Sindhi Language

Sindhi is an Indo-Aryan language that is spoken by about forty four million people in the province of Sindh, Pakistan and is a recognised official language of India. In India, it is spoken by over twelve million people who migrated from Pakistan. The language can be written using the Devanagari or the Arabic scripts. It has to be acknowledged that Sindh is probably the most effected part of the sub-continent and Pakistan that has suffered because of the migration during partition when over a million Hindu Sindhis migrated to India. It is sad that the detachment and disruption in their lives have remained hidden from most of the world. Sindhi is one of the ancient languages of the world and it is spoken in India, Pakistan, USA, Canada and Europe. The Sindhi language and culture play an important role in uniting the Sindhis all over the world. In India, Sindhi is one of the scheduled languages that are officially recognised by the federal government. Sindhi is one of the languages that were recognised in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution on 10th April 1967. Sindhi is influenced from a local version of the oral form of Sanskrit and from Balochi which is spoken in the province of Baluchistan. Most Sindhi speakers are concentrated in the Sindh province and in Kutch. Ulhasnagar near Mumbai is the largest Sindhi enclave in India. History Historically, Sindh was the seat of one of the most advanced urban civilisations of the world at Mohenjo-Daro. During the Indus Valley Civilisation at Mohenjo-Daro, the Sindhis used to grow grains and live in well built houses. In the beginning of the eighth century, Sindh was ruled by a Brahmin King, Raja D’Ahir, who was defeated by the Arab General Mohammad Bin Qasim in 712. The influence of Islam and Arabic language started in Sindh around this time. When we look at history, we realise that it is not new for the Sindhi language to have been threatened. When the Arabs invaded Sindh, the language faced many Arabic challenges. The threats came later from the Parsis and the English but the Sindhi language survived. For almost a thousand and two hundred years, Sindh was ruled by many native or foreign rulers. Most of this period was covered by Muslims. Sindhi has a large vocabulary and an old literary tradition. It is a favorite language of many writers and therefore a huge volume of literature, especially poetry has been written in Sindhi. The Sindhi language has descended from the Apabhramsha Prakrit named Vrachada. Arab travellers like Abu Rehan Biruni in his book, `Tahqiq Ma Lil Hind’, has mentioned that Sindhi language was used in the region with three different scripts that were Ardhanagari, Saindhu and Malwari. Over the course of next few centuries, Sindhi culture absorbed Arabic and Persian words which enhanced its heritage. Script The oldest record of the language and script of Sindhi is represented in Mohenjo-Daro seals. The seals show some pictographic script that goes back nearly five thousand years. When the British came to Sindh, they found the script to be in Devanagari. Some British scholars found the language Sanskritic and thought that the Devanagari script would be right for it. In 1850, they translated the Bible in Sindhi in the Devanagari script. In 1868, the Bombay Presidency assigned the Narayan Jagannath Vaidya to replace the abugida used in Sindhi with the Khudabadi script. The script was responsible for creating anarchy in the Muslim majority region. There were other British scholars who opined that the Arabic script suited the language as most of the writers were Muslims and their Muslim names could not be written so well in the Devanagari script. Sir Richard Burton, an Orientalist, with the help of some local scholars evolved a fifty two letter Sindhi alphabet. As the Arabic script could not express many Sindhi sounds, a scheme of dots was worked out for that purpose. As a result of this, the Sindhi script today not only has all its own sounds but it also contains the four Z’s of Arabic. The government of India recognised both the Devanagari and the Arabic scripts. Grammar and Phonology Sindhi has a large collection of both consonants and vowels when compared with the other languages. Sindhi has forty six consonant phonemes and sixteen vowels. The consonant to vowel ratio is three to one. All nasals, retroflex flaps and the lateral approximants have aspired counterparts. The language features four implosives. Implosive consonants are actually stops that can be modified by phonation. The vowels are short and of modal length. In Sindhi, consonants have different shapes according to their position in a word. Vowel signs are added to consonants to make the words. Captain George Stack, an eminent British linguist, wrote that he always considered English as a beautiful and copious language in the world until he learnt Sindhi and realised that causal verbs in Sindhi gave the language a beauty that was unique. Dialects The main dialect in Sindhi is Vicholi and it is spoken in Central Sindh. Saraiki is spoken mainly in Upper Sindh. Lari is spoken in Lower Sindh. Lasi is spoken in Western Sindh and Baluchistan. Thari is spoken in the desert region on the southeast border of Sindh and in parts of the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan. Kacchi is spoken in the Kutch region and in some parts of Kathiawar in Gujarat. Vicholi dialect is the basis for standardised Sindhi. The largest Sindhi speaking place is Hyderabad in Pakistan. Literature Sindhi became a popular literary language between the fourteenth and the eighteenth centuries. Sufis such as Shah Abdul Latif and Lal Shahbaz Qalandar narrated their theosophical poetry describing the relationship between God and His creation. Sindhi literature is rich and is regarded to be among the oldest in the world. Its writers