سنڌي ورچوئل لائبرري

Sindhi Culture

Sindh is a region with an ancient civilization, the most concrete proof of which is seen in the finds from the excavations of Mohen-jo-Daro, Chahoon-jo-Daro, Jhakkar or Jhukkar, Aamree, Kot Diji and other similar areas. So much has been written about the civilization of Mohen-jo-Daro that my discussion of this subject will not yield anything new. Here I will only present a brief sketch of the entire Sindhi civilization that will enable us to judge it as to how great and rich in all aspects was this civilization. I start this sketch from a modern and internationally recognized reference.

“The civilization of the Mehran^* Valley had found the interpretation of the dream of Utopia, where the world had achieved the ideals of world peace and prosperity; where not even a small measure of their wealth was spent on defense or weaponry required for war – that was the paradise, that is the dream of every sane man.”  (1)

This was the paradise where no one died of hunger, where means of alleviating one’s pain and worry like dance, music, painting, sculpture and wines made of honey were available, where man hated filth, where every man was a friend and a brother; where every produce of the country was their collective property; where religious bigotry and war were considered the greatest sin; where hurting someone was considered inhuman, where war with neighbouring peoples and countries was forbidden; that was the Sindh (Sindhi civilization) of Mohen-jo-Daro. Sumerian and Semetic, Babylonian and Egyptian people admired that Sindh, some called it the region of deities and Ziasutra, while the Egyptians considered the waters of Mehran as a remedy for leprosy. In that Sindh, the writers and artists who sang stories of their rich heritage were admired; where a dancing girl could pose in a studio of an artist for carving her statue and the sculptor after carving that would fall in love with his artistic creation rather than falling for the girl’s beauty. (That dancing girl is on the title cover of this book). Where a woman, in order to adorn herself, had created beautiful jewellery which can not be made even in this day and age; where houses were neat, clean and well-ventilated, where sewerage system was one of covered drains, the example of which is only found in certain European countries in the 20^th century; where every household had aesthetic things like statues, paintings, toys etc that were considered as signs of good artistic taste; where painting beautiful artistic pictures on the household utensils was considered essential, and this cultural mode went on for thousands of years. (See pictures of a plate from Mohen-jo-Daroand Harrappa, and a painted Huqqa of the 19^th century period on page      ).

From an anthropological point of view, it was a matriarchal society where the chief of the clan was a woman because she had invented agriculture. The man of this region saw that in addition to being an interesting person, she was the mother of all creation. Not only did she produce beautiful children, she also grew crops. Therefore this creative prowess of a woman was considered as an adorable quality. She was given the status of a goddess because she was the raison d’itre for every creation. If someone wanted to start making a garden, a woman’s lying on that soil was considered a good omen. This “female principle” is a sign of very ancient civilization; and since all her creative powers were in her body, expressing her physical features was considered a natural thing to do. The genitalia and breasts of a woman were considered an expression of her creative powers, and therefore these two body parts were thought to be the most adorable things. Her creative part was called peek, meaning “small beloved”, which was represented by a lotus flower. Artists presented this part with different artistic symbols. Some showed flowers and plants arising from it while others drew different forms of the lotus flower as a simile. Such sketches have been found from the Stone Age era of Sindh, long before the period of Mohen-jo-Daro. Mr. Carter found from Mool Valley near Karachi, very large stones where lotus flowers are carved on them as a sign of the “female principle”. Similar such sketches carrying the same concept have been found at other places and countries. (Picture on page    ). One of the pictures carries the symbol found by Mr. Carter on a stone, and the other has different shapes of the lotus flower. The idea behind these was the one I have just elaborated. This can be supported by opinions of numerous scholars (2). In this context an interesting stanza of Shah A.Latif can be presented here:

ڪنواريون ۽ ڪونئر، هلو ته پسون ڪاڪ جا

[Meaning: let us go and see virgins and lotuses of Kaak river]

Mohen-jo-Darohad a matriarchal state of society in the beginning. This picture (on page    ) shows a seal found from Mohen-jo-Daro, in which a plant is seen growing from the genitals of a woman, which shows that a woman was considered as a symbol of creation. The other pictures (on page     ) show seals from Sindh and other countries and they too are depictive of the same matriarchal society. (3)

These pictures and sketches are from an era when agriculture was only recently invented, and it was mainly looked after by women. (see page      ). In this era of Sindh, there was no concept of personal property and the society was at a stage that has been considered as Primitive Communism. But human society has never been permanent. It always keeps changing politically and socially due to the changing modes of possession of the product and for economic reasons. In some period of Mohen jo  Daro, approximately 4000 BC, due to the consolidation of the agricultural system, its society changed from matriarchal to patriarchal. In this period the concept of personal property became so rampant that it perhaps gave rise to slavery.  Tribal life was destroyed and the means of production and wealth, instead of remaining state property in the form of gold and copper coins, started to be possessed by a few people. And this wealth gave rise to an organised religion, in which the pundits and monks maneuvered to make this new class the most influencial class.  This was the beginning of the caste system, which forced a lot of tribes to move from this region. These tribes took their language both spoken and written, and their culture with them and spread it in other countries.

