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north. But this term, although afterwards generalized, appliedoriginally to the basins of the Indus and the Ganges , andstrictly to only a part of them. The Indus river formed thefirst great landmark of nature which arrested the march ofthe peoples of Central Asia as they descended upon the plainsof the Punjab . That mighty river impressed itself on theimagination of the ancient world. To the early comers fromthe high-lying camping grounds of inner Asia , it seemed a vastexpanse of waters.
They called it in Sanskrit by the word which they gave tothe ocean itself, Sindhus (from the root syand, ‘ to flow ’), aname afterwards applied to the ocean-god. The term extendeditself to the country around the Indus river , and in its pluralform, Sindhavas, to the inhabitants thereof. The ancientPersians , softening the initial sibilant to an aspirate, called itHendu in the Zend language : the Greeks, further softeningthe initial by omitting the aspirate altogether, derived from ittheir Indikos and Indos. These forms closely correspond tothe ancient Persian word Idhus , which is used in the inscrip-tions of Darius for the dwellers on the Indus . But the nativeIndian form ( Sindhus ) was known to the Greeks, as is provedby the Sinthos of the Periplus Maris Erythraei , and by thedistinct statement of Pliny , ‘Indus incolis Sindus appellatus.’Virgil says, ‘ India mittit ebur.’
The more eastern nations of Asia , like the western races ofEurope , derived their name for India from the great river ofthe Punjab . The Buddhist pilgrims from China , during thefirst seven centuries of our era, usually travelled landward toHindustan, skirting round the Himalayas , and entering the holyIndian land of their faith by the north-western frontier of thePunjab . One of the most celebrated of these pious travellers,Hiuen Tsiang (629-645 a.d.), states that India ‘was ancientlycalled Shin-tu, also Hien-tau ; but now, according to the rightpronunciation, it is called In-tu.’ This word in Chinese means the moon ; and the cradle-land of Buddhism derivedits name, according to the good pilgrim, from its superiorglory in the spiritual firmament, sicut Inna inter minora sidera.‘ Though there be torches by night and the shining of thestars,’ he says, ‘ how different from the bright (cool) moon !Just so the bright connected light of holy men and sages,guiding the world as the shining of the moon, have made thiscountry eminent, and so it is called In-tu.’ 1 Notwithstanding
1 Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World; translated from theChinese of Hiuen Tsiang by Samuel Bea). Vol. i. p. 69. Triibner, 1884.