Editing Sindhi language (section)

==History==
[[File:Dodo Chanesar Khudabadi script.png|thumb|right|Cover of a book containing the epic [[Dodo Chanesar]] written in ''Hatvanki Sindhi'' or [[Khudabadi script]].]]{{Sindhis}}

===Origins===
The name "Sindhi" is derived from the [[Sanskrit]] ''síndhu'', the original name of the [[Indus River]], along whose delta Sindhi is spoken.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Sindhi.html |title=Sindhi |work= The Languages Gulper|access-date=January 29, 2013}}</ref>

Like other languages of the Indo-Aryan family, Sindhi is descended from Old Indo-Aryan ([[Sanskrit]]) via Middle Indo-Aryan ([[Pali]], secondary Prakrits, and [[Apabhramsha]]). 20th century Western scholars such as [[George Abraham Grierson]] believed that Sindhi descended specifically from the Vrācaḍa dialect of Apabhramsha (described by [[Markandeya]] as being spoken in ''Sindhu-deśa'', corresponding to modern Sindh) but later work has shown this to be unlikely.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wadhwani |first1=Y. K. |title=The Origin of the Sindhi Language |journal=Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute |date=1981 |volume=40 |pages=192–201 |jstor=42931119 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/42931119.pdf |access-date=9 April 2021}}</ref>

===Early Sindhi (2nd–16th centuries)===
Literary attestation of early Sindhi is sparse. The earliest written evidence of Sindhi as a language can be found in a translation of the Qur’an into Sindhi dating back to 883 A.D.<ref name="ELL">{{cite journal |last1=Cole |first1=J. |editor1-last=Brown |editor1-first=Keith |title=Sindhi |journal=Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second Edition) |date=2006 |pages=384–387 |doi=10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/02241-0 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080448542022410 |publisher=Elsevier|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Historically, [[Isma'ilism|Isma'ili]] religious literature and poetry in India, as old as the 11th century CE, used a language that was closely related to Sindhi and [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]. Much of this work is in the form of [[ginans]] (a kind of devotional hymn).<ref name="shackle">{{Britannica|1550738|Sindhi literature|Christopher Shackle}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sacred Literature-Ginans |url=http://heritage.ismaili.net/ginan_view |website=Ismaili.NET |publisher=Heritage Society |access-date=2 August 2022}}</ref>

Sindhi was the first Indo-Aryan language to be in close contact with [[Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]] following the [[Umayyad campaigns in India|Umayyad conquest of Sindh]] in 712 CE.

===Medieval Sindhi (16th–19th centuries)===
Medieval Sindhi literature is of a primarily religious genre, comprising a syncretic [[Sufi]] and [[Advaita Vedanta]] poetry, the latter in the devotional [[bhakti]] tradition. The earliest known Sindhi poet of the Sufi tradition is [[Qazi Qadan]] (1493–1551). Other early poets were [[Shah Inat Rizvi]] ({{circa}} 1613–1701) and [[Shah Abdul Karim Bulri]] (1538–1623). These poets had a mystical bent that profoundly influenced Sindhi poetry for much of this period.<ref name="shackle"/>

Another famous part of Medieval Sindhi literature is a wealth of folktales, adapted and readapted into verse by many bards at various times and possibly much older than their earliest literary attestations. These include romantic epics such as [[Sassui Punnhun]], [[Sohni Mahiwal]], [[Momal Rano]], [[Noori Jam Tamachi]], [[Lilan Chanesar]], and others.<ref name="mahfil">{{cite journal |last1=Schimmel |first1=Annemarie |title=Sindhi Literature |journal=Mahfil |date=1971 |volume=7 |issue=1/2 |pages=71–80 |jstor=40874414 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40874414}}</ref>

The greatest poet of Sindhi was [[Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai]] (1689/1690–1752), whose verses were compiled into the [[Shah Jo Risalo]] by his followers. While primarily Sufi, his verses also recount traditional Sindhi folktales and aspects of the cultural history of Sindh.<ref name="shackle"/>

The first attested Sindhi translation of the Quran was done by [[Akhund Azaz Allah Muttalawi]] (1747–1824) and published in [[Gujarat]] in 1870. The first to appear in print was by Muhammad Siddiq in 1867.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=1391|title=The Holy Qur'an and its Translators – Imam Reza (A.S.) Network|website=Imamreza.net|access-date=29 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115045637/http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=1391|archive-date=15 January 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Modern Sindhi (1843–present)===

In 1843, the [[British conquest of Sindh]] led the region to become part of the [[Bombay Presidency]]. Soon after, in 1848, Governor George Clerk established Sindhi as the official language in the province, removing the literary dominance of [[Persian language|Persian]]. Sir Bartle Frere, the then commissioner of Sindh, issued orders on August 29, 1857, advising civil servants in Sindh to pass an examination in Sindhi. He also ordered the use of Sindhi in official documents.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://tns.thenews.com.pk/declaring-major-languages-as-national-languages/#.U0oQ-VWSygQ |title= The language link |first= Naseer |last= Memon |date= April 13, 2014 |work= [[The News on Sunday]] |access-date= April 13, 2014 |archive-date= April 13, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140413143150/http://tns.thenews.com.pk/declaring-major-languages-as-national-languages/#.U0oQ-VWSygQ |url-status= dead }}</ref> In 1868, the [[Bombay Presidency]] assigned ''Narayan Jagannath Vaidya'' to replace the [[Abjad]] used in Sindhi with the ''[[Khudabadi script]]''. The script was decreed a standard script by the Bombay Presidency thus inciting anarchy in the [[Muslim]] majority region. A powerful unrest followed, after which Twelve [[Martial Law]]s were imposed by the British authorities. The granting of official status of Sindhi along with script reforms ushered in the development of modern Sindhi literature.

The first printed works in Sindhi were produced at the Muhammadi Press in [[Bombay]] beginning in 1867. These included Islamic stories set in verse by [[Muhammad Hashim Thattvi]], one of the renowned religious scholars of Sindh.<ref name="mahfil"/>

The [[Partition of India]] in 1947 resulted in most Sindhi speakers ending up in the new state of [[Pakistan]], commencing a push to establish a strong sub-national linguistic identity for Sindhi. This manifested in resistance to the imposition of [[Urdu]] and eventually [[Sindhi nationalism]] in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levesque |first1=Julien |title=Beyond Success or Failure: Sindhi Nationalism and the Social Construction of the "Idea of Sindh" |journal=Journal of Sindhi Studies |date=2021 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–33 |doi=10.1163/26670925-bja10001 |s2cid=246560343 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/joss/1/1/article-p1_1.xml?language=en |access-date=2 August 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The language and literary style of contemporary Sindhi writings in Pakistan and India were noticeably diverging by the late 20th century; authors from the former country were borrowing extensively from Urdu, while those from the latter were highly influenced by Hindi.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica">{{cite web |title=Sindhi language {{!}} Britannica |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/545670/Sindhi-language |access-date=6 October 2022 |website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]}}</ref>