Sindhi History
SINDHI
REFLECTIONS: A BRIEF SINDHI HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
7000
BC – Neolithic settlements in the Indus Valley
3000
BC – The Indus Valley Civilization.
2300
BC – The civilization of Mohen-jo-daro.
1500
BC – The Aryan rule with the Vedic Civilization, known as Hinduism.
519
BC – The Persians conquered Sindh
326
B.C. The Greeks under Alexander controlled Sindh.
320-293 Chandragupta Maurya conquered Sindh
273-232 B.C. Ashoka's reign whose conversion to Buddhism popularizing it in
Sindh.
711 A.D. The Muslim invasion of Sindh under Muhammad bin Qasim.
This was followed by various Muslim dynasties that ruled Sindh.
1783 to 1843: The Muslim reign of Talpur Mirs in Sindh.
February 1843: Charles Napier, a British general, conquered Sindh from the
Talpur Mirs with the help of the rich Sindhi, Seth Naomal Bhojwani.
Mr. Bhojwani's father had been kidnapped and ill-treated by Muslims
and he wanted to end their rule. It was only after the British rule
in Sindh, that Hindus were allowed to buy property, where they had
none earlier. The Hindu Sindhis also gained in power and position
since they took to education quickly and were adept at learning
languages. They quickly learnt English and made themselves useful to
the British for administrative jobs.
1847: Sindh was annexed to Bombay Presidency. British colonialism brought
two immediate and far-reaching changes in Sindh's history: firstly,
it broke the uninterrupted Islamic rule right from 712, transferring
power from Muslim to non-Muslim authorities. Secondly, it effected
the merger of Sindh with Bombay Presidency, terminating Sindh's
geographical, cultural and political isolation from India.
This
resulted in Sindh seeing, in the 19th century, the emergence of
modern social and political institutions.
K.R.Malkani,
in - The Sindh Story narrates how Hindus became rich, - When the
British took over, the Hindus did not hold any land. The British gave
land to the retiring officers, most of them Hindu. The wealthy began
to buy lands at market price. The improvident Muslim landlords began
to mortgage lands to the Hindu money-lenders, who gradually acquired
the same on default. In one century of British rule, the Hindus had
come to, acquire about 40 per cent of the land. Another 20 per cent
was believed to have been mortgaged to them. Some Muslim League
leaders --- particularly Sir Abdullah Haroon --- made this into a big
issue. Here was a gentleman who started life as a cycle-repair
assistant on four annas a day, and ended up as a crore-pati, who
grudged 30 per cent of the population .(Hindus) owning 40 per cent of
the land! He could never see the initial iniquity of the Hindus (30
per cent of the population) holding zero land under the Muslim rule.
However, many other Muslim leaders noted that the peasants were
happier with the Hindu zamindars than with the Muslim zamindars. They
also noted that many Muslim zamindars did not want education to
spread --- for fear the next generation of educated tenants might ask
for more rights.
The
real reasons for this shift of land-ownership were two: the Hindus
who had been starved of land for centuries, felt the natural human
urge for land --- and now they went in for it. Secondly, the
impecunious Muslim habits stood in sharp contrast with Hindu
prudence. A Muslim tended to spend beyond his means; a Hindu tended
to save and invest. A popular saying was that when a Hindu had money,
he would buy or build more and more houses (Jaye Mathan Jaye); when a
Muslim had money, he would marry more and more wives ( Joye Mathan
Joye).
1934:
The formation of the Sindh Separation committee. Earlier, as Sirajul
Haque Memon says in his piece in the Daily Dawn (23. 3.
2001) entitled, Genesis of Separatist Sentiment in Sindh, A
campaign was started through the vernacular press for separation of
Sindh from Bombay. It gathered momentum when looking at the trend of
public opinion, political parties such as the Congress and the Muslim
League too joined in. No political party could survive in Sindh if it
opposed the Separation Movement. Hindu Maha Sabha was the only party,
which opposed the separation. But soon it lost face in the towns and
villages of Sindh and slowly and gradually it ceased to be an
influential political party in Sindh.