have contributed in various forms, both in poetry and prose. The earliest reference we get to Sindhi literature is found in the writings of the Arab historians. Sindhi was the earliest language of the East in which the Quran was translated in the ninth century. There is evidence of Sindhi poets reciting their verses before the Omayyad Muslim Caliphs in Baghdad, Iraq. Around the same period, treatises were written in Sindhi on astronomy and history. The verses of Pir Nooruddin were known as `ginans’. He was an Ismaili missionary and his ginans are the earliest specimens of Sindhi poetry. His verses are full of mysticism and religious doctrines. Poets like Pir Sadruddin followed him. We also find verses composed by Baba Farid Ganj Shakar in Sindhi and Punjabi languages. Pir Sadruddin modified the old script of Sindhi language that was used by the Lohana caste of Hindus living in Sindh who had converted to Islam under his teachings and were called as `Khojas’. In the fifteenth century, Madrasahs flourished where scholars of Sindh used to teach religion and rhetoric. Shah Abdul Latif gave new life and content to the language and literature of Sindh. He studied the culture of the people and their attachment to the land through music and fine arts. Sadhu Vaswani’s voluminous writings and mystical verses are witness to the beauty of the Sindhi language. Modern Sindhi literature began with the conquest of Sindh by the British in 1843. The printing press was introduced. Magazines and newspapers brought about a revolution in Sindhi literature. Books were translated from English. Progressive thoughts opened up new trends in Sindhi literature. In 1952, Nooruddin Sarki and Abdul Ghafoor Ansari restructured the literary forum of Sindhi language and called it `Sindhi Adabi Sangat’. Initially, its activities were restricted to the city of Karachi in Pakistan. Then, the interest spread throughout the Sindh and in India. Preservation of Sindhi Indian Institute of Sindhology at Adipur-Gandhidham is the main institute in India for the preservation of the Sindhi language and culture. It has developed into a culture university. Many symposiums were held with the active participation of well known scholars and educationists of the Sindhi language. Sindhi community does not have its own exclusive territory for the overall development for its language and education and therefore the need for such a university has come about. The university also promotes the study of Sindhi literature, art and culture. The university will have academic activities like advanced learning and research and will also serve as a centre for the Sindhi community. A sum of about fifty Crore Rupees has been set aside as a corpus fund to earn an interest to be utilised for the running expenses and towards fixtures, furniture and equipment. Use of Sindhi Language After the partition of India and Pakistan, the Sindhi immigrants stayed in many small refugee camps that were located near the urban areas in different parts of the country. Most of them had done their schooling in Sindhi medium of language. These settlements were mostly homogeneous linguistic groups. These Sindhis were able to maintain the cultural and linguistic identity enthusiastically due to the cultural and literary background and social contacts. The functional use of Sindhi was reduced in different formal and informal disciplines in India due to the absence of a unified geographical region and a change in the earlier settlement patterns for their economic survival. However, the Sindhis were able to establish many cultural organisations and educational institutions. The Sindhi settlements have reduced in size and number in these last sixty four years because many Sindhis have left the camps for better job opportunities and spread in the non-Sindhi urban areas. Some of them became non residential Indians and settled all over the world. This drastically influenced the functional use of the Sindhi language. Sindhis have also become bilingual in India and this has limited the use of Sindhi as their mother tongue. As far as education is concerned, many Sindhi medium schools were started and there was at least one Sindhi primary school in almost every Sindhi colony and there are even secondary schools in bigger settlements in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi. There are Sindhi teacher training institutions in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Now, the governmental and non-governmental agencies are encouraging these states to introduce Sindhi language as a subject and teach through evening classes. Sindhi and Mass Media Sindhi is used in different disciplines of mass media. There are one hundred and ten newspapers and periodicals at present that are published in Sindhi in India. This plays a very important part for the Sindhi speaking community. Yet, lack of planning and resourceful infrastructure has prevented the publishers from using modern technology and giving employment to trained persons in the field of communications. Sindhi is also used by the electronic media apart from the print media. Many different stations of All India Radio relay Sindhi programs. A limited time is apportioned for Sindhi on some regional television channels of Doordarshan. Some Sindhi programs are also telecast by private agencies. Since India gained independence, several Sindhi films have been made in the country. Sindhi Language Word Processor The Institute of Information Technology of the University of Sindh has developed a Sindhi language Unicode system to help write eMails. Under the developed Unicode, the institute has also developed Microsoft Office in the Sindhi language while the system helps in composing and is of great use to researchers. The system will also help in vocal compositions as well as doing correction in Sindhi words.