History of Sindh

The history of Sindh or Sind (Sindhi: ‫ﺳﻨﮅ ﺟﻲ ﺗﺎرﻳﺦ‬, Urdu: ) is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian
subcontinent and surrounding regions. Sindh was at the center of the Indus Valley civilization, one of the cradle of civilization;
and currently a province of modern-day Pakistan.

Contents
Pre-Islamic era
Indus Valley Civilisation
Vedic descriptions
Achaemenid Empire
Alexander the Great
Mauryan Era
Greco-Bactrians
Indo Scythians
Kushan Empire
Sassanian Empire
Gupta Empire
Rai Dynasty (c. 524–632 CE)
Brahman dynasty (c. 632 – c. 724 CE)
Muslim era
Arab Conquests
Ghaznavids
Mughals
Modern era
References
Sources

Pre-Islamic era

Indus Valley Civilisation

It is believed by most scholars that the earliest trace of human inhabitation in
India traces to the Soan Sakaser Valley between the Indus and the Jhelum rivers.
This period goes back to the first inter-glacial period in the Second Ice Age, and
remnants of stone and flint tools have been found.[1]

Sindh and surrounding areas contain the ruins of the Indus Valley Civilization.
There are remnants of thousand-year-old cities and structures, with a notable
example in Sindh being that of Mohenjo Daro. Hundreds of settlements have
been found spanning an area of about a hundred miles. These ancient towns and
Mohen-jo-Daro ruins
cities had advanced features such as city-planning, brick-built houses, sewage
and draining systems, as well as public baths. The people of the Indus Valley
also developed a writing system, that has to this day still not been fully deciphered.[2] The people of the Indus Valley had
domesticated bovines, sheep, elephants, and camels. The civilization also had knowledge of metallurgy. Gold, silver, copper, tin,
and alloys were widely in use. Arts and crafts flourished during this time as well; the use of beads, seals, pottery, and bracelets are
evident.[3]

Vedic descriptions
Literary evidence from the Vedic period suggests a transition from early small
janas, or tribes, to many janapadas (territorial civilizations) and gana-samgha
societies. The gana samgha societies are loosely translated to being oligarchies
or republics. These political entities were represented from the Rigveda to the
Astadhyayi by Pāṇini.[4] Many Janapadas were mentioned from Vedic texts and
are confirmed by Ancient Greek historical sources. Most of the Janapadas that
had exerted large territorial influence, or mahajanapadas, had been raised in the
Indo-Gangetic Plain with the exception of Gandhara in what is now Afghanistan.
There was a large level of contact between all the janapadas, with descriptions Map of India during the Vedic period,
being given of trading caravans, movement of students from universities, and including Sindh.
itineraries of princes.[5]

Achaemenid Empire

Alexander the Great

Alexander conquered Sindh after Punjab. Alexander's death gave rise to Seleucid Empire which was defeated by the Mauryan
empire.

Mauryan Era
Chandragupta Maurya, with the aid of Kautilya, had established his empire around 320 BCE. The early life of Chandragupta
Maurya is not clear. Kautilya took a young Chandragupta to the University at Taxila and enrolled him in order to educate him in
the arts, sciences, logic, mathematics, warfare, and administration. Chankya's main task was to liberate India from Greek rule.
With the help of the small Janapadas of Punjab and Sindh, he had gone on to conquer much of the North West. He then defeated
the Nanda rulers in Pataliputra to capture the throne. Chandragupta Maurya fought Alexander's successor in the east, Seleucus I
Nicator, when the latter invaded. In a peace treaty, Seleucus ceded all territories west of the Indus River and offered a marriage,
including a portion of Bactria, while Chandragupta granted Seleucus 500 elephants.[6]

The Mauryan rule was advanced for its time, and foreign accounts of Indian cities mention many temples, libraries, universities,
gardens, and parks. A notable account was that of the Greek ambassador Megasthenes, who had visited the Mauryan capital of
Pataliputra. Chandragupta's rule was a very well organized one. The Mauryans had a strong centralized government with a
competent bureaucracy. This bureaucracy had concerned itself with the affairs of tax collection, trade and commerce, industrial
activities, mining, statistics and data, maintenance of public places, and upkeep of temples.[6]

The Mauryan Empire was greatly weakened following the death of Ashoka. The dynasty lasted until c. 184 B.C when the
commander-in-chief captured the throne from Brihadratha. What remained under the power of the Mauryans was ruled by the
subsequent Sunga dynasty. [7]

Greco-Bactrians
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 Buddhist city of Siraj-ji-
Takri is located along the western limestone terraces of the Rohri Hills in the Sukkur 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 1980s. This city is not mentioned
from any text dealing with the history of the Buddhist period of Sindh.