April
1, 1936: Sindh was made into a separate, autonomous
province—separated from Bombay Presidency. Gobindram Mukhi of
Hyderabad, was the only one to vote against this move (with similar
protests from Swami Harinamdasji of the Sadhubella of Sukkur); they
could both see that this move would reduce Hindus in Sindh to a
voiceless and powerless minority. However, others estimated that with
the separation from Bombay, many opportunities would come their way
and they would gain in power; accordingly, they all voted, along with
the Muslims, for the separation from Bombay Presidency. Sindh became
autonomous and Hindu Sindhis went on later to lose their homeland
because the foundation of the separation was population strength.
Hindus were a minority in a Muslim province. Abdullah Haroon, says
Prof Sharif al Mujahid, played an important role: - A strenuous
advocate and campaigner for the separation o f Sindh from the Bombay
Presidency, he continuously lobbied for it, proposing resolutions at
all-India moots, from 1925 onwards. He repeatedly urged the Aga Khan
who led the Muslim delegation to the Round Table Conference (1930-32)
and Jinnah to get the Sindh separation issue settled favourably
during the London confabulations. Along with Muhammad Ayub Khuhro and
Miran Muhammad Shah, Haroon also played a leading role in getting
Sindh to acquire an autonomous provincial status in the Act of 1935. -
1936-1937:
Hindus subjected to discrimination (see Ram Ramchandani's account.)
October
1939: Gandhi received a telegram from Dr. Choitram Gidwani, Vice
President of the Sind Provincial Congress Committee, from Shikarpur:
It read:'Riots, loot, incendiarism, Sukkur district villages Hindus
mercilessly butchered. Women and girls raped and kidnapped. Hindu
life, property unsafe. Situation most critical. Government policy not
firm. Pray send enquiry committee immediately to see situation
personally. Gandhi's intervention, in his words, was - Now the
only effective way in which I can help the Sindhis (is) to show them
the way of non-violence. But that cannot be learnt in a day. The
other way is the way the world has followed hitherto, i.e. armed
defense of the life and property. God helps only those who help
themselves. The Sindhis are no exception. They must learn the art of
defending themselves against robbers, raiders and the like. If
they do not feel safe and are too weak to defend themselves, they
should leave the place which has proved too inhospitable to live in.
March,
23, 1940: Muslim League passed the Pakistan Resolution at Lahore,
visualizing a Confederal arrangement where units or states will be
autonomous and sovereign.
August
9, 1942: Mahatma Gandhi started the - Quit India = movement, asking
the British to leave India through non-violent means of protests and
non-cooperation.
1946
Sindh, with its Muslim majority, was already under the Muslim League.
The Muslim League got its toehold in Sindh earlier thanks to a Muslim
League candidate who stood for election against Shah Nawaz Bhutto, a
secular Muslim. The latter was defeated because he refused to rise to
the Muslim League's challenge to perform namaz in public. The
opponent made capital of his refusal and won the wrested the seat
from Mr. Bhutto, giving the Muslim League an entry into Sindh
politics.
August
16, 1946: Jinnah declares the day as - Direct Action Day - to get
Pakistan, letting loose loot and murder. Gandhiji agrees to the
Partition of India the very next day. (See Prof. G.A.'s account.)
March,
1947: One learns what happened from the biography, - Mountabatten,
the Private Story - by Brian Hoey: - Lord Mountbatten was once
again interrupted—this time by Prime Minister Clement Atlee, who
summoned him to an urgent meeting. He was informed that the then
Viceroy of India, Lord Wavell, had failed in his efforts to obtain a
settlement between the various political parties and the main Hindu
and Muslim leaders. Atlee wanted Mountbatten20to take up the job.
Every demand of Mountbatten's was met by Atlee, who did not want to
be bothered by mere details as long as the result was a peaceful end
to this massive burden of what had become a troublesome Empire.
Independence had been promised in 1942 as a reward for the support of
Indian troops against the Japanese, and even earlier, in the 1920s,
moves towards granting independence had started. In any case, the
cost of maintaining a government in India was proving a drain on the
finances of a Britain whose own funds were sorely depleted after six
years of the most expensive war in history. So, in monetary terms
alone, Britain wanted out of India.
