Proud to be Sindhi…
by Dr. Meena Wadhwani
The future of a nation, society, and community becomes prosperous and joyful only when its citizens imbibe good values and virtues while preserving their own identity. The Sindhi community possesses a glorious identity. Our culture, which originated and flourished along the banks of the Indus River, has today become an integral part of the culture of the entire nation of India.
‘Sindhu’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘ocean’. When the Earth was covered entirely by water, the first landmass to emerge from it was named Sindhu. The Rigveda, the first Veda of creation, was composed on the banks of the Sindhu River. We Sindhis are the heirs to the Indus Valley Civilization—a legacy acclaimed by scholars both at home and abroad. Despite facing the turmoil and hardships of the Partition, the Sindhi community has forged its own path to progress, setting a unique example for society.
According to great literary figures worldwide, Sindhi possesses the highest number of grammatical elements—such as sounds, vowels, verbs, and adverbs—compared to any other language in the world. Sindhi has 52 letters in its alphabet, whereas Hindi has 35. For instance, there are 28 words for “camel” in Sindhi, and a similar number for “water.”
A key characteristic of the Sindhi language is that, while it has absorbed a great deal from other languages—such as Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil—it has simultaneously preserved its own distinctive elements regarding vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. In the words of the European scholar George Stack, “The Sindhi dialect possesses several features that could prove interesting to experts in linguistics.”
In terms of literature, Sindhi is a rich language with a distinguished tradition. The Sindhi community’s contribution to nation-building is praiseworthy; having endured the horrors of Partition, they emerged—through their hard work and enterprise—as a key pillar of India’s economic, educational, and social progress.