‘Jeay Sindh jeay, Sindh wara jiyan’

Culture is a powerful human tool for survival but a fragile phenomenon that is constantly changing and can be easily lost as it exists only in our minds. Our languages and architecture among other things are merely products of culture, not culture in themselves.
For this reason, archaeologists cannot excavate culture directly. The broken ancient artifacts that they uncover are only material remains that reflect the cultural patterns – things that were made and used through cultural knowledge and skills.
The Indus Valley Civilization is one of the four ancient civilisations (others being Babylon, China and Egypt), wherein Sindhi culture is one of the most famous cultures of Indian civilisation from 3,100 to 850 BC, according to Sindhi scholars. It boasts a vast geographic expanse, 6,000 years of written history as well as a rich and profound culture.
Many aspects of Sindhi culture can be traced back to centuries ago. The Sindhi culture is so diverse and unique, yet harmoniously blended, and presents itself as an invaluable asset for the world.
The province of Sindh derives its name from the famous Indus River. In Sanskrit, the province was dubbed ‘Sindhu’ meaning an ocean. Around 3,000 BC, the Dravidian culture developed and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization. According to historians, the Indus civilisation declined due to natural disasters such as floods but the invasions of Indo-Arians caused the empire’s sudden collapse.
The Sindhi language evolved over a period of 2,400 years with the people of Sindh coming in contact with the Aryans, who became Indo-Aryan (Prakrit). The language, therefore, has a solid base of Prakrit as well as Sanskrit, the language of India, with words from Arabic, Persian and some Dravidian – descendants from Mediterranean subcontinent. Initially, the Sindhis had close contacts with Arabic-speaking Muslims, therefore the language adopted many Arabic words
Since Alexander, the Sindhi culture has gone through different developmental phases. The traditional dresses and practices have become valuable not only for the Sindhi people but also the whole world.
For many years, it was observed that with the modern youth rapidly adopting foreign practices, the Sindhi culture was deteriorating.
Realising this, some intellectuals started campaigning for the ‘Sindh Culture Day’, which received a warm welcome by the people of Sindh and the government announced December 4, 5 and 6 to be observed as the culture days.
The day is celebrated by the people of Sindh, express their loyalty to their culture and its thousands of years old cultural symbols, the traditional Sindhi cap and ajrak (shawl).
When the day was celebrated for the first time in 2009, it was referred to as the “Sindhi Topi Day” (Sindhi cap day); however, in 2010, it was renamed as the Sindh Culture Day.
The day is observed on a date notified by the Sindh Culture Ministry and for 2011, November 19 and 20 were notified a bit earlier than the usual in reverence for the holy month of Muharram.
On November 19, the celebrations began with different cultural programmes, rallies and musical shows, where an unexplained excitement was observed among women and children. The women wore traditional colourful dresses while men were attired in white shalwar kameez with Sindhi caps and ajrak.
On the next day, the celebrations were even more elaborate as government employees also joined in the activities. Television channels broadcasted different activities, including musical and cultural shows, with live coverage.
Everywhere, people danced ‘jhumer’ to the drum beats while singing the song ‘Jeay Sindh jeay, Sindh wara jiyan, Sindhi topi ajrak wara jiyan’ in different cities of the province.
No doubt the Sindhi culture is rich and the people are proud to be called Sindhis. They are happy to adopt their ancestral practices but if the youth realise their unique identification and promote their own culture, then the day will come when in every corner of Sindh will be love and peace that the spirit of the culture day celebrations revealed.
Seeing the enormous interest in celebrations for the culture day, it can be said that the future of the Sindhi culture is bright and the children especially will be aware of their own traditions.