He
was given fifteen months to achieve a solution to a problem. By June
1948, the handover of power was to be complete. Mountbatten knew that
if he was going to get the job done in the time allotted he would
inevitably make some enemies. When he arrived in India he realized
that fifteen months was far too long for the period of transition. He
knew that the longer the negotiations went on the more bloodshed
there was likely to be. So he insisted on a shorter period, which was
immediately reduced to five months, so that instead of June 1948 as
the deadline, he now had August 1947 as the date by which he had to
complete the handover. Papers in the Mountbatten archives appear to
confirm that Atlee did not have a firm withdrawal date in mind and
that it was Mountbatten's idea. Mountbatten felt that to go to
India without the Hindu and Muslim leaders knowing there was a
definite date for withdrawal would weaken his position immeasurably.
They would be suspicious that he was not there to end colonial rule,
merely to delay the decision. The means were not all that
important; it was the end that counted. Britain wanted to be rid of its Empire and
Mountbatten was the man to do it. The only guidance which
Mountbatten had from the British government when he took over as
Viceroy was that they fully recognised that India fell naturally into
two parts, Muslim and Hindu, and that it was possible that these
parts could be separated geographically. The last Viceroy arrived in
Delhi on March 22, 1947.
June
1947: The British announce the Partition. The first wave of migration
from Sindh.
August
14-15, 1947: Withdrawal of the British, the birth of independent
India and Pakistan, with Sindh in Pakistan.
August
19, 1947: Riots in Quetta, many Hindus killed (see Lila Kripalani's
account.)
August
20, 1947: Second wave of migration (see
Dr. Ram Buxani's account.)
August
27, 1947: Riots in Nawabshah organised by Mr. Masood, the Muslim
collector of Nawabshah (see Gul & Pahilraj Ramchandani's
account.)
September
1947: Curfew in Hyderabad Sind.
All Hindu families were informed that the refugees were out of
control and that all Hindus were at risk (see A. Daswani's and
Javhar Advani's accounts.)
November
22, 1947: Riots in Hyderabad Sindh (see Chandru Gurbaxani's account.)
December
1947: Hindu houses and businesses were marked overnight. The very
next day Muslim mobs began open looting and occupation with the full
connivance of the authorities (see Dr. Niranjan Dudani's account
and also Shewak Nandwani's.)
Jan 6, 1948 Riots in Karachi and
Hyderabad. The third and the largest wave of migration after these
riots. (see Mangharam Sipahimalani's account as well as Meena
Rupchandani's and Dr. Motilal Jotwani's accounts among several
others.)
Jan-Mar,
1948: The highest numbers of Hindus migrated from Sindh to divided
India. Most settled in the outskirts of Mumbai. The population of
Sindhi Hindus before the Partition in Sindh was 1,400,000.
By
1950, 1,225,000 had left Sindh for India
The following is from: The History of Sindh
Sindhis hail from Sindh, a province, now in Pakistan, but previously a part of undivided India. It was in Sindh where one of the earliest, world-renowned, Indus Valley civilization (2300 BC - 1760 BC) flourished. The Indus Valley civilization is considered a marvel in social set-up and communal living. Sindh covers an area of 58,000 square miles. It's capital is Karachi.
The first mention of Sind is to be found in the Mahabharata,
where Jayadratha the Aryan king of Sind fought against Krishna - on
the side of the Kauravas against the Pandavas. Mention is also made in
the Upanishads about Sind being famous for horses ! It is not
known how long the Aryan kings ruled in the land, but Sind is next
mentioned in History about five centuries before Christ, when Darius,
the King of Iran (Persia), attacked India, captured the Punjab
and then sailed from Peshawar in boats down the river Indus, and
conquered it.
Hindu Sindhis were forced by circumstances
beyond their control to leave their land of birth, their homes and belongings
and flee to India in 1947.
History Of Sindh until 1947:
BC 6000 : Indus Valley - Neolithic settlements.
BC 5000 : Farming, pottery and beads developed.
BC 4000 : PotterÂ’s wheel and bow drill invented.
BC 3500 : Growth of pottery.
BC 3000 : Amri civilization and its ruins.
BC 3100-850 : Sindhi language evolved over a period of 2400 years.
