I. History and Classification

Sindhi is one of the major Indo-Aryan languages of South Asian region. It is spoken in Pakistan (mainly in said province) and in India. A remarkable number of Sindhi speakers are also scattered in other countries all over the world.

Sind has a rich cultural heritage and literary background. The Indus Valley civilization is one of the most ancient and highly developed civilization of the World. It is a well known fact that the Vedas were composed on the bank of Sindhu river and the word 'Hind' is derived from the word 'Sind' .

1.1   History
According to the archaeologists, Sindh is mainly a seaborn land. It is a land of rich diversity having arid desert, hills and plain fertile fields. The river Sindhu is the lifeline of Sind. The great River is the source of inspiration and devotional feeling.

In the ancient period, the boundaries of Sind were extended to Kashmir, Kandhar and Kanoj in the North and to Saurashtra in the South.

The Indus Valley Civilization, as known from the Mohenjo Daro excavations has excited the wonder of archaeologists and historians, because of its planning and continuity of culture. Sir John Marshall calls the Indus Valley Culture as 'a marvelous culture, surpassing in many respects the splendour of Egypt and Mesopotamia'.

During the Ramayana and Mahabharata period, the centre of power was shifted from the Sindhu to the Ganges and the Yamuna. Hence Sind is referred in these two great epics.

Suryavanshi Kings had extended their Kingdom upto the Sind and Kaikanya regions. Kai Kai a Queen of Dashrath belonged to this region. Lateron it was ruled by Bharat and his two sons: Taksha and Pushkar. During the Mahabharata period Jaydrath was the ruler of Sind.

Being a rich business centre and frontier region, it had been a trampling ground for aliens and invaders. The history of Sind had been alternated between invasions from other countries and rise and fall of indigeneous dynasties.

Cyrus, the Persian King (558-530 B.C.) sent his army to Sind but he failed in annexing it. It was later annexed by his successor, Darius the Great. Alexander the Great marched through the valley in 326-25 B.C. In 305 B.C. Sind became the part of Mauryan dynasty. They brought Buddhism in this region. In the Second century B.C., Greek kings of Bacteria claimed sovereignty over Sind and Punjab, which was followed by the conquest of Sakas (Seythians) Kushans and Hans.

During the sixth century A.D. Rai Dyansty ruled over Sind independently. It was over powered by Chach-a Brahmin. After his death his son Daharsen ruled over Sindh.

In 712 A.D., Muhamad bin Qasim defeated Daharsen and stabilized the Arab rule in Sind which continued up to 1050 A.D. In 1050 A.D., Sumras (Pawar Rajputs) who had accepted Islam, established their independent rule in Sindh. In 1350 A.D., they were taken over by Sumras (Yadav Rajputs) who got converted to Islam (Jadeja rules of Kutch region also belong to the Samma tribe remained Hindu).

In sixteenth century, sind was ruled by Turkish tribes: Arghuns (1520-1555) and Turkhans (1555-1592). The important event of this period was the refuge of Humayun and birth of Akbar the great in Sind. From 1592 to 1737 A.D. Sind was ruled by the Mughal empire. During the declining days of Mughals, Kalhoras-a Balochi tribe established themselves as the rulers of Sind in 1737 A.D. The East India Company established its first business centre in Sindh in 1758 A.D. In 1783 A.D., the Kalhoras were displaced by the Talpans (Mirs) - another Balochi tribe. In 1843 A.D., the British conquered Sind from Talpans and annexed it to the Bombay Residency. Sind took active part in the national freedom movement. In 1937 A.D., Sind was separated from the Bombay Presidency and got provincial autonomy. The Sind provincial assembly was the first legislative in the subcontinent to pass resolution demanding the establishment of Pakistan.

Due to the partition in 1947 A.D., the whole Sind province became a part of Pakistan. About one million Hindu-Sindhis were uprooted from their motherland and scattered all over India.

1.2   Scripts used to document the language
During the course of its history, various scripts have been used for the Sindhi language. During the period of Muslim rule, Arabic language was used by Muslims and Sanskrit and Hindi & Punjabi were used by Hindus for their religious and devotional purposes. Persian was the language of administration and education and therefore different writing systems were in vogue for Sindhi.

Abdul Hasan Thattawi (1661-1711) modified the Arabic Script for Sindhi, which is called Arabic-Sindhi or Perso-Arabic Sindhi. Besides its various forms, Devanagari was also common for Sindhi. A great number of manuscripts were written by Islmaili Muslims in 'Chaliha-Akhari' a modified form of old Devanagari having forty letters.

