S i n c e 1 9 6 0
SINDHI PANCHAYATMUMBAI, SINDHI ASSOCIATION INDIA,SINDH,SUKKUR,sindhi,sangat, jhulelal,
sadhubella udasin ashram,swami harbhajandasji, sindhis of mumbai
OLD SUKKUR IN SINDH
( now in PAKISTAN )
Originally Sukkur, Rohri and Bukher were all connected by land. A great earthquake during the 11th century changed the course of the river Indus from Arror to a different side of Rohri, with the result that the land, which connected Sukkur, Rohri and Bukher, was divided into three parts and the river flowed in between. Sukkur was on one side, Rohri on the other and Bukher was in between.
There are various versions as to how Sukkur was given its name. The popular version is that there were fields of Sugarcane and Sugar factories in the vicinity of Sukkur. So Sukkur seems to be the distorted version of the word ‘Shaker’ which means ‘Sugar’.
There is another version, which seems to be more authentic and convincing, thats because there was plenty to eat and plenty to enjoy, things were inexpensive and people at large were comfortable and happy. The word Sukkur seems to have been derived from the word ‘Sukh’ which means Comfort.
Sukkur was the third most important town of SINDH . It was an important commercial and industrial centre of upper Sindh. It is said that Sukkur became a very important Ship building port and two ships were built one in the year 1835 named Indus and the other in the year 1843 named Satellite. Sukkur assumed great importance in business, trade and other activities especially after the conquest of Sindh by the British in 1848.
Sukkur gained further importance after the construction of the famous Sukkur Barrage ( Dam ) on the river Indus making Sindh the granary of India.
Important Places of Sukkur.
A) Bunder Road
Among the important places of Sukkur was the Bunder Road which was beside the river Indus. It was somewhat similar to Marine Drive at Bombay
B) Sadhubela
The other important place of attraction was the temple known as Sadhubela which was on an island in the middle of the river Indus. It was built artistically of marble and was surrounded by a garden of great beauty which had varieties of birds including the peacock freely living in full protection. The head of the Sadhubela Ashram before Partition was a Saint known as Swami Harinamdasji, who besides being a religious scholar, was also a man of the people. He helped solve many disputes between the residents of Sukkur and prevented unnecessary litigation and expenditure . He was highly respected and admired by one and all.
C) Ghats
On the bank of the Indus river were beautiful ghats where people took bath and prayed on holy days like ChetiChand.
Old & New Sukkur
Sukkur was divided into Old and New Sukkkur only by a railway line and the distance between them was only half a mile. The population at the time of Partition of New Sukkur was about 80,000 and that of Old Sukkur was about 10,000.
Old Sukkur was connected to an important town, Rohri, by a Pillarless bridge known as the Landsdowne Bridge which was one of the few bridges of this type in those days. The people of Old Sukkur had very close social and cultural relations with the people of Rohri. Although the population of Old Sukkur was much less than that of New Sukkur, the residents of Old Sukkur were very well off and had their own businesses. Most residents had Shops, Factories and other business concerns located in New Sukkur. While the people of New Sukkur had emigrated to New Sukkur from the surrounding villages and rural areas and did not have close relationships with each other, the residents of Old Sukkur had very close ties with each other and were like one big family. Many residents of Old Sukkur were related to each other either by ties of Blood or Marriage. In Old Sukkur, there was a hospital, Girls school, Narishala, a Bhavan and a Public Library apart from a large number of parks and gymnasiums. There was no political or religious rivalry among the people. Muslims and Hindus lived in Old Sukkur with perfect understanding and amity and participated in each others' festivals without reservations.
Municipal Vernacular School / Mules English School
Infromation Courtesy : Moti Gurnani , Delhi.
Municipal Vernacular School was established in the year 1884 with four primary standards. Subsequently two more standards called as Pahiryon and Biyon Angrezi were added. However, later on adjacent to this School another school with six English standards called Angrezi or Mules School was established in the year 1903 thereby the two additional standards were wounded up from Municipal School . Thus there were two schools, one Municipal Vernacular school called Primary School with four Sindhi standards and another Mules or Angrezi School with six English standards. Thereby making in all 10 standards for qualifying for Matriculation examination of Bombay University .
Both these school were established with untiring efforts of Master Khanchand Balani.
Although during Meers` rule there was no arrangement for children`s education from Government`s side, but later during the British rule Sindhi was taught in School in Guband , that was also called as Qube varo school, that was opp. Sukkur Jail. That Guband with 40` ht. has eight sides, that is why it was called Athan Passan Vro Guband. In 1984 when Municipal Vernacular school was established, the school at Guband was wound up. But soon at the Qube vari place, Mian Abdulah Peerzada starded K.G.school for children, where besides Kinder Garden education, children were taught games, music and dance, children used to attend the K.G. school with great interest.
My personal observations: I studied in Municipal Vernacular School for four standards from the year 1943 to 1947. There used to be about 60 children in each class, about 10 to 12 girls (about 6 Hindu and 4 Muslim girls) , the number of Muslim boys used to be about 6-8 in each class. Aa far as I recall the names of our Muslim colleagues children were Mohd. Nissar, Mohd. Majeed, Mohd. Ghafoor ( I think he, a very handsom chap was from the family of Peerzada Abdul Sattar). The name of the Head master was Ghulam Nabi Shah, and the name of our two teachers in our fourth class were Master Ghanshyamdas and Master Chandumal. There used to be a beautiful park outside and a model of Sukkur Barrage. In fact I had visited Old Sukkur in the year 2004 as a member of Sindhi literary delegation, sponsored by Delhi State Govt. and hosted by Sindhi Graduate Assocn., and found my school in a bad shape. We lived in a house presently occupied by on Advocate named Mr. Imran Mobeen Khan (who told me that he is migrant from Central Provinces , India ) and other near Hassan Chowk, which we used to call as Chausool..
OLD SUKKURITES.... ARYANS ?
It is said that all Sindhi Hindus from Old Sukkur are Aryans ( racially belonging to the Austroid race )and by caste they are Khatris ( barring a few Brahmins ).
A sizable number are said to belong to a subcaste : Aroras who in turn are subdivided in to various Nukhs ( clans ).
There are Demblas, Punjabis, Bhatias, Lallas, Gajrias, Chichras, Gandhis, Munjars, Matrejas, Makhijas, Dhamijas, Ahujas, Achhras, Mehtas, Dhrmakashi, Sachdevas, Vanvarias, Bakhru-Shoraee, Lulla, Ramtri, Thakurs, Masands, Batras, Chowdharies, many of these Nukhs ( Clans ) are further subdivided into surniames ( which mean Belonging to the family of ), viz. .. Gurnani ( Dembla ), Balani ( Munjar ), Mulwani ( Mutreja ), Panjwani (Dudeja), Milwani (Bakhru- Shoraee ), Sahijwani ( Sachdeva ), Mansharamani ( Mehta ), . The other surnames of which Nukhs are not known ar : Motwani, Rajani, Rajmalani, Kalani, Manglani, Narsinghani, Thariani, Hariani, Hemrajani, Lalwani, Chandwani, Narsian, Advani etc.
The Demblas were originally from Delhi ( Katra Marwaari in Old Delhi ), Munjals, Lallas, Bhatias, Gajras, Gandhis and Chichras were from Multan.
The Gotra of most Sukkurites is Kashyap (ie from Rishi Kashyap ) thought there are a few of Bharadwaj, Atri, Agast gotras too.
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