BC 2500 : Kani Kot ruins - civilization
BC 2300 : Mohen-jo-daro civilization
BC 1700 : Aryan rule for about 1000 years starting 1700 BC.
BC 1500 : Sehwan (Sivistan) was important center of Shiva cult.
BC 810 : Egyptian Emperor Sume Rames attacked Sindh
BC 566-490 : Huns ruled Sindh.
BC 519 : Sindh annexed to Persian Achaemenian Empire ruled by King Darius for about 125
years.
BC 326-325 : Alexander the "Great" stormed through the Indus Valley, met
resistance in Sindh and was injured in Multan.
BC 313 : Buddhism was popularised in Sindh during emperor AshokaÂ’s period.
AD 280-500 : Persian rule.
AD 550-711 : i) Rai Sahiras and his son Rai Sahasi ruled Sindh and formed Rai Dynasty.
(ii) Chach succeeded the Rai and founded Brahman Dynasty. (iii) Raja Dahar (ChachÂ’s
son) took over from Chander (ChachÂ’s brother). Raja Dahar ruled Sindh for several
years until the invasion of Arabs, when he was martyred.
AD 711-1026 : Sindh was invaded by a 17-year old Arab General,
Muhammad Bin Qasim, establishing the Arab rule for next
305 years.
AD 1026-1350 : Soomro Dynasty ruled Sindh for 300 years.
AD 1054 : Soomras faced ruinous invasion by Mahmood Ghaznavi and
Allauddin Khilji.
AD 1351 : The rise of the Samma Dynasty in Sindh. "Jams of
Lasbella or currently known as the Alianis"
AD 1521-1554 : Arghun Rule was established in Sindh by Shah
Beg. He was a descendant of Changez Khan.
AD 1554-1591 : General Mirza Isa Beg found Tarkhan Dynasty in
Sindh (Turks in origin) after the death of Shah Hassan Arghun.
AD 1555 : Portuguese sacked Thatta, a bustling metropolis of
Sindh.
AD 1591-1700 : Shanshah Akbar, the Ruler of Hindustan, annexed Sindh, and ruled Sindh
by appointing his governors. (40 Governors were appointed during the 81 years of rule.)
AD 1701-1782 : Kalhoras ruled Sindh for 85 years. Twelve Kalhora rulers ruled during
this time. This period is known as the golden period of Sindhi literature. Poets like Shah
Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sachal Sarmast, and Sami are among the prominent poets of Sindh.
AD 1782-1843 : Talpurs ruled Sindh for 61 years. The country was divided into three
states - Hyderabad State, Khairpur State and the State of Mirpur Khas.
AD 1843 : Talpur rulers of Sindh and Baluchistan were defeated by the British under Sir
Charles Napier.
AD 1847 : Sindh was made part of Bombay Presidency by the British.
AD 1851 : Sindhi language was declared official language of Sindh.
AD 1853 : Final and refined version of Sindhi script was adopted by the British
throughout Sindh and Bombay, which still exist in Sindh today.
AD 1908 : Barrister Ghulam M. Bhurgri and Harchandrai Vishindas demanded independence
of Sindh from Bombay.
AD 1936 : Sindh regained independence from Bombay Presidency.
AD 1947 : India achieved independence from British rule after a long struggle and great
sacrifices. Sindh became part of newly created Islamic State of Pakistan. Riots and violence erupted in Sindh. A massive exodus of Hindu Sindhis resulted. More than 1.1 million Sindhis migrated to India.
Sindh Was Ruled By The Following Dynasties After the Arab Invasion:
- The Sumra Dynasty (750 [1026?] - 1350 A.D.)
- The Samma Dynasty (1351 - 1521 A.D.)
- The Arghun Dynasty (1521 - 1554 A.D.)
- The Turkhan Dynasty (1555 - 1608 A.D.)
- The Moghul Dynasty (1608 - 1701 A.D.)
- The Kalhora Dynasty (1701 - 1783 A.D.)
- The Talpur Dynasty (1783 - 1843 A.D.)
- The British Rule (1843 - 1947 A.D.)
- The Pakistani Rule (1947 A.D. Onward)
References