THE HEART OF PAKISTAN
Sindhi Culture:
Culture of a nation is an aspect of ultimate values. These values, possessed by a particular society, are expressed in that society's collective institutions. Culture, in a sense is an essence, within the boundaries of which individuals live by. They express these cultural values in their dispositions, habits, feelings, passions, attitudes and manners. Sindhi culture belongs to that unique group of people with the sense of common history and common traditions, as well as multiplication of common interests. All these gave rise to the flowering and flourishing of that great Sindhi civilization. |
Sindh has its specific culture. Culture is, no doubt, quite an abstract term inspite of the veritability of the physical and mental existence. Every society has to pass through the idealistic phase in its mental make-up and some shades of a cultural group's mental make-up defy any attempt at complete erasure. In their journey through time the people of Sindh had adopted ultimate standards, which through practice, has become norms and absolutes, known as culture.
SINDHI CULTURE
Archeological discoveries sometimes help to unfold the certain latent aspects of a culture. The geological researchers enable us to stretch back the history of man on this planet by millions of years and pave the way of moulding our minds in such a way as to be more and more receptive to scientific formulations. There is a limit to what an unscientific mind can indulge in. The ultimate achievement is the prevalent and persistence of the scientific way of looking into phenomenon. The unscientific mind will, sooner or later, sink into oblivion. The excavations of Moenjodaro have unfolded before us the city life of a cicilization, of people - a proud people, with a distinct identity, values and culture. Therefore, the first definition of the Sindhi culture emanates from that over 7,000 years old Indus Valley Civilization. This is the pre-Aryan period, about 3,000 years B.C., when the urban civilization in Sindh was at its peak. Sir Mortimer Wheeler in his book, "Civilization of the Indus Valley and Beyond," says, "Civilization, in a minimum sense of the term, is the art of living in towns, with all that the condition implies in respect of social skills and disciplines." Hence, when we speak of Sindhi civilization we have to concern ourselves, mainly, with the material and concrete side of human habitation of which Sindhi culture is only the essence, the superstructure. So, the present day Sindh, alongwith the Northern part of the Indus Valley Civilization - around 3,000 to 2,500 B.C. - prides on its urban civilization.
History of Sindh
Sindh 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, the border with India to the east, and the Arabian Sea to the south. The main languages are Sindhi and Siraiki. In Sanskrit, the province was dubbed Sindhu meaning "Ocean". 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, while the Arabs dubbed it Sindh.
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