geldner, *Grundriss d. iran. Philol.* II, 38; the rendering of Bartholomae, *Air. Wb.* col. 409, is 'jenseits von Indien gelegen'; Darmesteter, *Le Z.-A.* II, 423, n. 70, remarks: 'Le mot *us-hīndu* signifie littéralement "d'où se lèvent les rivières." Il est douteux que ce soit une montagne réelle: Us-hīñdu est le représentant de la classe.' For translations of the Pahlavi passages in which Usind, or Usindam, is mentioned, see E. W. West, *S.B.E.* v, 35, 42; XLVII, 160 (and cf. V, 67, n. 3). It may be noted incidentally that an attempt has been made to connect the meteorological phenomena described in the myth of the Tishtar Yasht (Yt. VIII), in which this allusion occurs, with the breaking of the monsoon. See the articles by Mrs E. W. Maunder, *The Zoroastrian Star-Champions*, in *The Observatory*, Nov. and Dec. 1912, March 1913; and the similar view by Mr E. W. Maunder, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, quoted by Moulton, *Early Zoroastrianism*, pp. 25, 26, n. 2, 436-7.