<P> The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time . Starting with the Persian and Greek references to the land of the Indus in the 1st millennium BCE through the texts of the medieval era , the term Hindu implied a geographic , ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond the Sindhu ( Indus ) river . By the 16th century , the term began to refer to residents of the subcontinent who were not Turkic or Muslims . </P>
the word hindu was initially a term used by the
Persian and Greek references to the land of the Indus in the 1st millennium BCE through the texts of the medieval era