How did the river Indus get its name?

It will be new to many that the Indus River is one of the largest rivers in the world in terms of water flow, carrying twice the volume of the Nile River.

People may not even know that the name India is derived from Indus. Since Mohanjo Daro, central to the Indus civilization, was situated on the banks of the Indus River, when the Indian leadership officially named the country India, Sir John Marshall, the former head of the Department of Archeology of India, had also expressed surprise that all the areas of the Indus River civilization come to Pakistan, then why is the official name of India given to India?

The total length of the Indus River is 3180 km, which originates in the western region of Tibet. Passing through Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan, this river meets the Kabul River at Attock along the Silk Road when it touches the foot of the Nanga Parbat. From Kala Bagh it enters the plains and then joins the sea near Karachi.

The total area of ​​the Indus River is more than the area of ​​Pakistan which is 1165000 square kilometers.

How did the Indus River get its name Sindh? In this context, it is said that when the influence of the Achaemenid government of Iran was up to Gandhara, they called it by the name of Hindu, which was called Indus by the Greeks and later became Sindhu in Sanskrit, which is now called Sindh. However, its names have been different at different times.

It is written in the gazetteer of Attock that ‘Indus river has two names within the district. When it enters the boundaries of Attock from Hazara, it is called Attock River. In Syed Nusrat Bukhari’s recently published book ‘Attack District, Tazkirah wa Tarikh’, it has been written about the Indus River that it was also named Nilab due to its blue water. The town of Bagh Nilab is still situated on the banks of the river Indus on the Attock Bisal Road. In fact, this is the town from where ancient invaders used to cross this river and enter India.

Muhammad Qasim Ferishta, the author of Tarikh Farishta, also writes it as Nilab and says that according to Hindu belief, it is forbidden to cross it. They were considered mixed and if a Hindu crossed the river, he was made a Hindu again on his return. This belief is also confirmed by European travelers Hughel and Burns of the 19th century. However, General Cunningham believes that that the river Attock was due to a tribe called Tasmia Takka who lived between the Margalla and the river Attock.

According to some historians, Attock is a Dravidian word meaning marshy land. While the general impression is that it got its name as Attock River because its speed slows down here, so it is called Attock River. As the language of the Mughals was Turkish and the word Utak in Turkish is used for the foothills. Akbar built a big fort here, which was at the foot of a hill, hence it came to be called Attak, which later became Attock.

Hindu, Sindhu, Sindh, Attock or Nilab have been changing the names of this lion river with the changing times. In ancient times, because the means of transportation and newspapers were limited and people had very limited information about each other’s areas, so The river which today has a length of more than 3000 km and which passes through the high mountains of Tibet and irrigates the plains of Punjab. It is possible that it was called by different names in each region at the same time. It is also a fact that the oldest civilizations of the world flourished in its foothills and it is called the Indus River in accordance with these civilizations.