Mobility and Material Heritage

Most Lawatiya have no living memory or record of when the founders of the lineages to which they belong to settled in Oman from Sindh and Gujarat. Almost without exception, however, the Lawatiya belong to different related lineages. Each lineage is descended from a common male ancestor, the founder of the lineage, to whose name the Sindhi suffix -ani is added to denote descent. In some cases, the -ani lineage name is derived from a founder-ancestor who bears a typical Muslim name such as Faydalani (from Faydullah), Khalfanani (Khalfan), Jamalani (Jamal), Muradani (Murad), etc. Most other lineage names, however, are not derived from founder-ancestors with Muslim sounding names, for example Badwani (from Badu), Sajwani (Saju), Shalwani (Shalu), Najwani (Naju), etc. It has been suggested that these latter names are nevertheless corrupted from original Arabic names. The lineage name Salyani, for example, is thought to derive from Salih. What is clearly missing among the Lawatiya are the distinctive names which end with a -ji or -si suffix (such as Ramji, Dewji, Kanji, Walji or Champsi, Rattansi, etc.) commonly found among Khoja groups that settled elsewhere across the Western Indian Ocean littoral. Instead, the Lawatiya lineages tend to have a far higher prevalence of Muslim names going back to the earliest known founders of each lineage. This suggests that at least some of the Lawatiya may have emerged from a Sindhi Muslim background as opposed to more recently converted Hindu castes from Gujarat.

In addition to the -ani Sindhi suffix lineage name, the Lawatiya were also known locally as Hyderabadi. The Arabic nisba al-Hyderabadi is used in Arabic deeds and by the Lawatiya themselves throughout the nineteenth century in reference to the origins of some of the lineages of the group from the town of Hyderabad, Sindh, founded in 1768. The precise nature, however, of this connection of the Lawatiya lineages to Hyderabad, Sindh is, however, obscure. There appear to be no traces of the original Lawatiya settlement in Hyderabad, Sindh. The spoken Sindhi sociolect of the Lawatiya , known as Khojki among the Lawatiya, also appears to be closer to Kutchi today than to the central Sindhi dialect (vicholi) spoken in Hyderabad, Sindh. This linguistic shift is sometimes credited to the arrival and dominance of a second wave of Kutchi speaking Khojas that migrated to Oman directly from Kutch and merged with the original Sindhi speaking Lawatiya group that came from Hyderabad, Sindh.

The evidence of the oral traditions preserved by the Aga Khani Khojas suggests a long history of transregional mobility of Khojas between the neighboring regions of Sindh, Kutch, and Kathiawar. The earliest attested example of movement appears to be from Sindh to Kutch. It is linked to the mobility of a spiritual master (pīr) known as Pir Dadu (d. 1005/1596?). Pir Dadu is credited with converting locals in Sindh to the satpanth religious tradition that is associated today with the Khojas. Pir Dadu is said to have fled persecution in Sindh and settled in Bhuj, Kutch, taking with him converted Sindhi satpanthi families from Sindh to Kutch. The examples of movement in the opposite direction, from Kutch to Sindh, are more recent. They are either connected to the Rann of Kutch earthquake of 1819 or to famines that devastated Kutch and other parts of Gujarat in the first decades of the nineteenth century. An example is the trajectory of a certain Assa son of Danidina. Danidina is said to have been a native of Okhamandal, situated on the northern most tip of Kathiawar. In the late eighteenth century, he settled in Bhuj, Kutch. He is the earliest known individual responsible for collecting religious dues from the Khojas of Kutch and transferring them to the grandfather and later to the father of Aga Khan I in Iran. In 1819, following the Rann of Kutch earthquake, Danidina’s son Assa left Bhuj, Kutch, and trekked via Lakhpat, Kutch, to a small port on the Kutch-Sindh border known as Ramki Bazar (Rahimki Bazar) situated today in Tharparkar, Sindh. From Ramki Bazar, Assa is said to have trekked to Hyderabad where he was granted a fief by the local ruler near the Fulailee River, about a mile from the fort of Hyderabad.

