Sindhi Hindus

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Sindhi Hindus
Total population
c. 7.5 million
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 4,901,407 (2023) [1] [2] [3]
Flag of India.svg  India 2,772,264 (2011) [a] [4] [5]
Languages
Sindhi
Additionally Hindi–Urdu, and English
Religion
Om.svg Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Punjabi Hindus, Gujarati Hindus, Rajasthani Hindus
Jhulelal (Varuna), the Ishta Devta of the Sindhi Hindus. Jhulelal hindu deity.jpg
Jhulelal (Varuna), the Ishta Devta of the Sindhi Hindus.

Sindhi Hindus are Sindhis who follow Hinduism. They are spread across modern-day Sindh, Pakistan and India. After the partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were among those who fled from Pakistan to the dominion of India, in what was a wholesale exchange of Hindu and Muslim populations in some areas. Some later emigrated from the Indian subcontinent and settled in other parts of the world. [6] [7] [8]

Contents

According to the 2023 census, there are 4.9 million Sindhi Hindus residing within the Sindh province of Pakistan with major population centers being Mirpur Khas Division and Hyderabad Division that combined account for more than 2 million of them. [3] Meanwhile, the 2011 census listed 2.77 million speakers of Sindhi in India, including speakers of Kutchi, [9] a number that does not include Sindhi Hindus who no longer speak the Sindhi language. The vast majority of Sindhi Hindus living in India belong to the Lohana jāti , which includes the sub-groups of Amil, Bhaiband and Sahiti. [10] [11]

History of Hinduism in Sindh

Before the Arab invasions

Prior to Arab invasions, majority of Sindh's population practiced Hinduism, although a significant minority adhered to Buddhism as well. [12] During the Arab invasions, majority of Sindhi Hindus were a rural pastoral population, who lived mostly in upper Sindh, a region that was entirely Hindu; while the Buddhists of Sindh were a mercantile population, who lived entirely in the urban areas of lower Sindh. [13]

Arab rule

After many successful raids, collaboration by the local Buddhist population, and resistance by the local Hindu population, the army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muhammad Bin Qasim successfully invaded and conquered Sindh in 712CE, against the last Hindu king of Sindh, Raja Dahir. [14]

Sindh, under the control of Qasim, saw a decline of Buddhism, as most Buddhists started converting to Islam. The later reign of the Delhi Sultanate, led to further decline, with both Hinduism and Buddhism becoming minority religions in Sindh. Buddhism later collapsed and ceased to exist in Sindh, while Hinduism remained persistent, managing to survive and flourish throughout the centuries as a minority religion. The consistency of Hinduism in Sindh is credited the dependency of the rural Hindu population on Brahmins. [13]

Partition and after

Prior to the partition of India, as per the 1941 census, the Sindhi Hindu population accounted for around 27% of Sindh's population, most of whom moved to India. Today, Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan number around 4.2 million, around 9% of the region's population. Sindhi Hindus are the largest ethnolinguistic Hindu group in Pakistan. [15]

Religious syncretism with Islam and Sikhism

Historically, Sindhi Hindus have embraced forms of religious syncretism, as a large proportion of the Sindhi Hindus have been close to Islam through revering Sufi saints at Sufi shrines as well close to Sikhism through the Nanakpanthi, an approach in which Guru Nanak's teachings are respected but without necessarily following the other gurus nor identifying as Sikhs. [16]

Groups and communities

Majority of Sindhi hindus belong to Lohana community who are historically traders, merchants and government officials, The Sindhi Lohanas are divided into different sub-groups for example Amils, Bhaibands, Hyderabadi Bhaiband (Sindhi Varki), Sahitis, Shikarpuris, Hatvaniya/Hatwara, Thattai, Bhagnari etc, these sub-groups have their own hundreds of surnames/castes. [17] Other communities are Bhatia (Larai) and Arora (Riasti) all of them are called as Wāniya and Deewan in Sindh and belong to Waishya Varna of Hinduism. There are also few Sindhi Brahmins for example Pokarno and Sarsat or Sarsudh. [18] Hindu Rajputs are mainly found in Thar region. The tribal groups like Dhed, Bhils, Meghwars, Kolhis etc form second largest group among Sindhi Hindus and are mostly found in Southeast of Sindh.

