History of Sindh

Encyclopedia : H : HI : HIS : History of Sindh

Geological eras

Paleolithic and Mesolithic era

At Rehri, along the coast east of Karachi, Karachi University team has discovered a few Mesolithic and Late Palaeolithic sites. Most of these sites have vanished during the last twenty years. Nevertheless their discovery shed new light on the prehistory of the coastal area of Lower Sindh. Scatters of flint were found in different spots, some of which were associated with Terebralia palustris mangrove shells.

The Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites found by Karachi University team on the Mulri Hills, in front of Karachi University Campus, constitute one of the most important archaeological discoveries made in Sindh during the last fifty years. The last hunter-gatherers, who left abundant traces of their passage, repeatedly inhabited the Hills. Some twenty different spots of flint tools were discovered during the surface surveys.

Copper to the Bronze Age era

The site of Kot Diji, near Rohri, consists of a small mound composed of a sequence of overimposed structures and anthropogenic layers. They have been subdivided into two main complexes, the first of which belongs to the Early Harappan, Kot Diji Culture, and the second to the Mature Harappan Civilization.

The site of Lakhueen-jo-daro, near Sukkur, belongs to the Matura Harappan Civilization as indicated by the characteristics of the structural remains, material culture finds and one radiocarbon date, covers a wide area, from which a few mounds emerge. The site indicates that the origins of Sukkur are to be referred to a much older period than previously suspected.

The metropolis of Mohen-jo-daro, near Larkana, is largest Indus city so far discovered in Sindh. The large-scale excavations carried out in the 1920’s brought to light most of the architectural remains that are still currently visible. They are mainly of backed bricks with very well preserved buildings aligned along streets and lanes. Mohen-jo-daro is the largest Bronze Age city of the world.

Pir Shah Jurio is a Mature Indus Civilization village along the left bank of the Hub River. It consists of a small mound, which is nowadays partly covered by a cemetery. From its surface, typical potsherds and other finds were collected. This site is strictly connected with the sea, which is a few kilometers south of it. It was radiocarbon-dated to the third millennium BP, from a sample of Terebralia palustris shells.

The Indus Civilization site of Kot Bala is located in the interior of the Sonmiani Bay, along the coast of Lasbela District, Balochistan. It was partly excavated by Professor G. Dales of Berkeley University in the Seventies and never published in detail. This site is of great importance for its location close to the Arabian Sea. It is supposed to be one of the main harbors from which the Indus traders sailed their ships to the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula.

Historical Eras

Sindh has been known by various names in the past, the name Sindh comes from the Indo-Aryans whose legends claimed that the Indus River flowed from the mouth of a lion or Sinh-ka-bab. In Sanskrit, the province was dubbed Sindhu meaning an ocean. The Assyrians (as early as the seventh century BCE) knew the region as Sinda, the Persians Abisind, the Greeks Sinthus, the Romans Sindus, the Chinese Sintow, while the Arabs dubbed it Sind.

In ancient times, the territory of the modern Sindh province was sometimes known as Sovira (or Souveera) and also as Sindhudesh, Sindhu being the original name for Indus river and the suffix 'desh' roughly corresponding to country or territory.

The first known village settlements date as far back as 7000 BCE. Permanent settlements at Mehrgarh to the west expanded into Sindh. The original inhabitants of ancient Sindh, and other regions of Pakistan, were the aborigine tribes speaking languages related to Munda languages. The Dravidians invaded from the Iranian plateau and settled in the Indus valley around 4000 BCE. The Dravidian culture blossomed over the centuries and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization of Pakistan around 3000 BCE. The Indus Valley Civilization rivalled the contemporary civilizations of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in both size and scope numbering nearly half a million inhabitants at its height with well-planned grid cities and sewer systems. Speculation remains as to how and why the civilization declined and may have been a combination of natural disasters such as flooding and internecine conflicts. The Indus Valley Civilization spanned much of what is today Pakistan, but suddenly went into decline just prior to the invasion of Indo-Iranians. A branch of these tribes called the Indo-Aryans are believed to have founded the Vedic Civilization that have existed between Sarasvati River and Ganges river around 1500 BCE and also infuenced Indus Valley Civilization. This civilization helped shape subsequent cultures in South Asia.

