Sindhi Hindus are ethnic Sindhis who practice

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

and are native to the

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

region of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. They are spread across modern-day

, Pakistan and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. After the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were among those who fled from Pakistan to the dominion of India, in what was a wholesale exchange of Hindu and Muslim populations in some areas. Some later emigrated from the

and settled in other parts of the world. According to the 2023 census, there are 4.9 million Sindhi Hindus residing within the Sindh province of Pakistan with major population centers being Mirpur Khas Division and Hyderabad Division that combined account for more than 2 million of them. Meanwhile, the 2011 census listed 2.77 million speakers of Sindhi in India, including speakers of Kutchi, a number that does not include Sindhi Hindus who no longer speak the Sindhi language. The vast majority of Sindhi Hindus living in India belong to the Lohana '' jāti'', which includes the sub-groups of Amil, Bhaiband and Sahiti.

History of Hinduism in Sindh

Before the Arab invasions

Prior to Arab invasions, majority of

's population practiced

, although a significant minority adhered to

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

as well. During the Arab invasions, majority of Sindhi Hindus were a rural pastoral population, who lived mostly in upper Sindh, a region that was entirely

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

; while the Buddhists of Sindh were a mercantile population, who lived entirely in the urban areas of lower Sindh.

Arab rule

After many successful raids, collaboration by the local

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

population, and resistance by the local

population, the army of the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...

led by Muhammad Bin Qasim successfully invaded and conquered Sindh in 712CE, against the last

king of Sindh, Raja Dahir. Sindh, under the control of Qasim, saw a decline of Buddhism, as most Buddhists started converting to Islam. The later reign of the Delhi Sultanate, led to further decline, with both Hinduism and Buddhism becoming minority religions in Sindh. Buddhism later collapsed and ceased to exist in Sindh, while Hinduism remained persistent, managing to survive and flourish throughout the centuries as a minority religion. The consistency of Hinduism in Sindh is credited the dependency of the rural Hindu population on Brahmins.

Partition and after

Prior to the partition of India, as per the 1941 census, the Sindhi Hindu population accounted for around 27% of Sindh's population, most of whom moved to India. Today, Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan number around 4.2 million, around 9% of the region's population. Sindhi Hindus are the largest ethnolinguistic Hindu group in Pakistan.

Religious syncretism with Islam and Sikhism

Historically, Sindhi Hindus have embraced forms of religious syncretism, as a large proportion of the Sindhi Hindus have been close to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

through revering Sufi saints at Sufi shrines as well close to

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

through the Nanakpanthi, an approach in which Guru Nanak's teachings are respected but without necessarily following the other gurus nor identifying as

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

Groups and communities

Majority of Sindhi Hindus belong to Lohana community who are historically traders, merchants and government officials, The Sindhi Lohanas are divided into different sub-groups for example Amils, Bhaibands, Hyderabadi Bhaiband ( Sindhi Varki), Sahitis, Shikarpuris, Hatvaniya/Hatwara, Thattai, Bhagnari etc, these sub-groups have their own hundreds of surnames/castes. Other communities are Bhatia (Larai and Utradi), Arora and small Shikarpuri Khatris, all of them are called as Wāniya and Deewān in Sindh and belong to Waishya Varna of Hinduism. There are also few Sindhi Brahmins for example Pokarno and Sarsat or Sarsudh. Hindu Rajputs are mainly found in Thar region. The tribal groups like Dhed, Bhils, Meghwars, Kolhis etc form second largest group among Sindhi Hindus and are mostly found in Southeast of Sindh. The Sindhi Hindus do not have caste based division nor the concept of higher caste or lower caste, there is no evil of untouchability.