The Sindhi hindus do not have caste based division nor the concept of higher caste or lower caste, there is no evil of untouchability. [19]

Sindhi Hindus in India

Partition

During the first half of 1948, approximately 1 million Sindhi Hindus immigrated to India. [20] Various refugee colonies have been set up by Government of India for accommodation of Sindhi refugees across the nation like: Ahmedabad, Gandhidham, kandla and Adipur camps in Gujarat, Sindhi Camp bus stand in Rajasthan's capital Jaipur, Cox Town camp in Karnataka's capital Bangalore and Ulhasnagar (Kalyan Camp) in Maharashtra. [21]

Contemporary situation

According to the 2011 Census of India, there are around 2.8 million Sindhi-language speakers living in India, however, this number does not include ethnic Sindhis who no longer speak Sindhi. [22] Sindhis formed a major-chunk of population of Ulhasnagar Municipality (Mumbai Metropolitan Region), Maharashtra. The population of Ulhasnagar city is 500k, out of which 400k of the residents are Sindhis, thus constituting 80% of the city's population as per 2011 census report. Ulhasnagar is also known as India's "Mini Sindh" due to having the highest concentration of Sindhis in one city in India. [23] [24] [25]

Family names

Conventions

Most Sindhi Hindu family names are a modified form of a patronymic and typically end with the suffix "-ani", which is used to denote descent from a common male ancestor. One explanation states that the -ani suffix is a Sindhi variant of 'anshi', derived from the Sanskrit word 'ansh', which means 'descended from' (see: Devanshi). The first part of a Sindhi Hindu surname is usually derived from the name or location of an ancestor. In northern Sindh, surnames ending in 'ja' (meaning 'of') are also common. A person's surname would consist of the name of his or her native village, followed by 'ja'. The Sindhi Hindus generally add the suffix ‘-ani’ to the name of a great-grandfather and adopt the name as a family name. [26] [27] [28]

Surnames

CasteSurnames [29]
Sindhi Amil Lohana Advani, Ahuja, Ajwani, Bathija, Bhambhani, Bhavnani, Bijlani, Chhablani, Chhabira, Chhugani, Chugani, Dadlani, Daryani, Dudani, Essarani, Gabrani, Gidwani, Gurnani, Hingorani, Hemrajani , Idnani, Issrani Jagtiani, Jaisinghani, Jhangiani, Kandharani, Karnani, Kewalramani, Kewlani, Khubchandani, Kriplani, Haswani, Lalwani, Mahtani, Makhija, Malkani, Manghirmalani, Manglani, Manshani, Mansukhani, Mirchandani, Motwani, Mukhija, Panjwani, Punwani, Ramchandani, Raisinghani, Rijhsanghani, Sadarangani, Shahani, Shahukarani, Shivdasani, Sipahimalani (shortened to Sippy in many instances), Sitlani, Sarabhai, Singhania, Takthani, Thadani, Tanwani, Vaswani, Wadhwani and Uttamsinghani
Sindhi Bhaiband Lohana Aishani, Agahni, Anandani, Aneja, Ambwani, Asija, Bablani, Bajaj, Bhagwani, Bhaglani, Bhojwani, Bhagnani, Balani, Baharwani, Biyani, Bodhani, Chandiramani, Channa, Chattani, Chothani, Chughani, Dalwani, Damani, Dhingria, Dolani, Dudeja, Gangwani, Ganglani, Gulrajani, Hiranandani, Hotwani, Harwani, Jagwani, Jamtani, Jobanputra, Juneja, Jumani, Kateja, Kodwani, Khabrani, Khanchandani, Khushalani, Kirpalani, Lakhani, Lanjwani, Longan, Lachhwani, Ludhwani, Lulia, Lokwani, Manghnani, Mamtani, Melwani, Mirani, Mirpuri, Mirwani, Mohinani, Mulchandani, Nihalani, Nankani, Nathani, Parwani, Phull, Qaimkhani, Ratlani, Rajpal, Rustamani, Ruprela, Rajwani, Rijhwani, Ramnani, Sambhavani, Santdasani, Shamdasani, Soneji, Setia, Sewani, Tejwani, Tilokani, Tirthani, Wassan, Vangani, Varlani, Vishnani, Visrani, Virwani and Valbani

Notable Sindhi Hindus

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Includes speakers of the Sindhi and 1 million speakers of the Kutchi language; some Sindhi and Kutchi speakers, especially in Kutch in Gujarat and in western Rajasthan, are Muslims while many ethnic Sindhi Hindus no longer speak the language.

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Sindhis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group, originating from and native to the Sindh region of Pakistan, who share a common Sindhi Sindhi culture, history and language. The historical homeland of Sindhis is bordered by southeastern Balochistan; the Bahawalpur region of Punjab; the Marwar and Jaisalmer regions of Rajasthan; and the Kutch region of Gujarat.

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References

  1. ↑ Centre for Land Warfare Studies https://archive.claws.in  › roots-of-si... Roots of Sindhi-Hindu Exodus from Pakistan
  2. ↑ "Hindu Population (PK) – Pakistan Hindu Council". Archived from the original on 15 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Table 9: Population by Religion, Sex and Rural/Urban" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2017.
  4. ↑ Data on Language and Mother Tongue. "Census of India 2011" (PDF). p. 7.
  5. ↑ "Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength – 2011" (PDF). Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 29 June 2018.
  6. ↑ Rita Kothari, Burden of Refuge: Sindh, Gujarat, Partition, Orient Blackswan
  7. ↑ Nil (4 June 2012). "Who orchestrated the exodus of Sindhi Hindus after Partition?". tribune.com.pk. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Nandita bhavnani (2014). The making of exile: sindhi hindus and the partition of india. Tranquebar Press. ISBN   978-93-84030-33-9 . Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  9. ↑ Data on Language and Mother Tongue. "Census of India 2011" (PDF). p. 7.
  10. ↑ Ramey, S. (27 October 2008). Hindu, Sufi, or Sikh: Contested Practices and Identifications of Sindhi Hindus in India and Beyond. Springer. ISBN   978-0-230-61622-6.
  11. ↑ Schaflechner, Jürgen (2018). Hinglaj Devi: Identity, Change, and Solidification at a Hindu Temple in Pakistan. Oxford University Press. pp. 71–75.
  12. ↑ Malik, Jamal (31 October 2008). Islam in South Asia: A Short History. BRILL. p. 40. ISBN   978-90-474-4181-6 . Retrieved 15 September 2023. Sind's majority population followed Hindu traditions but a substantial minority was Buddhist.
  13. 1 2 Maclean, Derryl N. (1989). "Religion and Society in Arab Sind". BRILL. pp. 123–132. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  14. ↑ Hiltebeitel, Alf (May 1999). Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics: Draupadi Among Rajputs, Muslims, and Dalits. University of Chicago Press. p. 281. ISBN   9780226340500 . Retrieved 15 September 2023. While the results of Buddhist collaboration in Sind were short-lived, the history of Hinduism there continued in multiple forms, first with Brahman-led resistance continuing in upper Sind around Multan...
  15. ↑ "Hindus of Pakistan reject CAA, do not want Indian Prime Minister Modi's offer of citizenship". Gulf News. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  16. ↑ Ramey, Steven W. 2008. Hindu, Sufi, or Sikh: Contested Practices and Identifications of Sindhi Hindus in India and Beyond. New York: Springer.
  17. ↑ Hīrānandāṇī, Popaṭī (1984). History of Sindhi Literature: Post-independence, 1947-1978. Prof. Popati R. Hiranandani. p. 26.
  18. ↑ Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1851). Sindh, and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of the Indus. W. H. Allen. p. 310. As usual among the Hindoo race, wherever it is settled, they have divided themselves into different tribes. The Satawarna, or seven castes of Indians in Sindh, are as follows:--1. Brahman; 2. Lohano; 3. Bhatio; 4. Sahto; 5. Waishya (including a number of trades as Wahun, grain-toaster; Khatti, dyer, &c.); 6. Panjabi; and 7. Sonaro. Five of these belong, properly speaking, to the Waishya (the third, or merchant) division of pure Indians. The seventh is a mixed caste, descended from a Brahman father and a Shudra mother.
  19. ↑ Hīrānandāṇī, Popaṭī (1984). History of Sindhi Literature: Post-independence, 1947-1978. Prof. Popati R. Hiranandani.
  20. ↑ The Partition Museum https://www.partitionmuseum.org  › ... Partition of India - 1947 Partition, History
  21. ↑ "How refugees from Sindh rebuilt their lives – and India – after Partition". 13 August 2022.
  22. ↑ "Now, class 6th & 8th students of U.P. Govt schools to learn about Sindhi deities, personalities". 23 May 2023. As per the 2011 census, there are 2,772,364 Sindhi speakers in India. However, this number does not include ethnic Sindhis who no longer speak the language.
  23. ↑ "Sindhi conversions in Ulhasnagar raise a storm".
  24. ↑ "Ulhasnagar : Brands Of Ethnicity".
  25. ↑ "'Made in USA—Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association': How Sindhis created businesses after Partition". 4 September 2022.
  26. ↑ "Sindhishaan - Whats in Name".
  27. ↑ "Sindhi Surnames".
  28. ↑ Sakhrani, Tarun (4 January 2016). "The Sindhis of Sindh And Beyond". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  29. ↑ U.T Thakur (1959). Sindhi Culture.

Sources

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