India

The name of India does not occur in the Bible before the book of Esther where it is noticed as the limit of the territories of Ahasuerus in the east, as Ethiopia was in the west. (Esther 1:1; 8:9) The India of the book of Esther is not the peninsula of Hindostan, but the country surrounding the Indus, the Punjab and perhaps Scinde. The people and productions of that country must have been tolerably well known to the Jews. An active trade was carried on between India and western Asia. The trade opened by Solomon with Ophir through the Red Sea consisted chiefly of Indian articles.