Sindhis And Their Original Persio-Arabic Script

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam

22 June 2024

There’s news in a few English dailies that young Sindhis aren’t in favour of the old script of their language and they want Sindhi language to be read and written in Devanagari script. The original script of Sindhi is Persio-Arabic. The script uses 52 letters – 28 from Arabic, some from Persian, and others unique to the language. Devanagari doesn’t have enough letters and sounds to suit Sindhi phonology. Yet, the insistence on employing Devanagari for Sindhi has a religio-communal aspect to it. Sindhis believe that they’ve been wronged by Muslims.

Before the Partition, most of the Sindhis in the subcontinent were concentrated in the Sindh Province (Karachi, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Larkana, among others). There’s no denying the fact that Hindu Sindhis were driven out of Sindh and Pakistan by the Muslims and there was a mass exodus. Sindhis from Pakistan had to come to India and they settled in different parts of the country.

Hindu Sindhis who stayed back in Pakistan faced acute discrimination and their daughters and women were abducted by Muslim goons. Many of them had to embrace Islam for survival. So, Sindhis in India and anywhere in the world have a dislike, if not aversion, for the Muslims and anything associated with this community.

Since, we fallaciously tend to associate a language with a community and religion, Persian/Arabic and even Urdu became languages of Muslims and Islam. Just the way Hindus have begun to hate Urdu script because it’s written from right to left and used mainly by Muslims, Sindhi people, esp. youngsters, also think that their original script is Islamic. So, it must be dispensed with and Devanagari should be introduced instead.

Needless to say, it’s an outright erroneous belief but then, in these polarised times, we tend to see all things through the prism of religion and community.

I’ve quite a few senior Sindhi friends who still write in Urdu and can’t even read Devanagari. They’re also not very complimentary about the Muslims as they wistfully remember their halcyon days in Pakistan and how they were unceremoniously booted out of that country when the Partition took place. Human mind likes to perpetuate the feelings of hatred. It’s implacable.

Moreover, today’s circumstances are also conducive for the growth of hatred and bitterness. They contribute to the continuation of rancour and resentment.

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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world’s premier publications in several languages including Persian.

URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/sindhispersioarabic-script/d/132552

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