Sindhi Hindus

Sindhi Hindus are Sindhi people who follow the Hindu religion and who originate from the Sindh region of modern Pakistan, which was previously a part of pre-partition India.

Sindhi Hindus
Total population
c. 3.7–4.8 million
Regions with significant populations
India1.7–2.8 million[1][2]
Pakistan2 million (1998 Census)[3]
Languages
Sindhi
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Indo-Aryan peoples
Jhulelal, the Ishta Devta of the Sindhi Hindus.

The Sindhi are known as Sindhi: سنڌي‎ (Perso-Arabic), सिन्धी (Devanagari). After the Partition of India during 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were among those forced out of Pakistan, which was predominately Muslim, to India, in what was a wholesale exchange of Hindu and Muslim populations in some areas. Some later emigrated from the sub-continent and settled in other parts of the world.[4][5][6] Even though the 2011 census listed 2.8 million speakers of Sindhi in India,[7] however the total population of Sindhi descent is likely to be higher as many people have switched to other languages.

Hinduism in Sindh

Hinduism in the Sindh region, as in other areas of the Indian Subcontinent, was the earliest religion predominantly practiced. Later the area came under control of Qasim after he defeated Raja Dahir of Sindh. In the reign of Delhi Sultanate Hinduism and buddhism declined very much in this area and became minority religion. But at least 2 million Sindhi Hindus are still in this area.

Partition of India
Main article: Sindhis in India

After the partition of India in 1947, an estimated half of Sindh's Hindus migrated to India, often forced by the religious-based persecution of the time. They settled primarily in neighbouring Kutch district of Gujarat, which bears linguistic and cultural similarities to Sindh, and the city of Mumbai. As per Census of India 2011, there are around 2,772,264 Sindhi speakers living in India.[8] There are also sizable Sindhi Hindu communities elsewhere in the world, sometimes termed, the 'Sindhi diaspora'.

Family naming conventions

Most Sindhi Hindu family names are a modified form of a patronymic and typically end with the suffix "-ani", which is used to denote descent from a common male ancestor. One explanation states that the -ani suffix is a Sindhi variant of 'anshi', derived from the Sanskrit word 'ansh', which means 'descended from' (see: Devanshi). The first part of a Sindhi Hindu surname is usually derived from the name or location of an ancestor. In northern Sindh, surnames ending in 'ja' (meaning 'of') are also common. A person's surname would consist of the name of his or her native village, followed by 'ja'. The Sindhi Hindus generally add the suffix ‘-ani’ to the name of a great-grandfather and adopt the name as a family name.[9][10][11]

Notable Sindhi Hindus
Main article: List of Sindhi people

See also

Sources
  • Bherumal Mahirchand Advani, "Amilan-jo-Ahwal" - published in Sindhi, 1919
  • Amilan-jo-Ahwal (1919) - translated into English in 2016 ("A History of the Amils") at sindhis

References
  1. "Census of India 2011" (PDF).
  2. Ethnologue report for India Archived 18 January 2010 at WebCite
  3. 16.16 Population Distribution by Religion, 1998 Census
  4. Rita Kothari, Burden of Refuge: Sindh, Gujarat, Partition, Orient Blackswan
  5. Nil (4 June 2012). "Who orchestrated the exodus of Sindhi Hindus after Partition?". tribune.com.pk. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  6. NANDITA BHAVNANI (2014). THE MAKING OF EXILE: SINDHI HINDUS AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA. ISBN 978-93-84030-33-9. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  7. Data on Language and Mother Tongue. "Census of India 2011" (PDF). p. 7.
  8. "CENSUS OF INDIA 2011" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Govt of India. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  9. "Sindhishaan - Whats in Name".
  10. "Sindhi Surnames".
  11. Sakhrani, Tarun (4 January 2016). "The Sindhis of Sindh And Beyond". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
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