A peek into Sindh’s rare history

The PPP government in Sindh has been severely criticised for its lack of good governance, corruption and a poor state of cleanliness in cities and towns across Sindh.

Most of this censure appears to be justified, but in their zeal to take the PPP to task, most journalists and media persons have either wittingly or unwittingly ignored the good work being done in some of Sindh’s departments. One such example is the Department of Culture and Antiquities. Going through the work produced in the past couple of years, you get the feeling that not everything is broken in the province.

If you are a student of history, you keenly look for books and monographs that can enhance your understanding of a particular period or region. In search of such material, bookshops and literary festivals are not the only source; a visit to the museum in Karachi can give you a pleasant surprise. As part of a project, the Department of Culture has reprinted some high-quality books on Sindh that needed to be brought to the fore. Named the RCCP History Project, – RCCP stands for research, compilation, consolidation and printing – the culture department has accomplished in two years what other departments normally do not manage to achieve in even decades.

The project is led by Madad Ali Sindhi, a well-known and highly respected scholar of Sindhi language, literature and history. His commendable efforts show that if the right people are appointed, even the government departments can achieve much in a short time. Of course, Madad Ali Sindhi couldn’t have done much without the active involvement and support of Minister of Culture Sardar Ali Shah who made the required resources available for compilation and printing. of over a dozen books and monographs, including some rare material and illustrations.

For the benefit of the readers, this article contains brief reviews about some of the recently published books.

‘The Indus and its Provinces’ was written by William Patrick Andrew (1807 – 1877) who was the chairman of ‘Scinde and Punjab Railway and Indus Steam Flotilla’, established for the expansion of railways in India. After the conquest of Sindh in 1843, Andrew travelled across and along the Indus to prepare a report on the possibilities of expanding travel facilities. ‘The Indus and its Provinces’ is the book that came out of his wide travels. Initially it was in the shape of a report with illustrations and statistical tables, but was later published as a book.

William Andrew underscored the importance of establishing a network of railways across India with a special focus on Sindh. He was deputed in 1853 to establish a communication system to spread the British Empire. He surveyed almost all the ancient routes to Central Asia and Europe and designed a combined system of railways and steam boats. On his recommendations, not only the railways but also a telegraphic communication system was set-up and the construction of lines to Bolan and Khyber regions was undertaken. The book has informative chapters on Kurrachee (Karachi) as well.

Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) was 14 years younger than WP Andrew, but Burton’s interests in language, literature and the living habits of people was much deeper in comparison. While Andrew was more interested in landscape and topography, Burton had an observant eye for people, and a discerning ear for what they uttered. Proficient in many eastern languages, Burton translated the Arabic classic ‘Alif Laila’ into English. He had over 40 books to his name by the time he died. Another two dozen of Burton’s manuscripts were published posthumously. His book, ‘Scinde or the Unhappy Valley’ is in two volumes, first published in 1851.

In this amazing book, Burton has written about his journeys in India, especially across Bombay (now Mumbai), Karachi, Thatta, Banbhore, Jheruck, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Shikarpur, and the River Indus, with a detailed analyses of the people of Sindh. He has discussed the peculiarities of different tribes, their habits and lifestyles. Though the book contains 28 interesting chapters, giving the reader glimpses of the Indus Valley and its people, perhaps the most interesting chapters are chapter 11, ‘Kotree – a comedy of baggage beasts’, and chapter 14 about Sindhi women, ‘The Scindian Woman – especially her exterior’.

After almost two decades, Burton returned to Sindh and revisited some of the old places and explored some new avenues. His fresh observations were published in 1871 in the book titled ‘Sind Revisited’. Interestingly, by now the spellings of Scinde and Kurrachee had been changed to Sind and Karachi. The book is a more detailed book comprising 440 pages as compared to the 350 pages in his first book on Scinde. With 31 chapters, this book is a treasure trove on Sindh’s affairs in the second half of the 19th century.

Its third chapter, ‘The Cantonment, Karachi, and its ‘Humours’ – the Anglo-Indian Army ‘Rotten from head to foot’ – society and politics’, is an absorbing read and makes one feel that some things never change.

Almost at the same time, Edward Archer Langley wrote ‘Narrative of a Residence at the Court of Meer Ali Moorad’. Langley was a political agent in Khairpur and had the rank of a major. Mir Ali Murad Khan Talpur was the second ruler of the Khairpur state (1842 - 1894). The East India Company had accused Talpur of deception and fraud and stripped him of most of his land in upper Sindh in 1852. He was left with little more than his original emirate, including Khairpur and surrounding lands. The Narrative comprises two 200-page volumes with nine and seven chapters respectively.

The first chapter of the first volume gives intriguing details of how Mir Ali Murad was stuck in Italy without much money and with servants none of whom spoke Italian. Langley was sent from England to Italy to disentangle the Mir from his problems so that he could come back to Sindh. This shows how the British took care of the local lords as long as they remained faithful. While the first volume delineates the journey from England, to Italy, to India, via the Red Sea and the Aden, ending with Langley’s observations of Hyderabad, Shikarpoor (now Shikarpur), and Khyrpoor (Khairpur), the second volume is more concerned with the socioeconomics of Sindh.

Alexander Shand (1832 - 1907) wrote a delightful book about General John Jacob (1812 - 1858). First published in 1900, the book titled, ‘General John Jacob: Commandant of the Sindh Irregular Horse and the Founder of Jacobabad’ is a rare book and Madad Ali Sindhi deserves praise for making this book available to readers. Though Jacob lived for just 46 years, he spent almost three decades of his life in India. The book chronicles the life and times of Jacob in 20 chapters

The last two books on the list are ‘Prehistoric Civilisation of the Indus Valley’ by K N Dikshit (1889 - 1944) and ‘Sindh under the Mughals’ by M Saleem Akhtar. The first consists of Sir William Meyer’s lectures delivered in 1935, and the second book is an introduction to and translation of ‘Mazhar-i-Shahjahani’ written by Yusuf Mirak in 1634. All the books are printed on good quality paper with colourful titles and maps and are available at reasonable prices, ranging from Rs300 to Rs900. For the readers of history, the reprinting of these books is a sheer boon. Go for them friends, before they are all gone.

The writer holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK and works in Islamabad.

Email: Mnazir1964@yahoo.co.uk