Page:Prehistoric Ancient And Hindu India.djvu/21



India is the central peninsula of the three which lie in the south of Asia. On account of its extent, diversity of climate, differences in physical features, and the variety of races that inhabit the country, it can very well be called a continent. The northern part very often resembles a tract in the frigid zone, though situated in the temperate area, and the extreme south resembles, to some extent, the central part of Africa on account of its very great heat. The name India was originally applied to the country on both banks of the River Indus by the Greeks who served under the Hakhamanishiya or Achaemenid emperors of ancient Persia, or those who came with Alexander the Great. The Sanskrit name for the River Indus, Sindku, became Hindu, Hidu in the ancient dialects of Iran (Avestan and Old Persian), which the Greeks turned into Indos, and this Indos is the source of Indus, India.

The extent of the country has varied at different times. At present many scholars think that Afghanistan did not form a part of India at any time. But the explorations of Stein in Central Asia and of the French School of Archaeology in Afghanistan prove that that tract at one time formed an integral part of India. Afghanistan may be roughly divided into three parts: Kabul and Herat in the north, and Kandahar (E 558)