The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. and is first mentioned in the Rig Veda.
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, Hindustān emerged as a popular alternative name of India, meaning the "land of Hindus" - Wikipedia
The name believed "Hindu" was NOT named after the geographic landscape as claimed by some educated nut who made some intellectual religion comparison.
It was named by those who came to this land and named it for them to understand and different them with the others.
The word Hindu was not represent the religion but to represent those who were following this religion as so called to identify them compare to other religion followers.
As the oldest and the only religion at that time, the believe was called "Sanatana Darma" which was representing the meaning of "SINDHU".
Wikipedia - Originally, Hindu was a secular term which was used to describe all inhabitants and cultures of the Indian subcontinent (or Hindustan) irrespective of their religious affiliations.
It also occurs sporadically in Sanskrit texts such as the later Rajataranginis of Kashmir (Hinduka, c. 1450), some 16th-18th century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts, including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata, usually to contrast Hindus with Yavanas or Mlecchas.
It was only towards the end of the 18th century that the European merchants and colonists referred collectively to the followers of Indian religions as Hindus.
Please note:
Eventually, it came to define a precisely religious identity that includes any person of Indian origin who neither practiced Abrahamic religions nor non-Vedic Indian religions, such as Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, or tribal (Adivasi) religions, thereby encompassing a wide range of religious beliefs and practices related to "Sanātana Dharma".
The term Hinduism was introduced into the English language in the 19th century to denote the religious, philosophical, and cultural traditions native to India.
Hinduism is formed of diverse traditions and has no single founder. Among its roots is the historical Vedic religion of Iron Age India and, as such, Hinduism is often called the "oldest living religion" or the "oldest living major religion" in the world.
How Hinduism was destroyed by the conquerors :
Though Islam came to India in the early 7th century with the advent of Arab traders and the conquest of Sindh, it started to become a major religion during the later Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent. During this period Buddhism declined rapidly and many Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam.
Numerous Muslim rulers or their army generals such as Aurangzeb and Malik Kafur destroyed Hindu temples and persecuted non-Muslims; however some, such as Akbar, were more tolerant.
Hinduism underwent profound changes, in large part due to the influence of the prominent teachers Ramanuja, Madhva, and Chaitanya.
Followers of the Bhakti movement moved away from the abstract concept of Brahman, which the philosopher Adi Shankara consolidated a few centuries before, with emotional, passionate devotion towards the more accessible Avatars, especially Krishna and Rama.
lvbala:
Brothers and sisters.... do not look or believe in Hinduism with your naked eyes. What was said today in every single religion in this world has been said in Hinduism. "GOD IS ONE" as many claimed in their religion was mention as a first word in Hinduism. It was the time factor and the way GOD's existent was explained made the total different.
" No one in this time frame could ever explain HINDUISM with his narrow minded book referred theory"
by lvbala: "Om Shivaya"
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