Sindhi is one of the 22 languages officially recognised by the Central Government of India. It is the official language spoken in the Sindh province of Pakistan. One of the oldest languages of the world and one of the 200 Indo-Aryan languages, it is spoken by roughly an estimated 25 million people in Pakistan, India, and the Sindhi diaspora around the world.
The six main dialects of Sindhi are (1) Siraiki, spoken in Upper Sindh, (2) Vicholi, in Central Sindh, (3) Lari in Lower Sindh,(4) Lasi, in Lasa B’elo, Kohistan on the western part of Sindh, (5) Thari, in Tharu, the desert on the southeast border of Sindh and (6) Kutchi, in the Kutch
region of Gujarat, India. Vicholi is the standard dialect for most Sindhi speakers and is used in Sindhi literature and education.
Historically, Sindhi was written in Gurmukhi, Khojki, Shikarpuri, and Khudabadi script. Today, Sindhi is written in Sindhi -Arabic, and Devanagari script in India. Roman-Sindhi script is used by the contemporary Sindhis for texting on mobile phones. The Sindhi – Arabic script is a modified Arabic script and has 52 letters. There are some consonants in the Sindhi language that a non-Sindhi would find difficult to pronounce. The Sindhi script is written from right to left.
The Sindhi language is rich in vocabulary influenced by Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Arabic, and Persian languages. The first-ever translation of the Quran (the Holy Book of Islam religion) into Sindhi was in the 12th century. Many renowned poets and writers of Sindh such as Shah, Sachal, and Sami have enriched the Sindhi literature.
Abdul_ Majid Bhurgri and Abdul Razaque, both computer professionals, have worked on enabling the use of Sindhi script on personal computers, which has revolutionised the Sindhi printing and publishing industry. Today, many Sindhi Hindus are scattered all over the world after the partition of India in 1947 who may not have the facilities to learn the language and the script in a formal classroom. So, the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, and Indian Institute of Sindhology, Adipur- Gandhidham, both in India, are working towards teaching the language through distance learning programs and running classes at local levels.
Jyoti Mulchandani
Ahmedabad
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