SINDHI CUISINE

SINDHIS

SINDHI CUISINE

Sindhi cuisine refers to the native cuisine of the Sindhi people from Sindh, Pakistan. The daily food in most Sindhi households consists of wheat-based flat-bread (phulka) and rice accompanied by two dishes, one gravy and one dry. Today, Sindhi food is eaten in many countries including India, where a sizeable number of Hindu Sindhis migrated following the independence in 1947.

Food for special occasions

Certain dishes are served on special occasions such as Diwali a Bahji (vegetable dish) called Chiti-Kuni is made with seven vegetables. Special dishes are also served on recovery from serious illness for example when someone makes a full recovery from Chicken Pox, it is common to make an offering and make "mitho lolo", a sweet griddle-roasted flatbread: the dough is wheat flour mixed with oil (or ghee) and sugar syrup flavored with ground cardamom.

• Sai bhaji chawal, a popular dish from Sindh consists of white steamed rice served with spinach curry which is given a 'tarka' with tomatoes,onions and garlics.

• Koki is another popular Sindhi flat-bread that is prepared with wheat flour and goes well with any pulses , vegetables or even curd or tea.

• Vermicelli, typically served as a sweetened (sometimes milk-based) dessert, is popular: Muslim Sindhis serve it on Eid-ul-Azha and Eid ul-Fitr. On special religious occasions, mitho lolo, accompanied with milk, is given to the poor.

• Mitho lolo is also served with chilled buttermilk called Matho on various occasions.

• A special sweet dish called 'Kheer Kharkun' are prepared and served on Eid ul-Fitr, it is prepared by mixing dates and milk, and slowly simmering the mixture for few hours. The dish is eaten hot in winters and cold in summers.

Meals

Beh (simply means 'Lotus root' in English). A high quality lotus root is grown in the North of Sindh which is then cooked in clay-pot using various spices, which then results in an excellent delicacy that is famous all over Pakistan. Sindhi Briyani, Sindhi Curry, Sabu Dal Chawar (yellow daal with rice).

Drinks

• Thadal (famous Sindhi drink made from almonds and khashkhaash).
• Khirni (hot drink made with milk, flavours of cardamoms and saffron).
• Sherbet (drink made from sandal wood).
• Falooda (vermiclli and ice on top of an ice cream



SINDHI CUISINE

SINDHI LANGUAGE

SINDHIS 

SINDHI LANGUAGE

Sindhi is an Indo-Aryan language of the historical Sindh region, spoken by the Sindhi people. It is the official language of the Pakistani province of Sindh. In India, Sindhi is one of the scheduled languages officially recognized by the federal government. It has influences from Balochi spoken in the adjacent province of Balochistan.

Most Sindhi speakers are concentrated in Pakistan in the Sindh province, and in India in the Kutch region of the state of Gujarat and in Ulhasnagar region of the state of Maharashtra. The remaining speakers in India are composed of the Hindu Sindhis who migrated from Sindh, which became a part of Pakistan and settled in India after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and the Sindhi diaspora worldwide.

Sindhi has a vast vocabulary and a very old literary tradition. This trend has made it a favorite of many writers and consequently a vast volume of literature and poetry have been written in Sindhi.

At the time of the independence of Pakistan in 1947, both Bengali and Sindhi were official languages in their respective provinces. Both languages had a cherished history and a treasure trove of literature. Both languages were not only lingua franca of their provinces but were also in vogue for revenue, court, education and other official business.

When Sindh was occupied by British army and was annexed with Bombay, governor of the province Sir George Clerk ordered to make Sindhi the official language in the province in 1848. Sir Bartle Frere, the then commissioner of Sindh, issued orders on August 29, 1857 advising civil servants in Sindh to qualify examination in Sindhi. He also ordered Sindhi to be used in all official communication. Seven-grade education system commonly known as Sindhi-Final was introduced in Sindh. Sindhi Final was made a prerequisite for employment in revenue, police and education departments.

SINDHI LANGUAGE

SINDHI PEOPLE

SINDHI PEOPLE

SINDHI PEOPLE

SINDHI PEOPLE

SINDHIS

SINDHI PEOPLE

Sindhis  are a Sindhi-speaking ethnic group primarily ofIndo-Aryan origin native to the Sindh province of modern-day Pakistan.

Sindhi culture is highly influenced by Sufi doctrines and principles. Some of the popular cultural icons are Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Jhulelal, Sachal Sarmast and Shambumal Tulsiani.

