Sindhi society is dominated by great Sufis, the mystics, the martyrs. It has always been the land of peace, love, romance, and great cultural and artistic values.
The Kalhora period...click (1701-1782 AD) is known as the 'golden era of Sindhi literature.' The city of Thatta remained the spiritual center of the nation of Sindh...click. There were the great theologians of the Naqshbandi order in Thatta who translated the fundamentals of the religion of Islam...click into their mother tongue, Sindhi...click. There were the great sufi (mystic) poets like Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai...click, who was the cherisher of truth and spent all his life in its propagation, pursuit and quest. Bhitai was also an excellent musician. The surs...click that he has written in his melodious and rapturous poetry, bear a testimony to his life-long love for music. He invented a new type of musical instrument, Tambura (drone instrument), which till today, is a primary source of music in rural Sindh.
The beauty of Shah's verses is enhanced by his blending of traditional Indian rag with the Sindhi folk songs and music.
Sufis like Sachal Sarmast...click, Saami, Qalander Shahbaz and Shah Inayat...click, are among those who have rendered a valuable contribution to Sindhi poetry. For Sindhi literature it can be safely asserted that no vernacular dialect in India or Pakistan possessed more. The giants of Sindhi literature include Mirza Kaleech Beg, Dr Gurbuxani, Kalyan Advani, Allama I.I. Kazi, Mrs Elsa Kazi, H.T. Sorley, Allah Bukhsh K Brohi, Shaikh Ayaz, Shahwani, Dr Annemarie Scimmel, Prof Ernst Trumpp, Dr Nabi Baksh Baluch, Mrs Amena Khamisani...click, Ali Ahmed Brohi...click and many more who have rendered a meritorious services to the enlightenment and literature of Sindh.
Sindhi Literature
Sindhi literature for the last fifty years can be divided into main trends. From 1947 to 1960 was the period in which social realism was dominant. Shaikh Ayaz had become well-known. In the short story, this was the period of Jamal Abro and Ghulam Rabbani Agro. The influence of the Progressives was strong.
In the '60s, there was the movement against One Unit and these trends remained dominant. From 1970 to 1983, there was no definite and clear-cut direction. This was the period in which alienation became the theme of the day. Sindhi middle class turned to the cities and broke their ties with the village, leading to frustration. After the MRD movement in 1983, the trend to realism was revived but the previous trend also continued to run in parallel. For the present, we can say that there is no ideological centre, no focal point. The ideological patterns have ended and whatever the writers are producing, it is for their own sake. Literature is no longer a part of the ideological struggle.
Literature has a great purpose to serve. It sharpens the edge of political and social analysis. It serves as a corrective to the false notions prevalent in history. When I hear of the Kalabagh dam, I think of the old English novel, The Ideal Husband in which the building of a dam causes a domestic crisis on the home front. I agree that the relationship between literature and politics is particularly strong in Sindhi. In the last fifty years Sindhi literature has made a lot of effort to find a way out of the labyrinth of politics. It has addressed the issues of society. If you read some of Nasim Kharal's stories, he has criticised the society but he has not forgiven politicians also. I am thinking particularly of the short story now, since this particular genre has become highly developed in so short a timespan.
Kaafi
In 1924 Saeen Jethmal Parsram wrote: "About two centuries have passed away [written in 1924], and still
every Friday night [Thursday dusk to Friday dawn], men [and women] from
various places go to the shrine of Latif to hear the hereditary
singers of Latif's songs, the thrilling kafis [kaafiiyuun]. The kafi
is a special form of Sindhi song. A large number of people sit on a
carpet or a thin mat, but often on the bare ground, round a group of
singers with single wire 'tambooras' in their hands, some with earthen
jars before them, drawing with brisk, deft hands ringing tones from
these otherwise dull vessels. The kafi many times consists of a few
sentences, but a kafi of three or four lines sometimes lasts for some
hours.