Indo Scythians
Indo Scythians ruled Sindh for a short period until they were thrown away by
Kushans.

Kushan Empire
Bhanbore port city dates from 1st
Kushans ruled Sindh and called the land ''Scythia'' and in this period Buddhist century BC from Scythio Parthian
developed in the region.Kahu-jo-Daro stupa at mirpurkhas exhibits presence of era.
buddhist practices in Sindh.

Sassanian Empire
Sassanians overthrow Kushans in 3rd century controlled Sindh until end of 5th century when they were overthrown by Gupta
empire

Gupta Empire
Gupta empire controlled SIndh for a short period before they were defeated by Hephthalite or Hunas (Huns)

Rai Dynasty (c. 524–632 CE)

was a dynasty that ruled on the Indian subcontinent during the Classical period.
Originating in the region of Sindh, in modern Pakistan, the dynasty at its height of
power ruled much of the Northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent. The
influence of the Rais extended from Kashmir in the east, Makran and Debal port
(modern Karachi) in the west, Surat port in the south, and the Kandahar, Sulaiman,
Ferdan and Kikanan hills in the north. It ruled an area of over 600,000 square miles
(1,553,993 km2), and the dynasty reigned a period of 143 years.

Brahman dynasty (c. 632 – c. 724 CE)

It was a Hindu power on the Indian subcontinent which originated in the region of
Sindh(present-day Pakistan). Most of the information about its existence comes from
the Chach Nama, a historical account of the Chach-Brahman dynasty. The Brahman
dynasty were successors of the Rai dynasty. Although under Hindu kingship,
Buddhism was the main religion of Sindh or at least in Southern parts of SIndh. Buddha from the Kahu-jo-daro
stupa

Muslim era
Arab Conquests
After the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Arab expansion towards
the east reached the Sindh region beyond Persia. An initial expedition in the
region launched because of the Sindhi pirate attacks on Arabs in 711-12,
failed.[8][9]

The first clash with the Hindu kings of Sindh took place in 636 (15 A.H.) under
Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab with the governor of Bahran, Uthman ibn Abu-al-
Aas, dispatching naval expeditions against Thane and Bharuch under the
command of his brother, Hakam. Another brother of his, al-Mughira, was given Thul Mir Rukan stupa near Dadu
the command of the expedition against Debal.[10] Al-Baladhuri states they were
victorious at Debal but doesn't mention the results of other two raids. However,
the Chach Nama states that the raid of Debal was defeated and its governor
killed the leader of the raids.[11]

Reasons for these raids are thought it be either activity of pirates as seen from a
later pirate attack on Umayyad ships leading to the Arab conquest of Sindh in
711-12[9] to being plundering raids.[12] Al-Baladhuri doesn't mention any details
of these expeditions. Uthman was warned by Umar against it who said "O
brother of Thaqif, you have put the worm on the wood. I swear, by Allah that if
Brahman Chach dynasty 700 AD
they had been smitten, I would have taken the equivalent (in men) from your
families." Baladhuri adds that this stopped any more incursions until the reign of
Uthman.[13]

In 712, when Mohammed Bin Qasim invaded Sindh with 8000 cavalry while
also receiving reinforcements. Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf instructed him not to spare
anyone in Debal. The historian al-Baladhuri stated that after conquest of Debal,
Qasim kept slaughtering its inhabitants for three days. The custodians of the
Buddhist stupa were killed and the temple was destroyed. Qasim gave a quarter
of the city to Muslims and built a mosque there.[14] According to the Chach
Nama, after the Arabs scaled Debal's walls, the besieged denizens opened the
The old Alamgir Mosque at
gates and pleaded for mercy but Qasim stated he had no orders to spare anyone.
Aror/Alore 8th century
No mercy was shown and the inhabitants were accordingly thus slaughtered for
three days, with its temple desecrated and 700 women taking shelter there
enslaved. At Raor, 6000 fighting men were massacred with their families enslaved. The massacre at Brahamanabad has various
accounts of 6,000 to 26,000 inhabitants slaughtered.[15]

60,000 slaves, including 30 young royal women, were sent to al-Hajjaj. During the capture of one of the forts of Sindh, the
women committed the jauhar and burnt themselves to death according to the Chach Nama.[15] S.A.A. Rizvi citing the Chach
Nama, considers that conversion to Islam by political pressure began with Qasim's conquests. The Chach Nama has one instance
of conversion, that of a slave from Debal converted at Qasim's hands.[16] After executing Sindh's ruler, Raja Dahir, his two
daughters were sent to the caliph and they accused Qasim of raping them. The caliph ordered Qasim to be sewn up in hide of a
cow and died of suffocation.[17]

Ghaznavids
Some of the territory in Sindh found itself under raid from the Ghaznavid
Empire. In 974 Pirin, the slave-governor of Ghazni, repulsed a force sent from
India to seize that stronghold, then in 977 Sabuktigin, his successor, became
virtually independent and founded the dynasty of the Ghaznavids. Sabuktagin's
son Mahmud of Ghazni had pushed further into the subcontinent, including in
Kannauj. Mahmud is viewed negatively in India for forcing Hindus and
Buddhists to convert to Islam while destroying and looting Hindu temples. The
primary motivation of his raids were the destruction and looting of Hindu
temples, with examples being that of Somnath temple and the temples at
14th to 18th century shows Gujarati,
Mathura.[18][19]
Persian and Mughal architectural
influences

Mughals
Dynasties came and went for several hundred years until 1520, when Sindh was
brought into the Mughal Empire by Akbar, himself born in Umerkot in Sindh.
Mughal rule from their provincial capital of Thatta was to last in lower Sindh
until the early 18th century. Upper Sindh was a different picture, however, with
the indigenous Kalhora dynasty holding power, consolidating their rule until the
mid-18th century, when the Persian sacking of the Mughal throne in Delhi
allowed them to grab the rest of Sindh. Akbar, unlike his predecessors, was
renowned for his religious freedom.

Early in his reign in 1563, the emperor abolished taxes on Hindu pilgrims and
allowed Hindu temples to be built and repaired. In 1564 he abolished the jizya,
the tax paid by all dhimmis.

Modern era
Administrative map of Sindh,
The British conquered Sindh in 1843. General Charles Napier is said to have
1608~1700
reported victory to the Governor General with a one-word telegram, namely
"Peccavi" – or "I have sinned" (Latin). In fact, this pun first appeared as a
cartoon in Punch magazine. The British had two objectives in their rule of Sindh:
the consolidation of British rule and the use of Sindh as a market for British
products and a source of revenue and raw materials. With the appropriate
infrastructure in place, the British hoped to utilise Sindh for its economic
potential.[20]

The British incorporated Sindh, some years later after annexing it, into the
Bombay Presidency. Distance from the provincial capital, Bombay, led to
grievances that Sindh was neglected in contrast to other parts of the Presidency.
The St. Patrick's Cathedral and
The merger of Sindh into Punjab province was considered from time from time Monument to Christ the King in
but was turned down because of British disagreement and Sindhi opposition, Karachi
both from Muslims and Hindus, to being annexed to Punjab.[20]

The British desired to increase their profitability from Sindh and carried out extensive work on the irrigation system in Sindh, for
example, the Jamrao Canal project. However, the local Sindhis were described as both eager and lazy and for this reason, the
British authorities encouraged the immigration of Punjabi peasants into Sindh as they were deemed more hard-working. Punjabi
migrations to Sindh paralleled the further development of Sindh's irrigation system in the early 20th century. Sindhi apprehension
of a ‘Punjabi invasion’ grew.[20]
In his backdrop, desire for a separate administrative status for Sindh grew. At the annual session of the Indian National Congress
in 1913, a Sindhi Hindu put forward the demand for Sindh's separation from the Bombay Presidency on the grounds of Sindh's
unique cultural character. This reflected the desire of Sindh's predominantly Hindu commercial class to free itself from competing
with the more powerful Bombay's business interests.[20] Meanwhile, Sindhi politics was characterised in the 1920s by the
growing importance of Karachi and the Khilafat Movement.[21] A number of Sindhi pirs, descendants of Sufi saints who had
proselytised in Sindh, joined the Khilafat Movement, which propagated the protection of the Ottoman Caliphate, and those pirs
who did not join the movement found a decline in their following.[22] The pirs generated huge support for the Khilafat cause in
Sindh.[23] Sindh came to be at the forefront of the Khilafat Movement.[24]

Although Sindh had a cleaner record of communal harmony than other parts of India, the province's Muslim elite and emerging
Muslim middle class demanded separation of Sindh from Bombay Presidency as a safeguard for their own interests. In this
campaign, local Sindhi Muslims identified ‘Hindu’ with Bombay instead of Sindh. Sindhi Hindus were seen as representing the
interests of Bombay instead of the majority of Sindhi Muslims. Sindhi Hindus, for the most part, opposed the separation of Sindh
from Bombay.[20] Sindh's Hindu and Muslim communities lived in close proximity to each other and extensively influenced each
other's culture. Scholars have discussed that it was found that Hindu practices in Sindh differed from orthodox Hinduism in the
rest of India. Hinduism in Sindh was to a large extent influenced by Islam, Sikhism and Sufism. Sindh's religious syncretism was
a result of Sufism. Sufism was a vital component of Sindhi Muslim identity and Sindhi Hindus, more than Hindus in any other
part of India, came under the influence of Sufi thought and practices and the majority of them were murids (followers) of Sufi
Muslim saints.[25]

However, both the Muslim landed elite, waderas, and the Hindu commercial elements, banias, collaborated in oppressing the
predominantly Muslim peasantry of Sindh who were economically exploited. In Sindh's first provincial election after its
separation from Bombay in 1936, economic interests were an essential factor of politics informed by religious and cultural
issues.[26] Due to British policies, much land in Sindh was transferred from Muslim to Hindu hands over the decades.[27]
Religious tensions rose in Sindh over the Sukkur Manzilgah issue where Muslims and Hindus disputed over an abandoned
mosque in proximity to an area sacred to Hindus. The Sindh Muslim League exploited the issue and agitated for the return of the
mosque to Muslims. Consequentially, a thousand members of the Muslim League were imprisoned. Eventually, due to panic the
government restored the mosque to Muslims.[26]

The separation of Sindh from Bombay Presidency triggered Sindhi Muslim nationalists to support the Pakistan Movement. Even
while the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province were ruled by parties hostile to the Muslim League, Sindh remained loyal to
Jinnah.[28] Although the prominent Sindhi Muslim nationalist G.M. Syed left the All India Muslim League in the mid-1940s and
his relationship with Jinnah never improved, the overwhelming majority of Sindhi Muslims supported the creation of Pakistan,
seeing in it their deliverance.[21] Sindhi support for the Pakistan Movement arose from the desire of the Sindhi Muslim business
class to drive out their Hindu competitors.[29] The Muslim League's rise to becoming the party with the strongest support in
Sindh was in large part linked to its winning over of the religious pir families. Although the Muslim Leaue had previously fared
poorly in the 1937 elections in Sindh, when local Sindhi Muslim parties won more seats,[30] the Muslim League's cultivation of
support from the pirs and saiyids of Sindh in 1946 helped it gain a foothold in the province.[31]

