Meaning of Hindu Kush
From the Blog pakhistorian - Meaning of Hindu Kush November 19th, 2010 Image via Wikipedia All Standard reference books agree that the name 'Hindu Kush' of the mountain range in Eastern Afganistan means 'Hindu Slaughter' or 'Hindu Killer'. The Hindu Kush is a mountain system nearly 1000 miles long and 200 miles wide, running northeast to southwest, and dividing the Amu Darya River Valley and Indus River Valley. It stretches from the Pamir Plateau near Gilgit, to Iran. The Hindu Kush ranges mainly run thru Afganistan and Pakistan. It has over two dozen summits of more than 23,000 ft in height. Below the snowy peaks the mountains of Hindu Kush appear bare, stony and poor in vegetation. Historically, the passes across the Hindu Kush have been of great military significance, providing access to the northern plains of India. The Khyber Pass constitutes an important strategic gateway and offers a comparatively easy route to the plains of Punjab. Most foreign invaders, starting from Alexander the Great in 327 BC, to Timur Lane in 1398 AD, and from Mahmud of Ghazni, in 1001 AD, to Nader Shah in 1739 AD attacked Hindustan via the Khyber Pass and other passes in the Hindu Kush. The Greek chroniclers of Alexander the Great called Hindu Kush as Parapamisos or Paropanisos. The Hindu name of the Hindu Kush mountains was 'Paariyaatra Parvat'. Encyclopedia Britannica (3) already informs us above about the resistance to conversion and frequent revolt against to the Moslem conqueror's rule from 8 th thru 11 th Century AD. The name 'Hindu Kush' itself tells us about the fate of the original residents of Gandhaar and Vaahic Pradesh during the later period of Moslem conquests, because HINDU KUSH in Persian MEANS HINDU SLAUGHTER (13) (as per Koenraad Elst in his book 'Ayodhya and After'). Let us look into what other standard references say about Hindu Kush. Persian-English dictionary (14) indicates that the word 'Kush' is derived from the verb Kushtar – to slaughter or carnage. Kush is probably also related to the verb Koshtan meaning to kill. In Urdu, the word Khud-kushi means act of killing oneself (khud – self, Kushi- act of killing). Encyclopedia Americana comments on the Hindu Kush as follows: The name Hindu Kush means literally 'Kills the Hindu', a reminder of the days when (Hindu) SLAVES from Indian subcontinent died in harsh Afgan mountains while being transported to Moslem courts of Central Asia (15). The National Geographic Article 'West of Khyber Pass' informs that 'Generations of raiders brought captive Hindus past these peaks of perpetual snow. Such bitter journeys gave the range its name Hindu Kush – "Killer of Hindus"'(10). The World Book Encyclopedia informs that the name Kush, .. means Death ..(16). While Encyclopedia Britannica says 'The name Hindu Kush first appears in 1333 AD in the writings of Ibn Battutah, the medieval Berber traveller, who said the name meant 'Hindu Killer', a meaning still given by Afgan mountain dwellers who are traditional enemies of Indian plainsmen (i.e. Hindus)(2). However, later the Encyclopedia Britannica gives a negationist twist by adding that 'more likely the name is a corruption of Hindu-Koh meaning Hindu mountains'. This is unlikely, since the term Koh is used in its proper, uncorrupted form for the western portion of Hindu Kush, viz. Koh-i-Baba , for the region Swat Kohistan, and in the names of the three peaks of this range, viz. Koh-i-Langer, Koh-i-Bandakor, and Koh-i-Mondi. Thus to say that corruption of term Koh to Kush occurred only in case of Hindu Kush is merely an effort to fit in a deviant observation to a theory already proposed. In science, a theory is rejected if it does not agree with the observations, and not the other way around. Hence the latter negationist statement in the Encyclopedia Britannica must be rejected. Ali Sina REFERENCES Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 th Ed, Vol.5, p.935, 1987 Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 th Ed, Vol.14, pp.238-240, 1987 Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 th Ed, Vol.13, pp.35-36, 1987 The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great (as described by Arrian, Q.Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarch & Justin), By J.W.McCrindle, Methuen & Co., London, p.38, 1969 Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History, by Veer Savarkar, Savarkar Prakashan, Bombay, 2nd Ed, p.206, 1985 Chanakya – a TV series by Doordarshan, India Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 th Ed, Vol.21, pp.36-41, 1987 V.Sarianidi, National Geographic Magazine , Vol.177, No.3, p.57, March 1990 Hammond Historical Atlas of the World, pp. H4 & H10, 1993 W.O.Douglas, National Geographic Magazine, vol.114, No.1, pp.13-23, July 1958 T.J.Abercrombie, National Geographic Magazine, Vol.134, No.3, pp.318-325, Sept.1968 An Advanced History of India , by R.C.Majumdar, H.C.Raychaudhuri, K.Datta, 2nd Ed., MacMillan and Co, London, pp.182-83, 1965 Ayodhya and After, By Koenraad Elst, Voice of India Publication, p.278, 1991 A Practical Dictionary of the Persian Language , by J.A.Boyle, Luzac & Co., p.129, 1949 Encyclopedia Americana, Vol.14, p.206, 1993 The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol.19, p.237, 1990 Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 th Ed, Vol.21, pp. 54-55, 1987 An Advanced History of India, by R.C.Majumdar, H.C.Raychaudhuri, K.Datta, 2nd Ed., MacMillan and Co, London, pp.336-37, 1965 Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 th Ed, Vol.21, p.65, 1987 The Cambridge History of India, Vol.IV – The Mughul Period, by W.Haig & R.Burn, S.Chand & Co., New Delhi, pp. 98-99, 1963 Negationism in India, by Koenraad Elst, Voice of India Publ, 2nd Ed, pp.57-58, 1993 Related Articles From Baltistan to the Hindu Kush: A Road Trip, Continued (nybooks.com) Alexander The Great (socyberty.com) Omar Waraich: History shows the Khyber Pass is the key to Afghanistan (independent.co.uk) . 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