How to describe an Indian person without using the word Indian.

I'm working on my world building and have a character that looks like an Indian man, the story is set in a fantasy world, so I can't just use the term Indian or south asian. I feel if I use the phrase dark brown people will picture an African man, especially as he has dreadlocks which many in his culture wear as show of respect to the snake god they worship.

I'm struggling to think of what terms I could use that wouldn't come off as offensive. The only thing I can think of is to use a phrase like dark olive rather than brown. But even that might bring to mind images of darker skinned Arabic men.