The story of Assa is the earliest known fragment preserved in the Aga Khani Khoja oral tradition which attests to the presence in the early nineteenth century of Khojas from Kutch in Hyderabad, Sindh. Not much more is known about this early Kutchi Khoja presence in Hyderabad, Sindh, and its subsequent evolution. Are the present day Lawatiya descended from this historic Kutchi Khoja presence in Hyderabad, Sindh? Michel Boivin has shown that the Khoja community in Karachi emerged out of individuals with diverse caste backgrounds from Sindh and Gujarat. What united these individuals and made them “Khoja” was their conversion by a pīr to a specific religious tradition known as satpanth. The invocatory prayer (duʿa) of this religious tradition and its ritual of communion (ghat-pāt) affirmed the adherence of the Khojas to a specific chain (silsila) of Sufi masters (pīrs). Most of the pirs of the Khoja silsila in Sindh and Gujarat traced their lineage as sayyids (descendants of the Prophet) to a fourteenth century Sufi buried in Multan, Pir Shams Sabazawari Multani (d.757/1356). In the nineteenth century, however, following the arrival of Aga Khan I in Sindh from Iran in 1843, the charismatic authority of local pīrs claiming descent from Pir Shams declined among most Khojas who recognized Aga Khan I as their pīr and later as a Nizari Ismaʿili imam. Khojas, who chose not to recognize the Aga Khan I as a Nizari Ismaʿili imam, identified themselves as Sunni or Twelver Shiʿi, and, in so doing, also abandoned the old Khoja silsila of pīrs and ritual of communion.

The script is simply referred to by the Lawatiya as “Sindhi” not “Khojki Sindhi”. The term Khojki is used by the Lawatiya to refer to their spoken sociolect

It is likely that a similar integrative process occurred in Hyderabad, Sindh, prior to the arrival of the Aga Khan I. Recognition of the spiritual authority of a specific chain of pīrs through the invocatory prayer (duʿa) and ritual of communion allowed a diverse group of individuals to become Khoja. It meant that individuals such as Assa arriving in Sindh from Kutch and local Sindhis known as lotias/lutiyah could come together to form the basis of the Khoja community in Hyderabad, Sindh. It is this new Hyderabadi Khoja group that would later become significant in Oman and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf and use the Arabic nisba al-Hyderabadi. Further linguistic research on the Lawatiya spoken sociolect might be able to shed light on the complex Sindhi-Kutchi confluence that led to the emergence of the Lawatiya community. This confluence probably occurred both in Hyderabad, Sindh itself and in Matrah, Oman where the Lawatiya or Lutiyah, who by now were also known as Khojas and Hyderabadis, had already settled. The example of the formation of Khoja communities elsewhere in the Western Indian Ocean offers comparable examples of a Kutchi-Kathiawari convergence. In the latter case Kutchis and Kathiawaris from diverse agricultural and artisanal caste backgrounds also come together in an integrative process that occurred after the conversion of such individuals to satpanth and their adherence to a silsila of pīrs. It is only in the nineteenth century that such diverse Khoja groups, including the Lawatiya, would become associated mainly with trade.

Tracing the movement of the individual founders of the Lawatiya lineages from Sindh and Kutch to Oman is also made more difficult because in some cases arrival in Oman was preceded by initial settlement in the ports of Makran (coastal zone of Iranian and Pakistani Baluchistan), the Persian Gulf, the Trucial States or even further afield in Bombay. Lawatiya lineages founded by individuals that had initially settled in Chabahhar in Iranian Baluchistan are known as “Chobari”, while those that had settled in Bandar Lingeh (Hurmuzgan province, Iran) in the Persian Gulf are called “Lingewari”. There are also examples of arrival and settlement in Oman that occurred via the Trucial States. For example, one of the early leaders of the Lawatiya community in Matrah, Oman, Hajj Sulyman Qurbun (Qurban ʿAli), is said to have received Hajj ʿAbdullatif b. Fadil (1851-1931) in Matrah after he arrived, accompanied by others, from Raʾs al-Khayma (United Arab Emirates) following his father’s death in 1857. These multiple transregional mobilities of the Lawatiya ancestors as we shall see, is reflected in their material heritage.

