Sindhi Hindus

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For demographics of Hindus in Sindh Province, see Hinduism in Sindh Province.
Sindhi Hindus
Total population
c. 7 million
Regions with significant populations
 Pakistan4,176,986[1][2]
 India2,772,264 [lower-alpha 1][3][4]
Languages
Sindhi
Additionally Hindi–Urdu, and English
Religion
Om.svg Hinduism (incl. Nanakpanthi)
Related ethnic groups
Indo-Aryan peoples
Jhulelal, the Ishta Devta of the Sindhi Hindus.

Sindhi Hindus are Sindhis who follow the Hindu religion, whose origins lie in the Sindh region and spread across modern-day India and the Pakistani Sindh province. After the Partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were among those who fled from Pakistan to the dominion of India, in what was a wholesale exchange of Hindu and Muslim populations in some areas. Some later emigrated from the subcontinent and settled in other parts of the world.[5][6][7]

According to the 2017 census, there are 4.18 million Sindhi Hindus residing within the Sindh province of Pakistan with major population centers being Mirpur Khas Division and Hyderabad Division that combined account for more than 2 million of them.[1] Meanwhile, the 2011 census listed 2.77 million speakers of Sindhi in India, including speakers of Kutchi,[8] a number that does not include Sindhi Hindus who no longer speak the Sindhi language. The vast majority of Sindhi Hindus living in India belong to the Lohana jāti, which includes the sub-groups of Amil and Bhaiband.[9][10]

Hinduism in Sindh[edit]

Prior to the Islamic invasions of India, Hinduism and Buddhism were widely practiced in the Sindh region. The terms India and Hindus are respectively derivatives of the names of the Indus river called Sindhu in Sanskrit. After many successful raids, the army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muhammad Bin Qasim successfully invaded Sindh in 712CE against the last Hindu king of Sindh, Raja Dahir.

Sindh, under the control of Qasim, saw a decline of Hinduism and Buddhism. The later reign of the Delhi Sultanate, led to further decline with Hinduism and Buddhism becoming minority religions.

Prior to the partition of India, the Sindhi Hindu population, accounting for around 25% of the population, mostly moved to India. Today, Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan number around 4.2 million, around 9% of the region's population. Sindhi Hindus are the largest ethnolinguistic Hindu group in Pakistan.[11]

Partition of India[edit]

Main article: Sindhis in India

After the partition of India in 1947, the majority of Sindh's Hindus migrated to India, mainly forced by the religious-based persecution of the time.[citation needed] They settled primarily in the neighbouring Kutch district of Gujarat, which bears linguistic and cultural similarities to Sindh, and the city of Bombay. As per Census of India 2011, there are around 1,741,662 Sindhi speakers living in India (not counting Kutchi speakers, who are sometimes seen as speaking a Sindhi dialect).[12] There are also sizable Sindhi Hindu communities elsewhere in the world, sometimes termed, the 'Sindhi diaspora'.

Family Names[edit]

Conventions[edit]

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.[13][14][15]

Surnames[edit]

Caste Surnames[16]
Sindhi Amil Lohana Advani, Ahuja, Ajwani, Bathija, Bhambhani, Bhavnani, Bijlani, Chhablani, Chhabira, Chhugani, Chugani, Dadlani, Daryani, Dudani, Essarani, Gabrani, Gidwani, Gurnani, Hingorani, Hemrajani , Idnani, Issrani, Jagtiani, Jhangiani, Kandharani, Karnani, Kewalramani, Khubchandani, Kriplani, Haswani,Lalwani, Mahtani, Makhija, Malkani, Manghirmalani, Manglani, Manshani, Mansukhani, Mirchandani, Motwani, Mukhija, Panjwani, Punwani, Ramchandani, Raisinghani, Rijhsanghani, Sadarangani, Shahani, Shahukarani, Shivdasani, Sipahimalani (shortened to Sippy in many instances), Sitlani, Sarabhai, Singhania, Takthani, Thadani, Vaswani, Wadhwani and Uttamsinghani
Sindhi Bhaiband Lohana Aishani, Agahni, Anandani, Aneja, Ambwani, Asija, Bablani, Bajaj, Bhagwani, Bhaglani, Bhojwani, Bhagnani, Balani, Baharwani, Biyani, Bodhani, Channa, Chothani, Dalwani, Damani, Dhingria, Dolani, Dudeja, Gangwani, Ganglani, Gulrajani, Hiranandani, Hotwani, Harwani, Jagwani, Jamtani, Jobanputra, Juneja, Jumani, Kateja, Kodwani, Khabrani, Khanchandani, Khushalani, Kirpalani, Lakhani, Lanjwani, Longan, Lachhwani, Ludhwani, Lulia, Lokwani, Manghnani, Mamtani, Mirani, Mirpuri, Mirwani, Mohinani, Mulchandani, Nihalani, Nankani, Nathani, Parwani, Phull, Qaimkhani, Ratlani, Rajpal, Rustamani, Ruprela, Rajwani, Rijhwani, Ramnani, Sambhavani, Santdasani, Shamdasani, Soneji, Setia, Sewani, Tejwani, Tilokani, Tirthani, Wassan, Vangani, Varlani,Vishnani, Visrani, Virwani and Valbani

Notable Sindhi Hindus[edit]

Main article: List of Sindhi people

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ Includes speakers of Sindhi; some Sindhi-speakers, especially in western Rajasthan, are Muslims while many ethnic Sindhi Hindus no longer speak the language.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Table 9: Population by Religion, Sex and Rural/Urban" (PDF). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  2. ↑ "Hindu Population (PK) – Pakistan Hindu Council". Archived from the original on 18 July 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ↑ Data on Language and Mother Tongue. "Census of India 2011" (PDF). p. 7.
  4. ↑ "Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength – 2011" (PDF). Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  5. ↑ Rita Kothari, Burden of Refuge: Sindh, Gujarat, Partition, Orient Blackswan
  6. ↑ Nil. "Who orchestrated the exodus of Sindhi Hindus after Partition?". tribune.com.pk. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Nandita bhavnani. The making of exile: sindhi hindus and the partition of india. ISBN 978-93-84030-33-9. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  8. ↑ Data on Language and Mother Tongue. "Census of India 2011" (PDF). p. 7.
  9. ↑ Ramey, S. Hindu, Sufi, or Sikh: Contested Practices and Identifications of Sindhi Hindus in India and Beyond. Springer. ISBN 978-0-230-61622-6.
  10. ↑ Schaflechner, Jürgen (2018). Hinglaj Devi: Identity, Change, and Solidification at a Hindu Temple in Pakistan. Oxford University Press. pp. 71–75.
  11. ↑ "Hindus of Pakistan reject CAA, do not want Indian Prime Minister Modi's offer of citizenship". Gulf News. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  12. ↑ "CENSUS OF INDIA 2011" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Govt of India. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  13. ↑ "Sindhishaan - Whats in Name".
  14. ↑ "Sindhi Surnames".
  15. ↑ Sakhrani, Tarun. "The Sindhis of Sindh And Beyond". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  16. ↑ U.T Thakur (1959). Sindhi Culture.

Sources[edit]

  • 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

Template:Hinduism in India by regionTemplate:Hinduism in Pakistan

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