This must be the last word on origin of “Hindu”…
This essay is beyond any doubt one of the best explanations of the origin of the word “Hindu” I have come across.
In this scholarly and meticulously researched essay, Dr Pahoja has refuted claims that the word “Hindu” is a medieval construct (given currency by the Arabs).
He cites historical evidence from a rich variety of sources to conclude that the word “Hindu” (like “Sindhu”) has been in use since the Vedic age and although it is a modified form of “Sindhu”, the origin lies in the Saurashtran practice of pronouncing ‘H’ in place of ‘S’ rather than being a corruption of “Sindhu” in Persian.
Please read this along with my earlier post on this issue, “Hindu, India and Bharat – The Story behind Word Origins“.
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See also this comment explaining the origin of the word, “BhArat” (the real name for India)
http://satyameva-jayate.org/2007/12/01/source-of-satyameva-jayate/#comment-10009
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The Word “Haindva” first appears in the Avesta & Gaatha literature of the Zoratrians. In these text they mention of their wanderings through different lands. The third or fourth place of their sojourn in these migrations was called “Hafta-Haindava”. For them on theeir east lay “Harahatti”/Saraswati on on their west laid Sindhu. Within Rikh-Veda they are identifies as Anava people by Srikant-Taalagiri. Their name prefixes and suffixes, their poetry forms and common territory have intersection with the Later part of the Rikh-Veda. Thus far before Persian from Persia came to India, teh Persians were dewelers in the region of “Hafta-haindava” or “sapta-Saindhava.
Ravindra
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