Sindhi History

"The Sindhis, I believe, have a rich contribution to make to the thought and life of India and Humanity. We are children of one of the most ancient civilisations of the world — the Indus Valley Civilisation."

Ancient History

Ancient is the civilisation to which the Sindhis belong. When the Aryans came to India and stood on the banks of the mighty river Indus, they exclaimed in sheer wonder, "Sindhu! Sindhu!" The word 'Sindhu' appears in a number of hymns in the oldest Scripture of humanity, the Rigveda. The Sindhu (Indus) valley civilisation is at least 7,000 years old. And India was originally called "Sindhustan" — the Land of the Sindhu.

The South Asian region is separated from the rest of Asia by a wall of ranges — the Hindu Kush, the Sulaiman, the Karakoram and the Himalayas. Below these are the seemingly endless plains drained by the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers. The longest of the three great subcontinental rivers is the Indus, now in Pakistan. The river has given its name to a country and a religion — ironically, not the country through which it flows or the religion of the people who live by its waters. It is fed by many streams from the mountains of Tibet, the Soviet Union, and Afghanistan. Five other major rivers flow into the Indus: the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas.

Mohenjo-daro

In the 1920s an expedition of the Indian Archaeological Survey under Sir John Marshall excavated an interesting mound of earth in the Sind region of then British India. The locals called this particular mound Mohan-jo-daro — "the place of the dead." Sir John and his party discovered one of the world's most ancient cities beneath it. Up to that time the ancient settled areas along the Tigris-Euphrates and the Nile River systems had seemed to merit the title of "cradle of civilisation" — now the Indus was making its claim.

Other sites were investigated, and the cities of the Indus Valley were unearthed — Harappa, Chanhu-daro, Lothal, Kot Diji — highly developed cities that told of a civilisation which had begun around 3000 BC, reached its apex by 2000, and completely perished by 1000 BC.

Recent Past — The Partition of 1947

With the Partition in 1947 the Sindhis had to leave their home and have spread themselves out in every part of the world. Though driven away as refugees from their homeland, they have remained with their own Aryans who had spread out across the country. The brother Aryans kept the banner of Sindh alive by including their identity in the National Song and recognizing Sindhis as a positive community.

When, due to the partition of India, the Sindhis were dispossessed of their lands and properties, they did not give into despair. Leaving their properties and possessions in Sindh, they migrated to India, bringing with themselves their enterprising spirit, their faith in God, and their many qualities of head and heart. In Sindh, there was never a Sindhi beggar. When they came to India, they resolved that they would starve rather than beg. Little boys attended school during the day and in the afternoon kept themselves busy hawking on the streets or in railway trains.

"My regret is that many Sindhis — scattered, as they are, all over India and the world — are unaware of the rich heritage which belongs to them."