INDIA

(Inʹdi·a).

The exact area designated by the Bible name “India” is uncertain. (Es 8:9) Scholars generally suggest that it denotes the area drained by the Indus River and its tributaries, that is, the Punjab region and perhaps also Sind. The testimony of the historian Herodotus (III, 88, 94; IV, 44) indicates that “India” first became a part of the Persian Empire during the rule of Darius Hystaspis (521-486 B.C.E.). In the time of Ahasuerus (considered to be Xerxes I, son of Darius Hystaspis), India was the eastern limit of the empire.​—Es 1:1.

Likely the Indus Valley was settled not long after the language of Babel’s builders was confused. A comparison of the ancient civilization of the Indus Valley with that of Mesopotamia reveals the erection of structures like the ziggurat platforms of Mesopotamia, sculptures of the human figure with heads having the masklike features typical of ancient Mesopotamian sculpture, and pictographic signs that bear a resemblance to early Mesopotamian forms. Assyriologist Samuel N. Kramer has suggested that the Indus Valley was settled by a people who fled from Mesopotamia when the Sumerians took control of the area.