Lawatiya Graves

The funerary architecture of the Lawatiya reaffirms the connections of the group to Sindh and Kutch. The oldest extant Lawatiya graves are found in the Lawatiya cemetery in Jibroo, a suburb of Matrah.

The dead body was buried inside a grave pit which was sealed by a rectangular slab. Above this slab a series of additional rectangular slabs were added. The length and width of the additional slabs decreases progressively from the lowest slab to the top slab creating a series of steps in the form of a pyramid. Above the topmost rectangular slab, a qalamdān was added. This Persian term literally means a box or case for storing a pen. The ends of the qalamdān in the grave are in the shape of a pointed arch with two centers. In other cases, the shape of the two ends appears to be closer to an equilateral arch. In most of the surviving examples of such graves from the Lawatiya cemetery in Jibroo, however, the qalamdān is no longer extant above the rectangular slabs. It is impossible to confirm its exact shape or whether the qalamdān had any inscriptions. We know, however, from a surviving example of similar “qalamdān-step” graves in the Khoja Miyan Shah cemetery in the Lyari district of Karachi that an inscription in the Sindhi script associated with the Khojas was usually recorded onto one of the ends of the qalamdān.

The practice of adding an inscription onto the qalamdān is also attested in the graves of the Twelver Shiʿi Khoja cemetery in Kera, Kutch. The Twelver Shiʿi Khoja graveyard in Kera has many “qalamdān-step” graves built with a above a series of rectangular stone slabs. These graves resemble the form of the Lawatiya “qalamdān-step” graves in Jibroo. In Kera, however, the inscriptions at the end of the qalamdān are in Gujarati script.

In both the Karachi example and in Kera, it is not clear if the qalamdān inscriptions were part of the original graves or added during subsequent renovations. Besides the Lawatiya cemetery in Jibroo, in Oman, “qalamdān-step” graves have also been found in the district of Rustaq, in the Al-Batinah region of northern Oman, and in Lughan, a quarter of Muscat outside the walls, beyond Tuyan and al-Rawiyah Fort, west of Hillat al-Shaykh, on the way to al-Wadi al-Kabir.

According to the local inhabitants in Rustaq today, these graves belong to the Lawatiya. This is by no means certain. In the case of Lughan, Lorimer notes at the beginning of the twentieth century, that the quarter was inhabited by Baluchis, which suggests that these graves belong to Baluchis. In Sindh and Baluchistan, however, Baluchi tribes are known to have used a far more elaborate style of the qalamdan-step form known as “Chaukhandi” which flourished between the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries. Large numbers of such Chaukhandi graves are found in graveyards in Baluchistan and in Sindh, the most spectacular examples are in the UNESCO world heritage Makli necropolis in Thatta, lower Sindh. Unlike the simple qalamdan-step graves, Chaukhandi graves involved the use of multiple intricately carved stone slabs. It is therefore possible that the Lughan graves did not belong to Baluchis but to Sindhi Muslims. A colophon of a Quran copied in 1179/1765-1766 by a certain al-Sayyid Muhammad b. Fadil al-Sindhi in Muscat, suggests there was a Sindhi Muslim presence in Muscat. It is likely that the Lughan and Rustaq graves are related to this Sindhi Muslim presence. It is difficult, however, to determine any relationship, other than similar grave architecture, between this Sindhi Muslim presence in Lughan (Muscat) and Rustaq and the Lawatiya lineages who are known to have historically settled in Matrah and were buried in the cemetery in Jibroo.

Written Artefacts in “Khojki Sindhi” Script

Besides Lawatiya graves, surviving written artefacts in “Khojki Sindhi” script among the Lawatiya also point to the historic connections of this group to Sindh and Kutch. Khojki Sindhi script is one of numerous mercantile scripts derived from Brahmi used to record Sindhi. The script is simply referred to by the Lawatiya as “Sindhi” not “Khojki Sindhi”. The term Khojki is used by the Lawatiya to refer to their spoken sociolect. This confirms Shafique Virani’s recent suggestion that the use of “Khojki” and “Khojki Sindhi” in reference to the Sindhi script associated with the Khojas is a neologism. In order, however, to distinguish this script from comparable Sindhi scripts associated with other communities, I have chosen to retain the use of Khojki Sindhi.

