Resumo de How Did India Get It's Name ?

ABOUT THE NAME ?HINDU?

I feel there needs to be some clarification
about the use of the words Hindu and Hinduism. The fact is
that true Hinduism is based on Vedic knowledge, which is
related to our spiritual identity. Many people do accept it
to mean the same thing as Sanatana-dharma, which is a more
accurate Sanskrit term for the Vedic path. Such an identity
is beyond any temporary names as Christian, Muslim,
Buddhist, or even Hindu. After all, God never describes
Himself as belonging to any such category, saying that He
is only a Christian God, or a Muslim God, or a Hindu God.
That is why some of the greatest spiritual masters from
India have avoided identifying themselves only as Hindus.
The Vedic path is eternal, and therefore beyond all such
temporary designations. So am I calling the name Hindu a
temporary designation?
We must remember that the term hindu is not
even Sanskrit. Numerous scholars say it is not found in any
of the Vedic literature. So how can such a name truly
represent the Vedic path or culture? And without the Vedic
literature, there is no basis for Hinduism.
Most scholars feel that the name Hindu was
developed by outsiders, invaders who could not pronounce
the name of the Sindhu River properly. Some sources report
that it was Alexander the Great who first renamed the River
Sindhu as the Indu, dropping the beginning ?S?, thus making
it easier for the Greeks to pronounce. This became known as
the Indus. This was when Alexander invaded India around 325
B.C. His Macedonian forces thereafter called the land east
of the Indus as India, a name used especially during the
British regime.
Later, when the Muslim invaders arrived from
such places as Afghanistan and Persia, they called the
Sindhu River the Hindu River. Thereafter, the name Hindu
was used to describe the inhabitants from that tract of
land in the northwestern provinces of India where the
Sindhu River is located, and the region itself was called
Hindustan. Because the Sanskrit sound of ?S? converts
to ?H? in the Parsee language, the Muslims pronounced the
Sindhu as ?hindu,? even though at the time the people of
the area did not use the name ?hindu? themselves. This word
was used by the Muslim foreigners to identify the people
and the religion of those who lived in that area.
Thereafter, even the Indians conformed to these standards
as set by those in power and used the names Hindu and
Hindustan. Otherwise, the word has no meaning except for
those who place value on it or now use it out of
convenience.
Another view of the name Hindu shows the
confusing nature it causes for understanding the true
essence of the spiritual paths of India. As written be R.
N. Suryanarayan in his book Universal Religion (p.1-2,
published in Mysore in 1952), ?The political situation of
our country from centuries past, say 20-25 centuries, has
made it very difficult to understand the nature of this
nation and its religion. The western scholars, and
historians, too, have failed to trace the true name of this
Brahmanland, a vast continent-like country, and therefore,
they have contented themselves by calling it by that
meaningless term ?Hindu?. This word, which is a foreign
innovation, is not made use by any of our Sanskrit writers
and revered Acharyas in their works. It seems that
political power was responsible for insisting upon
continuous use of the word Hindu. The word Hindu is found,
of course, in Persian literature. Hindu-e-falak means ?the
black of the sky? and ?Saturn?. In the Arabic language Hind
not Hindu means nation. It is shameful and ridiculous to
have read all along in history that the name Hindu was
given by the Persians to the people of our country when
they landed on the sacred soil of Sindhu.?
Another view of the source of the name Hindu is
based ona derogatory meaning. It is said that, ?Moreover,
it is correct that this name [Hindu] has been given to the
original Aryan race of the region by Muslim invaders to
humiliate them. In Persian, says our author, the word means
slave, and according to Islam, all those who did not
embrace Islam were termed as slaves.? (Maharishi Shri
Dayanand Saraswati Aur Unka Kaam, edited by Lala Lajpat
Rai, published in Lahore, 1898, in the Introduction)
Furthermore, a Persian dictionary titled Lughet-
e-Kishwari, published in Lucknow in 1964, gives the meaning
of the word Hindu as ?chore [thief], dakoo [dacoit],
raahzan [waylayer], and ghulam [slave].? In another
dictionary, Urdu-Feroze-ul-Laghat (Part One, p. 615) the
Persian meaning of the word Hindu is further described as
barda (obedient servant), sia faam (balck color) and kaalaa
(black). So these are all derogatory expressions for the
translation of the term hindu in the Persian label of the
people of India.
So, basically, Hindu is merely a continuation
of a Muslim term that became popular only within the last
1300 years. In this way, we can understand that it is not a
valid Sanskrit term, nor does it have anything to do with
the true Vedic culture or the Vedic spiritual path

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