In Sindh, this culture persisted in one or the other forms and even though the tribal life came to an end, it gave rise to a new class system; but art and skill continued to progress in the same manner. The excavations of Chahoon-Jo-Daro, Brahamanabad, Jhakkar, Aamri, Nangerparker and Bhambore prove the existence of this chain of culture where art and skill has always had its own importance; and from every period such sculptures and other artistic finds leaves one amazed. You must have seen the cradles and beds/charpoys from Hala made with jandi (a special type of artistic design on wood); exactly similar designs and patterns have been found that are 3000 years old. You can see a picture on page..... which shows that jandi with lacquer pattern design clearly. Mr. Belasis thinks that these are chess pieces but Mr. Cousins says that these are blocks of a cradle (4). Whether they are chess pieces or blocks of a cradle, they prove that this artistic skill of Sindh is thousands of years old. Whether it is the four-faced copper idol of Nangarparker or the statue of a Buddhist monk from Mirpurkhas, the magnificent idols of Gautam Buddha or the old statues of other deities found from the temples, you will find them master pieces of  sculpture and painting. On the other hand the architecture was also very advanced. In the next few pictures one of the citadels of the Buddhist temples can be seen, and the architectural design can be compared to the architecture of Thatta. This shows that the architecture of Sindh dates back to thousands of years. This era of fine arts continued for hundreds of years, during which there were many invasions of this territory by Greeks, Iranians, Sythians etc but they could not curb the artistic ways of Sindh. But when the Arabs entered as conquerers, they started demolishing instead of constructing. The Arabs were not really at fault, but it was their cultural state at that time which made them to do so. In a very short time, Sindh was in such a state that is best narrated in Henry Cousin’s words:

“Sind is a land of sepulchers and dust of ‘holy’ shams and ‘holy’ humbug. When the good old times under Hindu rule gave way to Mohammadan domination, the principal concern of its rulers seems to have been for the pleasures of the living and the glorification of their dead”-(Henry Cousins-“Antiquities of Sindh” pp 1).

He goes on to say,

“The Arabs destroyed but they did not build…… (pp 10).

As I said earlier, as a nation Arabs were not at fault. They had come with a new sentiment, to give the world a message of mutual respect and security; and the ideal of worshipping only one God, for which they thought it was essential. This was perhaps their historical necessity and the history will not blame the Arabs for that. Their main purpose was to break idols, and destroy statues and any art that smelt of idol-worship. The Arab era is also a link in the chain of evolution of human life, and so it can not be called a historic mistake. Whatever measures they took, were necessary historically. What Tartars did to Baghdad and Alexander to Iran, the same was done by Arabs to Iran and Sindh. The reason why the Arabs tried to destroy the fine arts, was that they considered it their religious duty in the early period. Every religious invader has done the same, and this has happened in every religion. In every country and society, religion has tried to ban fine arts. Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, in their own way, have done the same. We can see that after some time, the Arabs had at least tried to spread knowledge throughout the world. The Sindhis had inculcated in them the love of reading and writing, and had taught them the numbers, arithmetic, astrology and other subjects. Later they took Sindhi scholars to Baghdad and Damascus as their teachers and tried to learn subjects of science and arts from them. The sternness in Arabs was calmed by Sindhi culture and many Arabs lived in Sindh to teach the natives a better religion in exchange of the rich cultural elements of Sindhi society. This harmony later gave rise to Sufism, where Sindhi music and religion were amalgamated (giving rise to ‘Sufi Music’.)

Due to certain unpleasant traits in the Arab mindset, the natives were sometimes wary of them. The Sindhi bards and folk poets have depicted them as Bedouins, which for them did not carry a good meaning. The verses given below display the state of mind of the Sindhi poets, how they thought of the Bedouins (5). The verses of some folk poets from the compilation of Dr Nabi Bux Baloch include:

1-                     تون گهٽ آهين گونهن، ٿو بدو، بي آبو ڪرين

 (You are a lesser being,

Bedouin, you cause me insult)

(Chhutto Faqeer  pp 157)

2-                     رکيم ساک سومري تي، جو بدو ٿيو بي ايمان

(I let Soomro to decide with trust, but he proved to be a faithless Bedouin

(Sahib Soomro pp 352)

3-                     بکيا مرون بَرَ جا، ڪياءِ بدو! بيدادي

(Alas! You cruel Bedouin, caused the beasts of the land to suffer hunger)

(Jusub Mundro  pp417.)

An isolated example would probably not have meant much but since such examples are found at many places in our literature, it tells us about the image the natives carried in their subconscious.

No nation is bad in a collective sense. The blending of cultures erases the historic unpleasantness, and now we have in Sindh an invaluable gift of Islam that the Arabs brought to this part of the world. At the same time, fine arts are progressing anew in the entire Arab world, which is certainly due to the Sindhi influence of the past. Today we are under the influence of the European knowledge and culture and it would be prudent for the Sindhi nation to take only the best from all the cultures, in order to enrich their own culture.

References:

1. Edward Becon—“Digging for History” p 213
2. Bhandarkar--- Vajasaneyi Samhita p 146; Briffault—“Mothers” iii-205-209; N.N.Bose—“Viswa Kosa” xv –p 545
3. Marshall---- “Mohen-jo-Daroand Indus Ciivlization” p 52
4. Henry Cousins—“Antiquities of Sindh” p 60
5. Manazra--- Lok Adabi Scheme (Sindhi Adabi Board) Book No. 10, pp 353, 417 etc