Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
IN'DIA. The Persian king Ahasuerus is described as reigning "from India unto Ethiopia." Esth 1:1; Rom 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. Later, India is reckoned among the countries which Eumenes, king of Pergamus, received out of the former possessions of Antiochus the Great. 1 Mace. 8:8; 11:37. 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 by his navy and through Hiram, king of Tyre, consisted chiefly of Indian articles. 1 Kgs 10:10-22.