The word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries.he actual term 'hindu' first occurs, states Gavin Flood, as a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: Sindhu), more specifically in the 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I. The Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta.