The British Rule and Development of Sindhi language

The British Rule

The Sindhi language witnessed different stages of modern development after the British conquest  of Sindh  in  1843.  The  first  such development  was  the  invention  of  the  Sindhi Type-writer.  The first  such  old-styled  machine named  as  ‘Monarch’,  was  manufactured  way back  in  1926  by Remington,  an  American Company.  The  old  Sindhi  Type-writer, recovered  from  a  person  in Shahdadkot (Sindh)  is  preserved  in  the  museum  of  the Institute of Sindhology, Jamshoro (Sindh). 

It  was  in  1973  that  a  modern  Sindhi Type-writer  named  as  ‘Al-Mustafa  Hermes Type writer’ was made with technical expertise of  Pillard,  a  firm  of  Switzerland,  and  with serious  efforts  of Sindh  University’s  Vice Chancellor  Syed  Ghulam  Mustafa  Shah  and renowned  Intellectual  Mr. Muhammad  Ibrahim Joyo.  This  modern  machine  was  improved further  through  a  new  model restructured  in 1994  (Abbasi:  1977:  6-12).  Such  a  scientific development  paved  a  way  to make Sindhi  a Computer language in the nineties. 

When the new script/linguistic code was provided to Sindhi by the British rulers in 1853 A.D., in the form of Perso-Arabic-Sindhi script, it  further  enhanced  its  scope  among  all contemporary languages  spoken  in  the  Indus Valley  (e.g  Punjabi,  Lahnda,  Pashtu,  Balochi, Brauhvi and Siraiki etc). 

The decision of the British rulers to give a  new  script  to  Sindhi,  deviating  from Devanagari, might have  had  some  political strings attached to it to. However, it proved to be a good omen for Sindhi as it paved the way for  its  further  development  on  the  scientific basis. It is only due to this that today after Urdu and  English,  the  Sindhi  language  is  more developed  in  comparison  with  other vernaculars of Pakistan. 

The predominating class of the educated Sindhi  Hindus  already  using  Devanagari, Khudawadi  and Hatiki  scripts  at  the  time  of British  rule  in  India  had  tried  their  level  best  to resist the verdict of the British rulers in favour  of the  new  script  on  the  cards.  Even  Dr  Ernest Trumpp  had disliked  the  idea  of  giving  PersoArabic  script  to  Sindhi  as  ‘the  silliest’  idea.  The new script was also bound to detach centuriesold historical links of Sindhi with the Indo-Aryan languages of India such as Sanskrit and Pali etc, of course in terms of sociolinguistics only; while its morphological,  phonological  and  syntactical features  still  resembled  with  those  languages. 

And, it also reflected the ‘Hindu-Muslim Divide’ in the  arena  of  linguistics.  Yet,  it  was  a historical phenomenon  of  language  change,  which  was perhaps quite inevitable. 

“The new linguistic phase took on a  completely  new  form  when  the  British arrived  in  Sindh. The British  saw  that  if their rule in Sindh was to be successful, it was  essential  that  appropriate communicative  schemes  should  be installed.  They  saw  that  the  best  and most  obvious  means of  accomplishing this  was  through  the  common  ground  of language.  Thus  from  the  very beginning attention  was  drawn  to  the  question  of making Sindhi the official language. Clerk (1848) in his memorandum to the House of  Commons,  on  the  administration  of Sindh, broaches this issue, giving counsel as to the practicability of using the Sindhi vernacular for administrative purposes. 

“Others  were  of  the  view  that Hindustani  should  be  adopted  as  the official  language,  since they  saw  its universality  in  India  and  believed  that  if used  in  Sindh  it  would  champion  the cause  of  British  hegemony.  Although Stack saw that this was the case, he did not entertain this idea in case of Sindh, as he  affirmed  that  Hindustani  was  not understood  in  Sindh  and  was  only practiced in the judiciary realm and even there only by those magistrates who had no knowledge of Sindhi and Persian. 

“Early  into  the  period  of  British rule  a  committee  was  established  which was  to  tackle  the language  question  in Sindh by coming up with one script which would  clear  up  the  confusion resulting from  several  other  scripts  being  in  use. On  one  side  of  the  bench  there  were those who favoured the implementation of Devanagari  script;  opposing  them  were those  who maintained  that  a  SindhiArabic script should be used. After much dissension  it  was  decided  that SindhiArabic  should  become  the  new  script.  In due  course  the  Sindhi  script  and orthography were modified in accordance with Sindhi phonetics.” (Bughio: 200: 21) During  the  years  following this  decision, much  work  was  done  on  the  Sindhi  language. The  work  commenced  on grammar books, history  books,  textbooks,  dictionaries  and manuals.  Major  works  from  other  languages such as Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Urdu, Persian and  English  were  translated,  periodicals  were mass produced and  a  host  of  literary  societies were  founded  to  celebrate  and  promote  the Sindhi language. Meanwhile English was being introduced  gradually  at  different  levels.  Its popularity, however, was not secured overnight. Although  the  Hindus  readily  embraced  the British system of education as they saw it as a stepping  stone  for  entering  into  government service, the Muslims displayed more reluctance. 

The  annexation  of  Sindh  to  Bombay Presidency  resulted  in  its  having  increased dealings with India. By this means Sindhi came in contact with Hindustani and English spoken by those British who had taken up office. The Hindustani and English influence was minimal, however, since those Sindhis who knew it were only  those  who  had  contact  with  the  English and  those  from  the educated  classes.  This bilingualism occurred only within the bounds of some  urban  areas;  the  rest of  the  people remained  monolingual  and  isolated  from power. This situation followed a similar pattern till Sindh’s separation from Bombay Presidency in  1936.  With  the  departure  of  the  Indian influence,  language  contact  with  Hindi  or Hindustani  was  reduced,  and  Sindh  remained monolingual once again in entirety.