Sindhi Hindus in India

Partition

During the first half of 1948, approximately 1 million Sindhi Hindus immigrated to India. Various refugee colonies have been set up by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

for accommodation of Sindhi refugees across the nation like: Ahmedabad, Gandhidham, kandla and Adipur camps in

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, Sindhi Camp bus stand in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

's capital

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

, Cox Town camp in

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

's capital

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and Ulhasnagar (Kalyan Camp) in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Contemporary situation

According to the 2011 Census of India, there are around 2.8 million Sindhi-language speakers living in India, however, this number does not include ethnic Sindhis who no longer speak Sindhi and includes Kutchis who in some cases may not identify as ethnic Sindhis (especially those in

). Sindhis formed a major-chunk of population of Ulhasnagar Municipality ( Mumbai Metropolitan Region), Maharashtra. The population of Ulhasnagar city is 500k, out of which 400k of the residents are Sindhis, thus constituting 80% of the city's population as per 2011 census report. Ulhasnagar is also known as India's "Mini Sindh" due to having the highest concentration of Sindhis in one city in India.

Family names

Conventions

Most Sindhi Hindu family names are a modified form of a

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, b ...

and typically end with the suffix ''"-ani"'', which is used to denote descent from a common male ancestor. One explanation states that the -ani suffix is a Sindhi variant of 'anshi', derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word 'ansh', which means 'descended from' (see: Devanshi). The first part of a Sindhi Hindu surname is usually derived from the name or location of an ancestor. In northern Sindh, surnames ending in 'ja' (meaning 'of') are also common. A person's surname would consist of the name of his or her native village, followed by 'ja'. The Sindhi Hindus generally add the suffix ‘-ani’ to the name of a great-grandfather and adopt the name as a family name.

Surnames

Notable Sindhi Hindus

* Bherumal Meharchand Advani, linguist, historian, novelist, poet, researcher * Kalyan Bulchand Advani, poet, critique, scholar * Kiara Advani, Indian actress * L. K. Advani, former Deputy Prime Minister of India * Nikkhil Advani, Indian movie director and screenwriter * Pankaj Advani, 23 times world champion in snooker and billiards from India. * Suresh H. Advani, oncologist who pioneered Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in India * Asrani, Indian comedian and actor * Kirat Babani, freedom fighter, writer, journalist * Babita, Indian film actress * Anant Balani, Indian film director * Rana Bhagwandas, Judge on the Supreme Court of Pakistan * Tamannaah Bhatia, Indian actress * Deepak Bhojwani, Indian diplomat * Aarti Chabria, actress * Brahma Chellaney, geostrategist and author * Vishal Dadlani, playback singer * Jairamdas Daulatram, political leader in the Indian independence movement, Governor of the Indian states of Bihar and later Assam * Raja Dahir, the last Hindu king of

* Bhai Pratap Dialdas, freedom fighter, businessman, philanthropist * Harish Fabiani, Indian (NRI) businessman based in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

* Khialdas Fani, writer, poet, singer * Sobho Gianchandani, Pakistani Sindhi social scientist, and revolutionary writer * Gope, full name Gope Kamlani, actor in Hindi cinema * Hotchand Molchand Gurbakhshani, Educationist, Scholar and Writer * Hari Harilela, Indian businessman based in Hong Kong * Jimmi Harkishin, British Asian actor * Anita Hassanandani, Indian actress * Gopichand Hinduja, British businessman, co-chairman of the Hinduja Group * Indira Hinduja, Indian gynaecologist, obstetrician and infertility specialist who pioneered the Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) technique * Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani, Indian Navy officer who served as the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff * Lakhumal Hiranand Hiranandani, Indian Otorhinolaryngologist * Niranjan Hiranandani, co-founder and managing director of Hiranandani Group * Popati Hiranandani, writer * Surendra Hiranandani, co-founder and managing director of Hiranandani Group * Rajkumar Hirani, popular Indian film director and editor * Narendra Hirwani, Indian cricketer * Micky Jagtiani, chairman and owner of Landmark Group * Dr Gurmukh Das Jagwani, former Member of Maharashtra Legislative Council * Jeet, Indian actor * Kamna Jethmalani, Indian actress *

Ram Jethmalani Ram Boolchand Jethmalani (14 September 1923 – 8 September 2019) was an Indian lawyer and politician. He served as India's Union Minister of Law and Justice, as chairman of the Indian Bar Council, and as the president of the Supreme Court B ...

, Indian senior lawyer, former Law Minister of India * Motilal Jotwani, Indian writer, educator, follower of Gandhi, fellow of

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...

