History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c96.s1.3

v7.c96.s1.3

The word Hindu (in the form 'Hidu') appears to have been applied by the Persian²⁶⁰⁰ Emperors Darius (522-486 B. C.) and Xerxes (486-465 B C.) to the territory and people to the west and to the east of the great river Sindhu, while the Greeks referred to the people in the same region as 'Indoi', from which comes the word 'Indian'. Herodotus in his History (Loeb series) states that the Thracians were the biggest nation in the world next to the Indians (Book 5 para 3, vol. III p. 5) and that the Indians constituted the 20th province of the Persian Empire and paid 360 talents of gold dust as tribute. The word 'Sindhu' occurs more than two hundred times in the Ṛgveda alone in the singular as well as in the plural. The words 'Sindhavaḥ' and 'Sapta Sindhūn' occur more frequently than Sindhu in the singular. Indra is often described as having let loose the seven Sindhus for flowing (Ṛg. I. 32.12, II. 12.12, IV. 28.1, VIII. 96.1, X. 43.3). In such passages what is meant is the great river Sindhu and its tributaries (or possibly its seven mouths).