The poetry of famous poets of medieval period namely Qazi Qadam (1463-1551), Dadu Dayal (1544-1603) and Prannath (1618-94) were written in Devanagari. Lunda (also known as Hatai or Hatvaniki) script was used by Hindu traders. Gurmukhi script was common among Nanakpanthis Sindhis. Sami (1743-1850) wrote his poetry in Gurmukhi.

In the later part of 19th Century, when the British rulers decided to run their local administration in Sindhi and introduced it for formal education, a modified form of Perso-Arabic Script was officially recognized for Sindhi. The use of other three scripts was also continued in their domains.

At present in India, two scripts (Arabic Sindhi and Devanagari Sindhi) are officially recognized for Sindhi, While in Pakistan it is written only in the Arabic Sindhi.

1.3   Stages of Development

Due to the natural calamities and invasions, no specimens of the Sindhi language prior to the Sumra rule (1050-1350) are traced. Even then many references show that during the early Arab rule a number of Sindhi writings related to history of Sind, Mahabharata and other subjects were available and translated into Arabic before 1000 A.D.

During the Sumra rule many unknown poets composed heroic and romantic verses based on the famous Sindhi folktales. Panjras-five lined devotional verses sang in praise of uderolal (also known as Jhulelal, Amanlal and Zinddh Pir etc.) and legends and stories related to the River Sindhu were also composed.

From the later part of 15th century, Sindhi became a language of literature. During the Muslim rule, on the one hand Sindhi was remarkably influenced by the Arabic and Persian and on the other hand it preserved its many original forms. Alongwith poetry, Sindhi prose developed in the British era. During this period it became a language of local administration, education, mass media and literature.

The state of Sindhi underwent a drastic change due to the Partition (1947). On the one hand, about one million Hindu-Sindhis who played a major role in the development of Sindhi were compelled to leave Sind on the political ground, and on the other hand a great number of non-Sindhi speakers settled in Sind, which changed the demographical composition of Sind and reduced the use of Sindhi language.

Sindhi is recognized as the State language of Sind in Pakistan and a schedule language in India. In India, it is a stateless language. It has a very limited role to play in the domains of administration and higher education. Even then due to the rich cultural heritage, literary tradition and strong social contacts, the Sindhi speakers are very enthusiastic to maintain their linguistic identity in India. Apart from 'in group' communication, Sindhi is widely being used in different formal domains such as education, mass and literature.

Modern Sindhi has an history of one thousand years .

1.2.1. Origin and Development of Sindhi

There are different opinions about the origin and ancestry of the Sindhi language. Trumpp, Grierson, Mirza QalichBeg, Hatchand Gubaxani, Berumal Mahachand, U.M. Daudpoto and many other scholars are of the opinion that Sindhi is a pure Sanskritical language, which has derived from the Vrachadr Apabhramsh form of Prakrit. Serajul Haq feels that Sanskrit is developed from Sindhi, if not directly, atleast indirectly. According to G.A. Allans 'Sindhi' is a non-Aryan language whose roots must be found in the ancient Mohenjo-Daro civilization, which was named Saindhav, Saindhvi and now known as Sindhi. N.B. Baloch suggested that the ancient Sindhi language was most probably some language belonging to Semitic group, but lateron he accepted that it is developed from an old form of Prakrit. On the basis of stages of development and structure of Sindhi it is accepted that it is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the North West group of the family which is surrounded by Dardic (Kashmiri and Pashto), Iranian (Balochi) and Dravidian (Brahmi) language families and enriched by the Arabic and Persian languages.

1.2.2. Major Dialects of Sindhi

On the basis of regional variation Sindhi has the following six major dialects.

1.2.2.1. Sireli: It is spoken in the Northern part of Sind. As the area touches Mutan in the North, its influence can be observed on Sireli.
1.2.2.2. Vicholi: It is spoken in Central part of Sind. Vicholi is considered as the 'standard variety of the language. It is used in formal domains such as education and literature'.
1.2.2.3. Lari: It is spoken in the Southern part of Sind.
1.2.2.4. Thari: It is also called Thareli. It is spoken in the desert region of the South East border of Sind and a part of Jai Salmer and Barmer districts of Rajasthan in India.
1.2.2.5. Lasi: It is spoken in the Lasbelo region and a part of Kohistham on the Western region of Sind.
1.2.2.6. Kachchhi: It is spoken in the Southern region of Sind and Kutch-Samashtra region of Gujarat in India.

In India, the Sindhi dialect situation has undergone a considerable change. Among the migrated Sindhi speakers the original regional dialectical variations are reduced to the standard variety of language. Their language is also being influenced by dominant languages, mainly Hindi and English and upto some extent by other local languages of the regions where they are settled.