* Hemu Kalani, freedom fighter * Atul Khatri, stand-up comedian * Chanda Kochhar (née Advani), Former MD and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank * Krishna Kohli, Senator,

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

* Rooplo Kolhi, freedom fighter * J. B. Kripalani, freedom fighter and President of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

* Jayant Kripalani, Film, Television and Stage actor * Krishna Kripalani, freedom fighter, author and parliamentarian * Ajith Kumar, Indian film actor * Gulu Lalvani, chairman of Binatone * Kartar Lalvani, founder and chairman of Vitabiotics * Nikita Lalwani, Indian novelist based in London * Tej Lalvani, CEO of the UK's largest vitamin company Vitabiotics * Shankar Lalwani, Indian politician and Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. * Kishore Mahbubani, Singaporean diplomat * Vivek Mahbubani, Hong Kong comedian * K. R. Malkani, journalist, historian and politician * Mangharam Udharam Malkani, Sindhi scholar, critic, writer, playwright, literary historian and professor * N. R. Malkani, freedom fighter and social worker * Rajeev Masand, Indian film critic * Rajesh Mirchandani, global communications leader and former British television journalist * Hansika Motwani, Indian actress * Rajeev Motwani, computer scientist, Professor at Stanford University, He was an early supporter and advisor of companies like

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and PayPal * Kabir Mulchandani, Indian businessman * Seth Vishandas Nihalchand, merchant and former member of

at the time of Independence * Archana Panjabi, British actress * Lila Poonawalla (née Thadani), Indian industrialist, philanthropist, humanitarian and the founder of Lila Poonawalla Foundation * Kala Prakash, fiction writer * Moti Prakash, poet * Chandru Raheja, property developer * Sushil Rajpal, Indian cameraman, producer, director * Bhagat Kanwar Ram, saint * Bulo C Rani, Indian music director * Gulabrai Ramchand, Indian cricketer * Ishwardas Rohani, Indian politician and former Speaker of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly * G. S. Sainani, Indian general physician, medical researcher, medical writer and an Emeritus Professor of the National Academy of Medical Sciences * Meera Sanyal (née Hiranandani), was an Indian banker and politician. She served as CEO and chairperson of the Royal Bank of Scotland in India * Aftab Shivdasani, Indian film actor * Hari Shivdasani, film director and actor * Sadhana Shivdasani, Indian film actress * Sonu Shivdasani, founder and CEO of Soneva * Ranveer Singh, Indian actor * G. P. Sippy, Bollywood movie producer and director * Ramesh Sippy, Bollywood movie producer and director * Sobhraj Nirmaldas Sujansingani, writer and poet * Anjana Sukhani, actress * Dalip Tahil Indian film, television and theatre actor * Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani, Former Chief of the Naval Staff, India * Tarun Tahiliani, Indian fashion designer * Hiten Tejwani, Indian actor * Sundri Uttamchandani, Indian writer * Sunil Vaswani, chairman of the Stallion Group * Harchandrai Vishandas, British Indian attorney, politician and former mayor of Karachi * Romesh Wadhwani, chairman and CEO of Symphony Technology Group (STG), an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay * Sudhir, Film Actor * Tulsi Ramsey, filmmaker * Shyam Ramsey, filmmaker * F U Ramsay, filmmaker * Kumar Ramsay, filmmaker * Arjun Ramsay, filmmaker * Keshu Ramsay, filmmaker * Kiran Ramsay, filmmaker * Mac Mohan, film actor * Raj Kiran, film actor * Shiela Ramani, film actor * Govind Nihalani, filmmaker * Pahalaj Nihalani, filmmaker * Arjun Hingorani, filmmaker * Bhagwanti Navani, singer * Master Chandur, singer

Notes

References

Sources

* Bherumal Mahirchand Advani, "Amilan-jo-Ahwal" - published in Sindhi, 1919 * Amilan-jo-Ahwal (1919) - translated into English in 2016 ("A History of the Amils") a
sindhis
{{Hinduism in Pakistan Hindu communities Hindu ethnic groups Ethnoreligious groups in Asia Ethnoreligious groups in India