In 1947, violence did not constitute a major part of the Sindhi partition experience, unlike in Punjab. There were very few
incidents of violence on Sindh, in part due to the Sufi-influenced culture of religious tolerance and in part that Sindh was not
divided and was instead made part of Pakistan in its entirety. Sindhi Hindus who left generally did so out of a fear of persecution,
rather than persecution itself, because of the arrival of Muslim refugees from India. Sindhi Hindus differentiated between the
local Sindhi Muslims and the migrant Muslims from India. A large number of Sindhi Hindus travelled to India by sea, to the ports
of Bombay, Porbandar, Veraval and Okha. The latest Sindhis consisted of people who migrated within Sindh such as from Sukkur
to Karachi.The most famous of them and a popular blogger hailing from sukkur named Falak Mirani still writes about history of
Sindh and keeping the tradition and culture alive by spreading awareness through her writings. [32]
References
1. Singh 1988.
2. Singh 1988, pp. 2–3.
3. Panikkar 1964.
4. Chattopadhyaya 2003, p. 55.
5. Chattopadhyaya 2003, p. 56–57.
6. Thorpe 2009, p. 33.
7. Chaurasia 2002, p. 126.
8. Tandle, pp. 269, 270.
9. El Hareir, Idris; Mbaye, Ravane (2012), The Spread of Islam Throughout the World (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=qVYT4Kraym0C&pg=PA602), UNESCO, p. 602, ISBN 978-92-3-104153-2
10. El Hareir, Idris; Mbaye, Ravane (2012), The Spread of Islam Throughout the World (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=qVYT4Kraym0C&pg=PA601), UNESCO, pp. 601–2, ISBN 978-92-3-104153-2
11. Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra (1976), Readings in political history of India, ancient, mediaeval, and modern (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=YvggAAAAMAAJ), B.R. Pub. Corp., on behalf of Indian Society for Prehistoric
and Quaternary Studies, p. 216
12. Tripathi 1967, p. 337.
13. Asif 2016, p. 35.
14. Wink 2002, p. 203.
15. The Classical age, by R. C. Majumdar, p. 456 (https://archive.org/stream/TheClassicalAgeDr.K.M.Munshi/The%2
0Classical%20Age%20-%20Dr.%20K.M.%20Munshi#page/n515/mode/2up/search/no+orders+to+spare+anyone)
16. Asif 2016, p. 117.
17. Suvorova, Anna (2004), Muslim Saints of South Asia: The Eleventh to Fifteenth Centuries (https://books.google.c
om/books?id=QK0aLjQtX2cC&pg=PA218), Routledge, p. 218, ISBN 978-1-134-37006-1
18. Panikkar 1964, p. 115.
19. Wynbrandt 2009, p. 52-55.
20. Roger D. Long; Gurharpal Singh; Yunas Samad; Ian Talbot (8 October 2015), State and Nation-Building in
Pakistan: Beyond Islam and Security (https://books.google.com/books?id=nzivCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA102),
Routledge, pp. 102–, ISBN 978-1-317-44820-4
21. I. Malik (3 June 1999), Islam, Nationalism and the West: Issues of Identity in Pakistan (https://books.google.com/
books?id=oyWBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA56), Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 56–, ISBN 978-0-230-37539-0
22. Gail Minault (1982), The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=gAW8GreFqjkC&pg=PA105), Columbia University Press, pp. 105–, ISBN 978-0-231-
05072-2
23. Ansari 1992, p. 77
24. Pakistan Historical Society (2007), Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society (https://books.google.com/books?id
=j_svAQAAIAAJ), Pakistan Historical Society., p. 245
25. Priya Kumar & Rita Kothari (2016) Sindh, 1947 and Beyond, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 39:4,
775, DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2016.1244752
26. Jalal 2002, p. 415
27. Amritjit Singh; Nalini Iyer; Rahul K. Gairola (15 June 2016), Revisiting India's Partition: New Essays on Memory,
Culture, and Politics (https://books.google.com/books?id=tmA0DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA127), Lexington Books,
pp. 127–, ISBN 978-1-4985-3105-4
28. Khaled Ahmed (18 August 2016), Sleepwalking to Surrender: Dealing with Terrorism in Pakistan (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=TbzBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT230), Penguin Books Limited, pp. 230–, ISBN 978-93-86057-62-4
29. Veena Kukreja (24 February 2003), Contemporary Pakistan: Political Processes, Conflicts and Crises (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=dp05sFFSAbIC&pg=PA138), SAGE Publications, pp. 138–, ISBN 978-0-7619-9683-5
30. Ansari 1992, p. 115.
31. Ansari 1992, p. 122.
32. Priya Kumar & Rita Kothari (2016) Sindh, 1947 and Beyond, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 39:4,
776-777, DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2016.1244752

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Asif, Manan Ahmed (2016), A Book of Conquest (https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4oxDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3
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Infobase Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8160-6184-6

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