So far, Khojki Sindhi script has mainly been studied in relation to its usage to record the ginan genre of devotional hymns of the Khojas of South Asia. The Lawatiya, however, preserve several manuscripts in the script which record elegiac poetry in Sindhi (marsiyo) relating to the martyrdom of al-Husayn. In addition, the Lawatiya have also preserved examples of how Khojki Sindhi script was used for funerary inscriptions on gravestones and for different types of accounting records, business letters and commercial registers. (Continues)

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Zahir Bhalloo – Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), Universität Hamburg

Research for this paper was generously funded by the Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for Culture and Science (SQCCS) through an Oman Research Grant visiting fellowship at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin. An earlier version of the paper was presented online on 8 July 2021.

Courtesy: Open Edition Journals

Click here for Part-I

The post Oman’s Trans-regional Connections to Sindh and Gujarat – Part-II first appeared on Sindh Courier.

By Rakesh Lakhani

The search for any indigenous Brahmi based scripts often starts & terminates at Hat-Wanaki. This despite that fact that Sindhu-Saraswati civilization of Sindh had the very nucleus of not only Indus valley civilization but of Vedic civilization as well. Arabic author Al- Beruni in his writings on ancient Sindh did mention three scripts to be in vogue before the Arab invasion of Sindh viz. Malwari, Hinduvi and Ardhanagri. Yet confusion remains. One of the reasons of such confusion had been lack of historical evidences to counter verify the usage of Brahmised scripts in Sindh. In 1958 a team of researchers led by F. A. Khan did find some sort of evidences of the scripts used in ancient Sindh city of Bhanbhor which was approximately 40 Miles from the Sindh’s capital Karachi. Unfortunately the volume of such evidence is too little to construct the entire script as it existed in ancient Sindh. One of the main reasons needless to say had been the massive Arab Invasion of Sindh which swept all traces of Hindu culture. What Arabs destroyed never got rebuild in the context of Writing Systems in Sindh one can conveniently divide Sindh’s History in two parts. Viz. One before the Arab invasion and the other that followed after the massive upheaval that changed Sindh in all possible manner – culturally, socially and politically. Needless to say while almost all the North and West Indian Scripts could easily be traced to its Brahmi, Sindhi never been that much fortunate. A close analysis revels more than once reason for loss of Historical loss of archeological evidence viz. A) Post Arab Invasion there was a virtual slaughter of Sindhi Hindu Sadhus- the custodian of Learning in ancient India – Such void had a disastrous effect on Sindh which never could be reversed. B) Post Arab invention every attempt was made to wipe out Hindu civilization & Culture including language from Sindh; C) In Kashmir & Punjab where even Hindus regained power from Muslims, the contemporary rulers reintroduced Brahmi based scripts but in Sindh Post Dahir Hindus never to could settle themselves and even those who did settle themselves after accepting Islam never bothered to reintroduce Sindhi Language in Sindh leave apart the Brahmni scripts D) Ever since the massive Arab invasion Hindus were in a bitter struggle of existence. A struggle that continues even today in post-partition Sindh; E) Despite Sindhi Muslim pride for Mohen Jo Daro civilization there had been very few instances where they had been interested in preserving pre Islamic Hindu culture of Sindh. There had been a near unanimous consensus based on hard archaeological proofs that almost all of the scripts of South Asia including those of Indian subcontinent have their origin in Brahmi script. It had been conclusively proved that a gradual transformation did take place spanning thousands of years for the present day scripts to develop as they are today. The figure below depicts the most likely path that Brahmni took in Sindh, Punjab & Kashmir.

