What is Hindu? Who is Hindu? Is Hindu our Dharma?

Again, these are my thoughts, understanding and opinions. So yours may differ. But for me this is the truth what i am going to explain.

Like me, most of us from India calls themselves "Hindu", as the caste on birth certificate and school leaving certificate states it to be so.

But have you ever questioned your self, what is Hindu? or are you really Hindu? I asked myself and tried to dig deep to understand it.

What i found is that we didn't identify our Dharma as Hindu till early 1000 AD. I haven't read all the Vedas and Upanishads. I don't understand Sanskrit that much. But i am sure that there is no mention of word "Hindu" or identifying our race as "Hindu" anywhere. I read and referred Ramayan and Mahabharat (In Gujarati though) and there also i never once found a word Hindu spelled anywhere by anyone of the characters. 

In Ramayan, when Lord Ram decided to go to "Vanvas" for 14 years, he termed it as following "Putra-Dharma". When Lord Laxman decided to join him, he termed it as "Bhratru-Dharma".

In Mahabharat, when Arjun refused to fight the Kaurav Army of his own family members. Lord Krishna told Arjun to follow "Kshatra-Dharma".

Nobody called themselves Hindu or follow Hindu-Dharma.

The word Hindu comes into picture only after arrival of outsider (initially Arabs then other Muslim) So my conclusion is Hindu is not our Dharma. But rather it is a symbolic name given to us by outsiders.

When Invaders (Arabs then other Muslims) came from northwest they have to cross the river Sindhu to enter Indian subcontinent. So the word Hindu came from the name of the river Sindhu. They termed us as Hindu, the people living on the banks of and beyond river Sindhu.

So what is Hindu? I believe above explanation clears it out. And also who is Hindu?

Now the third question, Is our Dharma Hindu?

Certainly not. The word Hindu has nothing to do with Dharma. Whoever lives on the banks of and beyond river Sindhu are Hindu. So this literally includes All of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The point is Hindu is not our Dharma, its mere name given to identify us. Our Dharma is something else. Our Dharma is actually what you should do. Such as,

Brahmin has Brahman-Dharma to follow, Kshatriya has Kshatra-Dharma to follow.

We like to be called "Arya". Certainly it is not related to Dharma. "Arya" means the respected one, who has earned respect and who is noble. 

We do not have commandments to follow as other religions such as Christian, Islam or Jew has. We do not have to tie our-self to do particular things in particular way.We do not have to follow any rituals and rites.

But rather we should do things in such a way to earn respect from others and we should always perform noble causes. We have to perform whatever profession we are in with utmost sincerity. Thats our Dharma. Earn the title "Arya" - the noble one, the respected one.