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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

INDIA

Eastern land of uncertain geographical boundaries in Bible times. The only specific reference to the land of India in the Bible occurs in Esther 1:1 and 8:9, where the boundaries of the empire of Ahasuerus are said to have stretched from Hoddu to Kush. The term “Hoddu” seems to have derived from an Old Persian word Hindush, which was itself related to a Sanskrit word Sindhu, meaning “stream,” that is, the Indus River. Inscriptions from Persia indicate that India was a province of the Achaemenid Empire (559–330 BC), and thus support the biblical statements. Even the Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century BC seems to have been poorly informed about India (Persian Wars 3.94-106; 4.40, 44). There are Hebrew legends and traditions that place Jews in India in the days of King Solomon. Some interpreters have suggested that the river Pishon in Genesis 2:11 in the land of Havilah may refer to India. Others have proposed that goods brought from Ophir, such as sandalwood (“almug wood,” 1 Kgs 10:11; 2 Chr 2:8), ivory, and apes, were Indian in origin. Also, some of the items carried by merchants to Tyre, such as ivory tusks and ebony (Ez 27:15), may have originated in India.

There are no references to India in the NT, but there are a number of general references to the land in intertestamental literature and in the later Jewish writings (e.g., the Targums on Esther, the Midrashim, and the Talmud). It was only after the days of Alexander the Great (d. 323 BC) that the literary world of Palestine and Europe begin to record information about India. From 1 Maccabees 6:37, it would appear that Seleucid armies used war elephants (possibly Indian), mounted by Indian drivers in the second century BC, and the reference in 8:8 indicates that the Romans compelled Antiochus III (223–187 BC) to surrender. India is of uncertain value because of textual problems. There is no other evidence that the Seleucid domains stretched as far as India. It is known, however, that the Romans had considerable trading activity in India via Egypt and the Red Sea, and this makes the lack of references in the NT strange. As the Christian centuries passed, references do appear in both Jewish and early Christian literature, and it is certain that early in the Christian era settlements of Jews and monophysite Christians were found in India. According to legend, it was the apostle Thomas who took the gospel to India and founded the Mar Thoma Church.