In the year 1958 a research team headed by Dr. F A Khan while looking for ancient civilization in Southern Sindh did traced some ancient script. Apart from this there had been very few traces which would clearly establish the link which would conclusively proves that path that Sindhi script might have taken to reach Waranki Script – A form of Landa scripts. Moreover there is still a mystery as how and when Brahmi in Sindh drifted towards Sharda script- The general belief is that the script of Ancient Kashmir Sharda is to be the mother of Northwestern Indo-Aryan Languages. In 1843 with the advent of British in Sindh, Sindhi Language got back it official status after 1500years of brutal Islamic rule. Among those westerners who worked on contemporary scripts were Garrison (Linguistic Survey Of India), Captain George Stack (Writer of Sindhi Grammar& Dictionary in Devanagari Script) and William Litnenar (1882) A collection of specimen of commercial and other Alphabets .The scripts that were in vogue at time of advent of British are as follows as collected by Garrison.

In total Garrison suggested 13 scripts being used in various parts of Sindh but an insight into the scripts show striking similarity among them. A close analysis of Socio-Political conditions prop up multiple reasons for the variations of the Landa based Waranki scripts. A) Ever Since the fall of Maharaja Dahir Sindhi Language was shunted out for Arabic or Persian Languages. Even Arabic Sindhi Scripts used by Muslims till the advent of British lacked consistency. With practically no support from Muslim rulers Sindhi was reduced to almost a Spoken Language. Hindus in Sindh used to write in Sindhi only to the extent of maintaining business accounts. B) There was a tendency among Sindh’s Business class to modify the script as they wished as Hindu Businessmen tend to modify it in order to codify the language a bit as it is normally done today for secrecy; C) Hindus pundits who used us teach Waranki made very little attempt to implement some form of standardization in Scripts across Sindh. D) Since no literature used to be written in this script it was merely reduced to a Mercantile script in the Pre-British days, Arabic was the official language. Among Hindus who used to work under Muslim rulers had to learn the Arabic & Persian mandatory. The business class however continued with the home grown scripts and lack of knowledge of these scripts among ruling Muslim class if fact benefited them. Among the various reasons on why Muslim rulers started the policy of recruiting Hindus was latter knowledge of Hindu scripts as it was called in those days. Situation in the context of script however changed once British occupied Sindh and Sindhi was reinstated as sole official Language of Sindh. Under British rule all Government officers (both British & non Sindhi Indians) to clear an exam on Sindhi mandatorily before being recruited to work in Sindh. As expected Script become an issue in Sindh. Although Hindus in committee set up for the standardization of Script opted for Devanagri a parallel movement started to recognize Warenki/Khudabadi as the standard Sindhi Script. SindhSanskar Sabha, Hyderabad Sindh had been the frontal organization leading the moment for acceptance of such script, Coincidentally in 1867 while Sindh was still a part of Bombay Presidency a Script based of Waranki was put forward. The creator of the script was none other than deputy Inspector of Education Mr. Nayayan Jagarnath Vaidya. The script was a modified version of Khudabadi version of Waranki and some admixture of Shikarpuri version. Termed as Hindu-Sindhi or Hindi Sindhi, the script cleared the issue with vowels – a major drawback of its previous versions.

The British Government not only initiated Primary Education in this script but even started maintaining lower court records in the script. In the days & months even Sindhi Literature started to appear in this script. The first book in modified Hindu Sindhi was of Folk tale of Dodo Chaneser and in 1899 the first Sindhi literary magazine “Sukhri” came up. The popularity of the script could be measured by the fact that Sindh Bible society published its sermons of St. Matthew too in this script.

Unfortunately the golden days of the Hindu-Sindhi Script did not last long. The way Sharda script was opposed in Kashmiri Muslims Waranki too was bitterly opposed by Muslims in Sindh. Coincidently for the same reason that so called Brahmi based scripts cannot accommodate muslin vocabulary. Muslims in Sindh oppose not only Waranki but Devanagri as well based on same logic. A close analysis of script vis-a-vis Sindhi communities as existed in Sindh however brings to fore a different prospective. Another Brahmi based scripts was in vogue in Sindh which haven’t been talked about significantly viz Khojki. The word Khojki comes from Persian work “Khwaja” meaning Master. This script was a modified version of Lohanki script with additional marks to express Persian / Arabic words. Compared to Khudabadi or any other formats which were used for Business purpose Khojki was used for writing religion teaching of Ismaili sect among Muslims. Spread across Sindh, Kutch & Kathiawar (in present day Gujarat) this script was widely employed to spread religions teaching and have found its way across multiple states. Legend says writings of Ismaili Muslims were kept secret and the access was limited to few followers for years and that is how this script eventually survived the turbulent Islamic rule in Sindh. This script only showed up in latter part of 19 & early 20.Century.

A Comparative study of Khojki with Warenki/Khudabadi, Gurumukhi & Devanagri proves that the script was much ahead of Waranki and had the potential to even replace Waranki however that never happened and Sindhi Language remain captive of foreign scripts.

The figures below clearly demonstrate the power of Khojki.

As regards the Status of Landa depended Brahmi based script in Sindh & Punjab, the scripts that comes closest of all non Landa scripts in Takri. Takri was initially widely used in Southern Kashmir & Himachal Pradesh for writing the so called Pahari (Mountain) Languages before being eventually replaced by Devanagri. The study of Takri clearly demonstrated its similarity with Landa especially its Vowel signs. Moreover since till the time of Maharaja Dahir the border of Sindh touch Southern Kashmir which make one believe that in ancient times Sindhis & Kashmiri might had a very close relationships.

Till 1947 Hindus could not convince Muslims to agree of Khojki or Khudabadi scripts. One prime reason being that Muslim always see any Indian brahmni based scripts as “Hindu” Scripts. It was even difficult in Sindh considering that Muslims had been using a form of corrupted Arabic- Persian Script. Although not perfect the script had a large following and it was unlikely that they would have accepted. The socio-Political conditions in British Sindh too did not support such acceptance considering that in Sindh Muslims as community drifted towards what is referred as their Arabic roots.

A close analysis of Landa script had a remarkable feature in Sindh & Punjab. Both the flavors might have a common origin but when it came to development have been on different angles. Another major difference has been the case of Gurumukhi. Which Sikhs in Punjab transformed Punjabi Landa into Gurmulki in Sindh Landa remain in the first stage and could not proceed much. Incidentally in Northern Sindh Gurumukhi was even used to Write Sindhi. Popularity of Gurumukhi in writing Sindhi was such that even Capt. George Stack even considered as toe more adaptable to Sindhi words than Devanagri. However surprisingly it may seem but Sindhis never used their version of Landa but were open to the use of Punjabi Landa aka Gurumukhi. A close analysis of Landa (both of Sindh & Punjab), Takri and Sharda shows remarkable similarity between the scripts which re-established the fact that Sindh, Punjab & Kashmir including Jammu & Himachal Pradesh shows close proximity to with each other and significantly it reinforces the belief that Both Sindhi script (Waranki) and Gurumukhi might have a common ancestry in Sharda.

Takri-Gurumukhi- Landa comparison

In Sindh Waranki (or Khojki) could not make any return to glorious days. Some linguistic believe it could never been possible though. Majority Muslim Sindh would never have accepted any Brahmni based script. Needless to say even if British had accepted Warenki or Devanagari Script as an official script of Sindhi Language, there was a real likelihood of Muslims in Sindh of accepting Urdu (considered de-facto language of Muslims in British days) as sole official Language of Sindh just as Muslims did in Pre-Partition Punjab & Kashmir. For the Hindus in Sindh they hardly any other choice then to accept a modified Perso-Arabic script for Sindhi. Had they not accepted there was near certain likelihood that Sindhi language would have suffered in Sindh massively but Sindhi Hindus made huge blunders in India by insisting upon Arabic script as the official script of Sindhi Language. Post migration Sindhis got an excellent opportunity to clean up the mess regarding the script but internal divisions among Sindhis in the name of Scripts insured that they lost the opportunity. The irony is that Sindhis fought among themselves on the scripts viz Arabic & Devanagari while their own indigenous languished in the sidelines. While Hindu Sindhis got entangled in a pitched battle there was a parallel movement to revive Khudabadi Script as the sole script of Sindhis in India. Pandit Kishanchand Jetley of Pune not only devoted himself for the propagation of Waranki script and had devoted both time and effort to remove the imbalances in terms of vowel errors in Warenki/Khudabadi Script. He was the pioneer in equating Waranki script to that of Script of Harrapa & Mohen-jo-daro. One may recall the fact that Mohen jo Daro script having some sort of link with the ancient Brahmi Script have been collaborated by well know linguistic Mr. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee.

