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**jacknates** · 09-19-2011, 11:29 PM

My personal interpretation of the word Hindu is "any one born in this Country can claim to be a Hindu". The word Hindu was given to people living on the banks of Sindhu (River) by outsiders. The word Hindu was first used by Arab invaders and then went further west by the Arabic term al-Hind referring to the land of the people who live across river Indus. and the Persian term Hindū referring to all Indians. By the 13th century, Hindustan meaning the "land of Hindus"emerged as the name for this land.

Dear Sri Brahmanyan
I am afraid your personal interpretation does not sound pragmatic to me. Reason is, even though persians coined the term hindu, when they did there were none other than vedic believers in this region. This is the reason why the same Turks and Mughals who established rule in Delhi never called themselves Hindu though they supposedly coined the term. They proudly claimed as ruling Hindusthan but never called themselves hindus. If it was just about sindh river, the moment they settled here they would have called themselves Hindus. Ofcourse everyone call themselves Indian because when Greek came in, they used 'I'ndus as river name and later Romans and europeans referred whole region as India. Ofcourse for persians, hindu refers to anyone living in India, but it didn't include the invaders but only the original inhabitants. If we go by your definition of Hindu, then anyone living far from Sindh river for generations will have to stop calling themselves Hindus, and so the hindus of non-indian races, lol.

As the other learned people mentioned and also the OP, I too think, believing in vedas and considering them as ultimate authority is the only criteria or eligibility for being a Hindu.

09-19-2011, 11:29 PM	#6
jacknates Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 406 Senior Member	My personal interpretation of the word Hindu is "any one born in this Country can claim to be a Hindu". The word Hindu was given to people living on the banks of Sindhu (River) by outsiders. The word Hindu was first used by Arab invaders and then went further west by the Arabic term al-Hind referring to the land of the people who live across river Indus. and the Persian term Hindū referring to all Indians. By the 13th century, Hindustan meaning the "land of Hindus"emerged as the name for this land. Dear Sri Brahmanyan I am afraid your personal interpretation does not sound pragmatic to me. Reason is, even though persians coined the term hindu, when they did there were none other than vedic believers in this region. This is the reason why the same Turks and Mughals who established rule in Delhi never called themselves Hindu though they supposedly coined the term. They proudly claimed as ruling Hindusthan but never called themselves hindus. If it was just about sindh river, the moment they settled here they would have called themselves Hindus. Ofcourse everyone call themselves Indian because when Greek came in, they used 'I'ndus as river name and later Romans and europeans referred whole region as India. Ofcourse for persians, hindu refers to anyone living in India, but it didn't include the invaders but only the original inhabitants. If we go by your definition of Hindu, then anyone living far from Sindh river for generations will have to stop calling themselves Hindus, and so the hindus of non-indian races, lol. As the other learned people mentioned and also the OP, I too think, believing in vedas and considering them as ultimate authority is the only criteria or eligibility for being a Hindu.
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