Sindh was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE, and became part of the Persian satrapy (province) of Hindush centred in the Punjab to the north. Persian speech had a tendency to replace 'S' with an 'H' resulting in 'Sindu' being pronounced and written as 'Hindu'. They introduced the Kharoshti script and links to the west in the region. Subsequently conquered by Greeks led by Alexander the Great, the region came under loose Greek control for a few decades until Alexander's death and brief Seleucid rule and then was conquered by the Mauryans led by Chandragupta in 305 BCE. Later, during the reign of the Buddhist king Ashoka the region would solidly become a Buddhist domain. Following a century of Mauryan rule which ended by 232 BCE, the region came under the Greco-Bactrians based in what is today Afghanistan and these rulers would also convert to and proliferate Buddhism in the region. The Scythians shattered the Greco-Bactrians fledgling empire and then the Tocharian Kushan Empire annexed Sindh by the 1st century CE. Though the Kushans were Zoroastrian, they were tolerant of the local Buddhist tradition and sponsored many building projects for local beliefs. The Huns and remnants of the Kushans, Scythians, and the Sassanids all exercised some degree of control in Sindh until the coming of the Muslim Arabs in 711.

The Buddhist city of Siraj-ji-Takri is located along the western limestone terraces of the Rohri Hills in the Khairpur district of Upper Sindh, along the road that leads to Sorah. Its ruins are still visible on the top of three different mesas, in the form of stone and mud-brick walls and small mounds, whilst other architectural remains were observed along the slopes of the hills in the 1980’s. This city is not mentioned from any text dealing with the history of the Buddhist period of Sindh.

Medieval era

Arab rule ended with the ascension of the Soomro dynasty, who were local Sindhi Muslims and who controlled the province directly and as vassals 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. The Mughals seized the region and their rule lasted for another two centuries, while another local Sindhi Muslim group the Samma challenged Mughal rule from their base at Thatta. The Muslim Sufi played a pivotal role in converting the millions of native people to Islam. Sindh, though part of larger empires, continued to enjoy certain autonomy as a loyal Muslim domain and came under the rule of the Arghun Dynasty and Turkhan or Tarkhan dynasty from 1519 to 1625. Sind became a vassal-state of the Afghan Durrani Empire by 1747. It was then ruled by Kalhora rulers and later the Baluchi Talpurs [Unofficial website on the Talpurs] - URL accessed March 4, 2006 from 1783.

Colonial era

British arrived in Sindh in 19th century and conquest in it 1843. In 1843 British forces under General Charles Napier conquered Sindh. It is said that he sent back to the Governor General a one-word message, "Peccavi" – Latin for "I have sinned". In actual fact, this pun first appeared as a cartoon in Punch magazine. The first Aga Khan helped the British in the conquest of Sindh and was granted a pension as a result. Sind was made part of British India's Bombay Presidency, and became a separate province in 1935. The British ruled the area for a century and Sindh was home to many prominent Muslim leaders including Muhammad Ali Jinnah who agitated for greater Muslim autonomy.

Following World War II, Britain withdrew from British India and Sindh voted to join Pakistan in 1947 during partition as the largely Hindu educated elites were replaced by Muslim immigrants from India. Later local Sindhis have resented the influx of Pashtun and Punjabi immigrants to Karachi. Nonetheless, traditional Sindhi families remain prominent in Pakistani politics, especially the Bhutto dynasty. In recent years Sindhi dissatisfaction has grown over issues such as the construction of large dams, perceived discrimination in military/government jobs, provincial autonomy, and overall revenue shares.

Muslim League branch in Sindh was established by Ghulam Muhammad Bhurgari in 1918. Muslim League and Congress party of Sindh held their annual sessions at the same place simultaneously and passed similar resolution. Abdullah Haroon, who joined it in 1918 was elected the president of the province at Muslim League in 1920.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.