Had Sindhi Hindu community accepted either Khudabadi or even Khojki it would have said goodbye to all wangling on the script issue. Sindhis could have put to rest the issue of script controversies and more significantly it would provide very clear direction to its younger generation the way to go and an understanding to feel their roots. But unfortunately that never materialized and conclusively insured that Sindhis younger generation continue have to drag on with a legacy (Arabic Script) which most feel has been thrust upon them. One may say Sindhi community last a golden opportunity to clear the mess created by 1300 years of Islamic Rule ever since the fall of Sindh to Arab Muslim Invaders.

Contrary to the popular belief among many Devanagari sympathizers, Devanagari was never used for writing Sindhi till the advent of British. Despite the fact that Hindus in Sindh were well aware of Devanagari Script. Devanagari in Sindh till the advent of British always considered a script exclusively for reading Hindu religious scriptures. Writings of Hindu scriptures in Vernacular Sindhi started late after the advent of British and an end of Islamic rule in Sindh.

By the time British occupied Sindh most of the British officers were fully aware of Devanagari. Both Earnest Trump & George Stack wrote in Devanagari and promoted it too. Incidentally among the various script employed for Sindhi Devanagri need just to add for additional four letters peculiar to express Sindhi Sounds. Sindhi being the genuine daughter of Prakarit/Sanskrik hardly needs any major changes to write Sindhi. However it is strive of separate identity of the scripts that had prompted many and continue to promote many Khudabadi script as has the base of Gujarati and Gurumukhi languages these days.

Unfortunately there had been a Indian Sindhi reluctance in embracing their roots when it comes to Script. Ever since the script crisis way back in 1842 with the advent of British both Hindus and Muslims tend to pick up already know script which implied that neither Arabic or Devanagri could permanently settle the script issue once for all. In the last 65 years which Sindhi Arabic users in India have gone down rapidly there haven’t been the proportional rise of Devanagri users which implies that newer generation have been avoiding Sindhi to a great extent although Devanagri remains a popular script among Hindu Sindhis in India.

To counter the rapid rise of Devanagri Sindhi yet another script is put forward & promoted by a group of Sindhi writers who previously being the vocal critic of Devanagri Sindhi. There had been some well-orchestrated programs to promote Sindhis in Roman Script citing the reason that Sindhis stay in more than 60 countries although India is the only country where Sindh is an officially recognized national language- This despite the fact that such attempt among migrated Kashmiri Pundits have failed miserably. In fact in India none of the attempt of writing any Indian Language every succeeded the reason being that Roman characters are largely considered unfit for expressing Sanskrit based words in Indian Language.

Fortunately the case of Waranki is not lost. With Unicode giving a new life to vernacular Languages world-wide significant work had been done in almost forgotten South Asian Script by Angshuman Pandey. Both the Sindhi scripts of Khudabadi & Khojki have made significant progress in their pursuit of being eventually coded for Unicode. The coding once eventually implemented is likely to give a new lease of life and will bring up the issue invariable.

If Sindhi Language has to survive among Hindu Sindhis then the script tangle has to be resolved. Languages don’t survive with multiple scripts. Multiple scripts among to close knit communities creates confusions which ultimately leads to confused newer users/ generation and that is what invariably happened to Sindhi. Among the various scripts being used for Sindhi only Khudabadi or for that matter Khojki enjoys the distinction of not only expressing all the Sindhi sounds in its original form but provide a sense of distinct Sindhi identify who no other scripts but the question remains for Sindhis in India and abroad is are we ready to take the plunge?

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Courtesy: Academia (The article was posted on June 6, 2013)

[The author of this article has used the word ‘Waranki’, however the correct word is ‘Wanki’]  

The post Forgotten Sindhi Script – Waranki (Wanki) first appeared on Sindh Courier.