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Historic Indus valley
Land : Sindh |
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Before I start here, I feel this is
my most obligatory duty to pay homage to ever
inspiring memories of my parents Dadanbai & Dr.
Premchand Manghirmalani, as whatever you are going
to read are the memories of both of them, which I am
trying to present with addition of some of recent
facts. |
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Geography and Climate |
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This was the Indus
River commonly known as the river Sindhu [in the
Sanskrit language Sindhu Means Ocean] which works
for the fertility of this land and well being of
native on its banks. In fact the this land derives
name Sindh from the river Sindhu, the name mentioned
in world’s oldest knowledge books Vedas, more times
even the holly river Ganga. Area wise Sindh is
larger than England in the lower Indus basin with
Arabian sea Indian ocean in south, Plains of Punjab
in north, desert extended to merge with Thar desert
of Rajasthan in east and Khirtar mountain range in
the west. The human population was in the proximity
of 5 millions [at present about 50 millions].
The river Sindhu covers a length of almost 3000
kilometers and all most one third of it is in the
Sindh. This was common saying that this land is Gift
of river Sindhu to human beings another such gift of
nature is the Egypt of river Nile. Less rains and
hot climatic conditions, average temperature above
30 degree Celsius with world’s hottest city
Jacobabad being part of Sindh, river Sindhu was
working as the life line for the citizen. Among the
major famous cities Dadu, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas,
Larkana, Nawabshah, Tando Adam, shikarpur etc. of
the sindh, Hyderabad was the city with a some what
pleasant climate and cool breezes while the
Jacobabad and Sevahan were the among the hottest
places of the region. [According to records of
meteorological reports in the year 1919 mercury went
to touch 52 degree Celsius at Jacobabad]. |
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Economy of Sindh |
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Sindh was an agro based
economy. The main crops were the Rice, wheat, cotton
and sugar cane but rice was cultivated in abundance
and Larkana was famous for its very fine quality
rice crops though Dadu and Thata were not legging
for behind in the cultivation of rice crops. Cotton
was the main crop of Hyderabad and Nawabshah, and
production of cotton has included sindh on the world
map of textile industry. Sugar can was cultivated in
the southern parts. Sindh was also producing good
quality fruits like the Mango and Banana. Rice Mill
was the main industry in the Larkana and Dadu
districts.
Beside the agricultural and textile people of Sindh
were also earning very handsomely from their skills
of pottery, leather work and art of weaving of
carpets. Specific and very unique way of polishing
the ornaments and embroidery on cloths also brought
considerable praise for the natives of Sindh besides
adding to their physical wealth. Mahoan-jo-daro have
very distinctive illustration that native of Sindh
were well versed with these artistic works since the
ancient times at least in the pottery. |
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Sindh: Historic
rulers & Political Status |
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On the political fronts
life of land of Sindh was started with the Vedic
life style. Brahmanism and Buddhism also found this
land for flourishing. Raja Dahar was the last Hindu
King of Sindh. This land in the Indus valley also
witness ruling by the Somara Dynasty, almost for 200
years, Samma rulers for almost 100 years. Though
Humayun visited Sindh during the reign of Samma
rulers but Mugul rule started only with the Emperor
Akbar and lasted till the time of Nadir shah and
before the British rule Sindh was under the
governing of Talpur Mirs. After the Independence in
1947 Sindh become part of newly formed country
Pakistan and presently is the second largest
provision with Karachi being the capital city. It is
a historic fact that Islam was propagated on the
land of Sindh under the influence of powers of sword
[for details visit “Sindhi Deity Jhulelal” in the
World of Sindhyat section of www.thesindhuworld.com
] and Hindus were saved by Lord Jhulelal. If we go
back to Vedic era, the north region of India,
Pakistan and east Afghanistan were referred as the
Sapta Sindhu in the Rig-Veda. For the travelers from
Arab and Persia this sub continent was composed of
two countries Hind [entire ancient India] and Sindh
[part of present Pakistan] in fact the names Hind
and Hindu have origin with Sindh and Sindhu. |
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