According to one interpretation, the name
Hindu Kush means "kills the
Hindu" or "Hindu killer" and is a reminder of the days when
slaves from the Indian subcontinent died in the harsh weather typical of the Afghan mountains while being taken to Central Asia.
[26][34][35] The World Book Encyclopedia states that the word
kush means death, and was probably given to the mountains because of their dangerous passes.
[36]
In his travel memoirs about India, the 14th century Moroccan traveller
Muhammad Ibn Battuta mentioned crossing into India via the mountain passes of the Hindu Kush. In his
Rihla, he mentions these mountains and the history of the range in slave trading.
[37][15] Alexander von Humboldt stated that it can be learned from his work that the name only referred to a single mountain pass upon which many Indian slaves died of the cold weather.
[38] Battuta wrote,
After this I proceeded to the city of Barwan, in the road to which is a high mountain, covered with snow and exceedingly cold; they call it the Hindu Kush, that is Hindu-slayer, because most of the slaves brought thither from India die on account of the intenseness of the cold.
— Ibn Batutta, Chapter XIII, Rihla – Khorasan
[15]
