| |
 Sindh (Sindhī:
سنڌ, Urdu: سندھ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan
and historically is home to the Sindhis. Different cultural
and ethnic groups also reside in Sindh including
Urdu-speaking Muslim refugees who migrated to Pakistan from
India upon independence as well as the people migrated from
other provinces after independence. The neighbouring regions
of Sindh are Balochistan to the west and north, Punjab to
the north, Gujarat and Rajasthan to the southeast and east,
and the Arabian Sea to the south. The main languages are
Sindhi and Urdu. The Assyrians (as early as the seventh
century BCE) knew the region as Sinda. The Persians as
Abisind, the Greeks as Sinthus, the Romans as Sindus, the
Chinese as Sintow, in Sanskrit, the province was dubbed
Sindhu meaning "Ocean" while the Arabs dubbed it Al-Sind.
Origin of the name:
The province of Sindh and the people inhabiting the
region had been designated after the river known in Ancient
times as the Sindhus River, now also known by Indus River.
In Sanskrit, síndhu means "river, stream". However, the
importance of the river and close phonetical resemblance in
nomenclature would make one consider síndhu as the probable
origin of the name of Sindh. Later phonetical changes
transformed Sindhu into Hinduš in Old Persian. The Greeks
who conquered Sindh in 325 BC under the command of Alexander
the Great rendered it as Indós, hence the modern Indus, when
the British conquered South Asia, they expanded the term and
applied the name to the entire region of South Asia and
called it India.
Prehistoric period:
 The Indus Valley civilization is the farthest visible
outpost of archaeology in the abyss of prehistoric times.
The prehistoric site of Kot Diji in Sindh has furnished
information of high significance for the reconstruction of a
connected story which pushes back the history of India by at
least another 300 years, from about 2500 BC. Evidence of a
new element of pre-Harappan culture has been traced here.
When the primitive village communities in Balochistan were
still struggling against a difficult highland environment, a
highly cultured people were trying to assert themselves at
Kot Diji one of the most developed urban civilization of the
ancient world that flourished between the year 25th century
BC and 1500 BC in the Indus valley sites of Moenjodaro and
Harappa. The people were endowed with a high standard of art
and craftsmanship and well-developed system of
quasi-pictographic writing which despite ceaseless efforts
still remains un-deciphered. The remarkable ruins of the
beautifully planned Moenjodaro and Harappa towns, the brick
buildings of the common people, roads, public-baths and the
covered drainage system envisage the life of a community
living happily in an organized manner.
This civilisation is now identified as a possible pre-Aryan
civilisation and most probably an indigenous civilization
which was conquered by the invading Aryans. The Brahui
language is possibly a remnant of the civilisation which
flourished in this region.
Geography:
Sindh is located on the western corner of South Asia,
bordering the Iranian plateau in the west. Geographically it
is the third largest province of Pakistan, stretching about
579 km from north to south and 442 km (extreme) or 281 km
(average) from east to west, with an area of 140,915 km²
(54,407 square miles) of Pakistani territory. Sindh is
bounded by the Thar Desert to the east, the Kirthar
Mountains to the west, and the Arabian Sea in the south. In
the centre is a fertile plain around the Indus river. The
devastating floods of the river Indus are now controlled by
irrigation techniques. Karachi became capital of Sindh in
1936, in place of the traditional capitals of Hyderabad and
Thatta. Other important cities include Nawabshah, Sanghar,
Sukkur, Dadu, Shahdadkot, Sehwan, Mirpukhas, Larkana,
Shikarpur, Nosharoferoz, Kashmore, Umerkot, Tharparkar,
Jacobabad, Ghotki, Ranipur, and Moro.
