SindhStudies

Ali Muhammad Rind, well-known as Ali Baba was one of the doyens of Sindhi fiction after partition. Interestingly, he was also one of the first full-time writers, and mostly he did not give stories without claiming royalty. He was born in Kotri, a twin town of Hyderabad, but in a different District, probably on 7th July 1940. He was schooled there up to the Matriculation. Then he did not pursue further formal education. At a very early age, he developed a passion for writing fiction. Writing Career About his writing career, he himself tells us in the preface of the novel Mohen jo Daro , published by New Fields Publications, Hyderabad in 1985, in the following words: “I could recall that I commenced to write this novel ( Mohen jo Daro ) when I was around eleven or twelve years old…Whenever any shape, character, or place appeared on the canvas of my mind, I would recreate it onto the paper. I considered this whole exercise more important than the school work. Especially, I used to v...

  On December 25, 1925, in the remote village of Ibrahim Kachhi, Taluka and District Dadu, a remarkable individual was born, who would later become an iconic scholar of Sindh studies, as well as a renowned irrigation engineer, agriculturist, and horticulturist. For over fifty years, Muhammad Hussain Panhwar dedicated himself to enriching the scholarship of Sindh, authoring insightful essays and books on history, archaeology, irrigation, and water management. As an agriculturist, his contributions extended to producing innovative varieties of fruits, leaving a lasting legacy across multiple fields. In 1945, at the age of 20, Panhwar wrote his first book in Sindhi, titled Muslim Aurat . This work, as noted by Shaikh Ayaz, “described the position of women in various religious and social laws and the place they occupied in Sindh.” [1] However, Panhwar later transitioned to writing primarily in English, which left many general readers unaware of his extensive body of work. Fortunatel...

  Mirza Qaleech Beg (4 th October, 1853-3 rd July, 1929) Muhammad Habib Sanai This year , on October 4th, Sindh is going to celebrate the 171st birth anniversary of Mirza Qaleech Beg, the doyen of Sindhi literature. Sindhi has the oldest tradition of writing poetry, and for more than five hundred years, it has been used for lyrical composition. From the sixteenth century, some religious scholars tried to compose books on religious matters by using rhymed prose, which later scholars called Sindhiyoon . In the British era (1843-1947), after introducing the present Arabo-Persian or Naskh script in 1853, the government announced prizes, etc. for writing books in Sindhi, therefore, Sindhi prose received a great impetus. In the initial phase, Sindhi prose consisted mostly of school books, however, in the second phase, numerous writers appeared on the horizon of Sindhi literature, who enriched Sindhi prose by their translation, adaption, and writing of original works of fiction a...

  During the nineteen eighties, when I was working as a Stenographer in the Department of Archaeology, I heard the name of Taj Sehrai during a conversation between Syed Hakim Ali Shah Bokhari, himself a prominent and first qualified Sindhi Archaeologist, and another foreign Archaeologist. Foreign Archaeologists, working in different Archaeological missions, especially in Sindh, used to visit the Karachi Head Office of the Archaeology Department, and most of them used to chat with Saeen Hakim Ali Shah Bokhari. I gathered that those who either carried out excavations at archeological sites or explorations of historical sites of Sindh, especially of Dadu District had utilized the services of Taj Sehrai during the prospecting and excavations of these ancient remains. Taj Sahrai was an educationist, historian, self-taught archaeologist, and cultural anthropologist. His expertise can be recognized from the fact that when other foreign dignitaries came to Pakistan, Taj Sahib was called ...

  Hundred years ago on 2 nd May, 1924/27 Ramazan, 1342, a child was born in the family of Allama Ali Khan Abro, a distinguished educationist and exegetist of Quran in the village of Sangi, Taluka Mehar, who is now renowned as Jamal Abro, an eminent Sindhi Short Story writer. He wrote only 16 short stories but became the torch bearer of Modern Sindhi Short story after partition. His story collection entitled Pishoo Pasha is always in demand, therefore, to date, its seven editions have been published. Besides, almost all of his short stories have been translated in Punjabi, Urdu, and English. Punjabi Translation was rendered by Mohsin Abbassi and was published by Pakistan Punjabi Board, Lahore in August, 1999, Urdu Translation was published in 2006 by the University of Karachi, and its English translation was entitled as Pirani and other stories was first published by Peacock Publishers, Karachi and then by Oxford University Press, Karachi in 2018. Some of his stories are also tra...