Let’s wander in the deserts of Sindh.
The flowers of culture, civilization, art, music, history and beautiful lifestyle bloom in the “desert” of Sindh. The great civilization, INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION has left its mark on the dazzling grains of sand. This is also one of the three early civilizations of the Near East and South Asia. The region is full of the blessings of God I.e. Indus or Sindhu River, Arabian Sea and other natural resource.
Sindhi culture has deep roots in distant past. The roots of social life, religion, culture of the people of the Sindh, their agriculture practices, traditional arts and crafts, customs and tradition and other parts of their social life drag us to the third millennium BC. This is pre-Aryan period, when the urban civilization was on its peak, about 7000 years ago. Its civilization was better than that of the Sindh of this modern age. But the invasions of indo-Arians and the natural disasters caused its declination. In recent history it has been under the dark shadow of British India until 1947, with the freedom of Pakistan it also breathed in the air of freedom.
Language
The language of Sindhi People is as old as its history. The language is mixture of different languages like Arabic, Urdu with more borrowed Perso-Arabic elements. The language family is: Indo-Aryan (Parakrit), Northwestern, Indo-Iranian and Indo-European and Sanskrit. It has initial contacts with Arabic speaking Muslims therefore it has many Arabic words in its lap. It has a grown up family of different dialects, i.e. Sindhi, Vicholi, Lari, Lasi, Thari, Sindhi Bhil, Kutchi, Memoni and Jangli. The importance of some language is known by the number of its speakers and Sindhi language has this award that approximately 53.4 million people in Pakistan, 5.8 in India as well as some 2.6 million in other parts of the world are speaking this language. It is the official language in Sindh province of Pakistan. It is very fertile language which let the buds of poetry, stories and a lot of literary works be bloomed. It has a vast vocabulary as well therefore many writers choose this language for Sindhi art, music, literature and culture. The is written in Arabic style (Naskh).
Religions
Sindh is called Ba’b ul Islam (the gate of Islam) as it was conquered by Muhammad bin Qasim in 712. Therefore the majority of the people in Sindh is Muslim but there are also smaller minorities of Hindus, Christians and Zorastrians. After the partition of Subcontinent in 1947, a large number of Muslims of India migrated from India to Sind (therefore, called Muhajireen). Its 91.32% population is Muslim while 93% Pakistani Hindus who form 8.5% of its population, are living there. The Majority of its population are Sunni Hanafi followed by Shia Ithna Asharah.
Social habits
Sindhi people are peace loving, fond of music, art, dancing and spirituality i.e. mysticism. People of Sindh relay on agriculture that has deep impact on their lifestyle. “The ship of the desert” and herd of sheep are their companion of life. Moreover they are also source of income for them as their lands are fertile due to the presence of Indus River. Local people also adopt fishing as their source of income and this blessing is also due to the River. The people of Sindh celebrate the two huge festivals with great zeal and zest i.e. Eid ul Fitar and Eid ul Azha. Many other domestic festivals also arranged by the local people that help them to buy new things to use on the said religion festivals. Cheti Chandu, birthday of Jhulelal that starts Sindhi calendar also celebrated with great excitement.
Sindhi folklores.
Sindhi folklores are testament to the wisdom of Watayo Faqir. The folklores also pay a tribute to the bravery of Mariro (the fisherman who killed as sea-monster, Mangermachh). Epic tales of Dodo Chenesar enchants the readers also. In the folktales of Sindh we meet with the powerful heroic character of Umar Marvi (Marui). Sindhi settlements echo with the love tale of Sassi and Punhu, who perpetuate love with their love. The story of Sohni Mahiwal competes the story of Sassi and Punhu. Sindhi folk singers play their vital role to spread the fragrance of these folklores in songs. (Sindhi folklores have been compiled in forty volumes under Sindhi Adabi Board). Shah Abdul Latif Bhuttai is one of the legend of Sindh.
SINDHI MUSIC AND MUSICIANS
Sindhi music is famous all over the world specially in Pakistan and some areas of India. There have been a long list of World-Famous singers who emerged from the deserts of Sindh and quench the thrust of a large number of music lovers. The list of the musicians may realize you the enrichment of land of Sindh with talent and creativity. The land form which fountains of creativity spring and TAMBORAH (a music instrument) also born in this land. Here is the list of the legend of Sindh:
Allan fakir, Zarina Baloch, Muhammad juman, Manzoor Sakhirani, Mai Bhaghi, Ustad Muhammad Yousuf, Sohrab fakir, Bhagat Kanwar Ram, Master Muhammad Ibrahim, Bedil Manzoor and (in recent times) Abida Parveen.
