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Thread: Historical names of Indus Basin/Indus Valley
i) Meluhha or Melukhkha whose meaning is "high abode" or "high country" is supposedly the first documented name of Indus Valley.
(Location of foreign lands for the Sumerians including Meluhha)
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i) Meluhha or Melukhkha whose meaning is "high abode" or "high country" is supposedly the first documented name of Indus Valley.
(Location of foreign lands for the Sumerians including Meluhha)
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According to Sumerian documents Meluhha was one of the important trading partners of their country along with Dilmun (Bahrain) and Magan (Oman) during middle Bronze Age (2200–1900 BCE). People of Meluhha also fought against Akkadian Empire under King Abalgamash of Marhashi.
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ii) "Mleccha" was name used by people of Ganges for the foreign lands, mainly for the tribes of Indus and the lands beyond it. The literal meaning of Mleccha is foreigner or barbarian.
Later Vedic literature has called the people of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Gandhara,
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Later Vedic literature has called the people of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Gandhara,
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Kashmir and Eastern Rajasthan as Mlecchas.
iii) Sindh which is derived from Sanskrit term "Sindhu" is one of the important historical name of our region. It's literal meaning is "river". Islamic historians have used this word for our region extensively.
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iii) Sindh which is derived from Sanskrit term "Sindhu" is one of the important historical name of our region. It's literal meaning is "river". Islamic historians have used this word for our region extensively.
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iv) "Hind" was Persian name used for Sindh. Around 850 BCE, letter "S" was not used in East Iranian languages and replaced by "H", thus Sindh became Hind for Iranians. Darius I was the first Persian emperor who conquered Indus Valley and called lower Indus Basin "Hindush".
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v) Hindustan was also initially the name of Indus Valley. Around first century CE, the suffix stān (means region) was added to the Hind and thus Sindh became "Hindustan". Indus Valley was referred to as Hindustan in Naqsh-e-Rustam inscription of Shapur I.
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vi) Hodu is the Biblical Hebrew name for Indus Basin mentioned in the Book of Esther and Christian Old Testament. The term seemingly derives from Sanskrit Sindhu, "great river", i.e., the Indus River, via Old Persian Hiñd°u.
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vii) Indos was the Greek name used for Indus River. Greek historion Herodutus and explorer Scylax of Caryanda mentioned it in his writings. The ancient Greeks imagined that Indus flowed southeast and Indos was its lower basin.
(Ancient world according to ancient Greeks)
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(Ancient world according to ancient Greeks)
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Note: These all were names of Indus Valley in different time periods of past, not for the present times. With the passage of time the definition of these names had been changing but for present the much of Indus Basin is known as Pakistan.
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