Climate:
A subtropical region, Sindh is hot in the summer and cold in
winter. Temperatures frequently rise above 46 °C (115 °F)
between May and August, and the minimum average temperature
of 2 °C (36 °F) occurs during December and January. The
annual rainfall averages about seven inches, falling mainly
during July and August. The Southwest Monsoon wind begins to
blow in mid-February and continues until the end of
September, whereas the cool northerly wind blows during the
winter months from October to January. Sindh lies between
the two monsoons - the southwest monsoon from the Indian
Ocean and the northeast or retreating monsoon, deflected
towards it by Himalayan mountains — and escapes the
influence of both. The average rainfall in Sindh is only 15
to 18 cm per year, but the loss during the two seasons is
compensated by the Indus, in the form of inundation, caused
twice a year by the spring and summer melting of Himalayan
snow and by rainfall in the monsoon season. These natural
patterns have changed somewhat with the construction of dams
and barrages on the Indus. Climatically, Sindh is divided in
three sections - Siro (upper section centred on Jacobabad),
Wicholo (middle section centred on Hyderabad), and Lar
(lower section centred on Karachi). In Upper Sindh,[2] the
thermal equator passes through Sindh. The highest
temperature ever recorded was 53 °C (127 °F) in 1919. The
air is generally very dry. In winter frost is common. In
Central Sindh, average monsoon wind speed is 18 km/hour in
June. The temperature is lower than Upper Sindh but higher
than Lower Sindh. Dry hot days and cool nights are summer
characteristics. Maximum temperature reaches 43-44 °C
(110-112 °F). Lower Sindh has a damper and humid maritime
climate affected by the south-western winds in summer and
north-eastern winds in winter and with lower rainfall than
Central Sindh. The maximum temperature reaches about 35-38
°C (95-100 °F). In the Kirthar range at 1,800 m7 and higher
on the Gorakh Hill and other peaks in Dadu District,
temperatures near freezing have been recorded and brief snow
fall is received in winters.
Arrival of
Islam:
Sindh in 700 AD, under the Brahmin dynasty.
During the reign of Rashidun Caliph Umar, an expedition
was sent to conquer Makran. This was the first time that
Muslim armies had entered Sindh. The Islamic army defeated
the Hindu king of Sindh, Raja Rasil, on the western bank of
the Indus. The armies of the Raja accordingly retreated to
interior Sindh. Caliph Umar, on getting the information
about the miserable conditions of Sindh, stopped his armies
from crossing the Indus and, instead, ordered them to
consolidate their position in Makran and Baluchistan. Umar's
successor Caliph Uthman also sent his agent to investigate
the matters of Sindh. Upon getting the same information of
unfavourable geographical conditions and the miserable lives
of the people, he forbade his armies to enter Sindh. During
the Rashidun Caliphate only the southwestern part of Sindh
around the western bank of the Indus, and some northern
parts near the frontiers of Baluchistan remained under the
rule of the Islamic empire. The Qur'an was first translated
into Sindhi in rhymatic format. This was the first ever
translation of Qur'an in the 12th century or earlier. Sindh
was finally conquered by Syrian Arabs, led by Muhammad bin
Qasim. Sindh became the easternmost province of the Umayyad
Caliphate referred to as Al-Sindh on Arab maps with lands
further east known as Hind. These maps resemble the current
border between the nations of Pakistan and India. The defeat
of the Hindu ruler Raja Dahir was made easier by the tension
between the Buddhist majority and the ruling Hindus' fragile
base of control. The Arabs redefined the region and adopted
the term Budd to refer to the numerous Buddhist idols they
encountered, a word that remains in use today. The city of
Mansura was established as a regional Misr or capital. Arab
rule lasted for nearly three centuries, and a fusion of
cultures produced much of what is today modern Sindhi
society. Arab geographers, historians and travellers also
sometimes used the name "Sindh" for the entire area from the
Arabian Sea to the Hindu Kush. Arab rule ended with the
ascension of the Soomro dynasty, who were local Sindhi
Muslims, and who controlled the province directly and as
vassals of the Arabs from 1058 to 1249. Turkic invaders
conquered the area by 977 CE and the region loosely became
part of the Ghaznavid Empire and then the Delhi Sultanate
which lasted until 1524.
Mughal Period
The Mughals seized the region and their rule lasted for
another two centuries, while another local Sindhi Muslim
group, the Samma Dynasty, challenged Mughal rule from their
base at Thatta. The Muslim Sufi played a pivotal role in
converting the millions of native people to Islam.
Rohri - Sukkur, by James Atkinson, 1842
Though part of larger empires, Sindh continued to enjoy
a certain autonomy as a loyal Muslim domain and came under
the rule of the Arghun Dynasty and the Tarkhan Dynasty from
1519 to 1625. Sindh became a vassal-state of the Afghan
Durrani Empire by 1747. It was then ruled by Kalhora rulers
and later the Balochi Talpurs[4] from 1783. |
|