After independence of Pakistan in 1947, most Hindu Sindhis migrated to India and other parts of the world, though, in 1998, Hindus still constituted about 5% of the total Sindhi population in Pakistan.

There are 40 million Sindhis living in Pakistan, with 39.5 million in Sindh, and over 500,000 living in other provinces. About 5% of the population of Sindhis in Pakistan are Hindus.Most of them live in urban areas like Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, and Mirpur Khas.Hyderabad is the largest centre of Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan with 10,000-50,000 people.

Prehistoric period

The original inhabitants of ancient Sindh were believed to be aboriginal tribes speaking languages of the Indus Valley Civilizationaround 3300 BC.

Meluhha is the Sumerian name of a prominent trading partner of Sumer during the Middle Bronze Age. The location of Meluhha, however, is hotly debated. There are scholars today who confidently identify Meluhha with the Harappan Civilization, in modernPunjab Pakistan, on the basis of the extensive evidence of trading contacts between Sumer and this region.

The Indus Valley Civilization went into decline around the year 1700 BC for reasons that are not entirely known, though its downfall was probably precipitated by a massive earthquake or natural event that dried up the Ghaggar River. The Indo-Aryans invaded fromCentral Asia and settled in Indus Valley. Indo-Aryans founded the Vedic civilization between the Sarasvati River and Ganges river around 1500 BC. This civilization helped shape subsequent cultures in South Asia.

For several centuries in the first millennium B.C. and in the first five centuries of the first millennium A.D. western portions of Sindh, the regions on the western flank of the Indus river, were intermittently under Persian, Greek, Saka and Kushan rule, first during theAchaemenid Empire (500-300 BC), then, from 150 BC after the downfall of the Seleucids under the Parthians, and still later under the Sassanids, before the Islamic rule in Persia in the 7th century AD. Alexander the Great marched through Punjab and Sindh, down the Indus River, during his invasion of the eastern flank of the Persian empire.Because of its location at one of the more western edges of South Asia, Sindh was one of the earliest regions to be influenced by Islamafter 632 AD - as the Qu'ran was not written until then. Prior to this period, it was heavily Buddhist and Hindu. After 632 AD, It was part of the Islamic empires of the Abbasids and Umayyids. Fundamentalist rulers played an important role in converting millions of native Sindhis to Islam. Habbari, Soomra, Samma, Arghun dynasties ruled Sindh.

MUHAJIR

MUHAJIRIS

ORIGIN AND ANCESTRAL RULE

The Urdu speaking people of Pakistan and India has diverse roots. Many Sufi missionaries from Middle East and Central Asiamigrated and settled in South Asia. Many natives converted to Islam due to the missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of South Asia. The Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire ruled the northern India region. During the Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire attracted Muslim refugees, nobles, technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists,architects, artisans, teachers, poets, artists, theologians and Sufis from the rest of the Muslim world and they migrated and settled in the South Asia. During the reign of Sultan Ghyasuddin Balban (1266-1286) thousands of Central Asian Muslims sought asylum including more than of 15 sovereigns and their nobles due to the Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran. At the court of Sultan Iltemish in Delhi the first wave of these Muslim refugees escaping from the Central Asian genocideperpetrated by the barbaric hordes of Genghis Khan, brought administrators from Iran, painters from China, theologians fromSamarkand, Nishapur and Bukhara, nobles from Khwarezm, divines and saints from all Muslim lands, craftsmen and men and maidens from every region, doctors adept in Greek medicine, philosophers from everywhere. The Muslims from various provinces such as Hyderabad Deccan, Kerala, Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, Gujarat, Kashmir and other parts of South Asia also moved to capitals of Muslim empire in Delhi and Agra. Millions of natives converted to Islam during the Muslim rule. After the Battle of Panipat (1526) Mughal Emperor Babur defeated the Lodi dynasty with Tajik, Chagatai and Uzbek soldiers and nobility. Theses Central Asian Turk soldiers and nobles were awarded estates and they settled with their families in the northern India. Safavi Emperor Shah Tahmasp provided financial aid, 12,000 choice of cavalry and thousands of infantry soldiers to Mughal Emperor Humayun to regain his Empire. Persians nobles, technocrats and bureaucrats, also joined Mughal Emperor Humayun. Theses soldiers were awarded estates and they settled with their families in the northern India. These diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups merged over the centuries to the form the Urdu speaking Muslims of South Asia.