Sindhi Culture Topi Ajrakh Day

Sindh Culture Day is observed on December 4th, 5th, 6th. The day is celebrated by the people of Sindh, province of Pakistan to express their loyalty to the Sindhi culture and it's thousands of year old cultural symbols, the traditional Sindhi Cap and Ajrak cloth. When the day was celebrated for the first time in 2009, it was referred to as "Sindhi Topi Day" (Sindhi Hat Day), however in 2010 it was universally referred to as "Sindh Culture Day"


History Topi Ajrakh Day

The compaign for the day was first started by a young Sindhi Hasan of Balhreji (Dokri, Distt Larkana) in November 2009 through SMS service in response to a television anchors condemnation of President Asif Ali Zardari's wearing of the traditional Sindhi cap and shawl (representing Pakistan) on his state visit to attend the ceremony of swearing in of Hamid Karzai as President of Afghanistan for a second term.The comments which were made on November 21, 2009 in the current affairs show Meray Mutabiq by Shahid Masood. The anchor's condemnation caused a wave of fury throughout the province with the local language media calling for protests and apology.


The day began with rallies and walks in all the district head quarters of the province. Residents throughout the province donned the caps and danced to the folk songs, reaffirming their resolve to protect the Sindh motherland from conspirators.

The call mobilized the people who started purchasing of Sindhi caps all over Sindh. Such enthusiasm from the masses resulted in historic sale of Sindhi Topi with people purchasing it on high prices and sharing it with each other after the stocks ran out.

The day gave a look of mass celebrations since the morning and the groups of youth found in dancing on the famous song of Ahmed Mughal “Sindhi Topi and Ajrak Wara Jian”, at different parts of provinces, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana,Benazirabad, Thatta, Jamshoro, Shahdad Kot, Jacobabad, Mirpur Khas,Dadu etc.

Series of motorcade rallies were brought out in various cities which after passing various roads would culminate in front of the respective Press Clubs, which become centers of the celebrations.


Sindh is a province of Pakistan. In Pakistan only Sindh is a province in which people of different languages are living in a very huge quantity. They are Sindhi, Balochi, Urdu, Punjabi, Pakhtoon, Kashmiri, Bengali and many others. Sindh is famous all over the world due it its hostess. The people of Sindh speaks Sindhi language, which is older than all the languages of Pakistan. Sindhi language is from the times of Moen-Jo-Daro Civilization which is more than 5000 years old. Sindhi language is the only language that have particular alphabets in local languages. Many of local languages adopted Sindhi alphabets in formation of their languages. Sindhi is the only language which is been studied in the Institutions of whole Sindh. Sindh is the only language in which the National Identification Card of Pakistan is being issued after national language of Pakistan. In ancient times this Sindh was starting from Mumbai, India to Multan(Punjab Province) & to Iran. But due to partitions Sindh became limited.

SINDHI CULTURE



Sind is one of the four provinces in Pakistan located at the Southern border. The province of Sind has its name derived from the famous River Indus. In Sanskrit, the province was dubbed Sindhu meaning an ocean. Around 3000 B.C, Dravidian cultures developed and give rise to the Indus Valley Civilization. According to the Historians, Indus Valley Civilization declined due to the natural disasters such as floods but the invasions of Indo- Arians caused the sudden collapse of it.

In the recent history, Sindh was conquested by the British in 1843. Sind province remained the part of British India until 1947 when it was made one of the provinces of Pakistan.

Sindhi language evolved over a period of 2400 years. The language of the people of Sindh, after coming in contact with the Aryan, became Indo-Aryan (Prakrit). Sindhi language, therefore, has a solid base of Prakrit as well as Sanskrit, the language of India, with vocabulary from Arabic, Persian, and some Dravidian - descendants from Mediterranean sub-continent. Initially, Sindhi had close contacts with Arabic- speaking Muslims. Therefore the language adopted many of the Arabic words.

Sindhi language is an ancient language spoken in Pakistan and many other parts of the world. It is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 41 million people in Pakistan, and 12 million people in India; it is the second most spoken language of Pakistan, mostly spoken in the Sindh province. It is a recognized official language in Pakistan, and also an official language in India. Government of Pakistan issues National Identity Cards to its citizens only in two languages; Sindhi and Urdu.

Sindhi language is also greatly influenced by Sanskrit and about 70% of the words in Sindhi are of Sanskrit origin.Sindhi is a very rich language with a vast vocabulary; this has made it a favourite of many writers and so a lot of literature and poetry has been written in Sindhi. It has been the inspiration for Sindhi art, music, literature, culture and the way of life. The language can be written using the Devanagri or Arabic script

Festivals:

The people of Sind love their religion and the two festivals of Eid-ul-Adha and Eid-ul-Fitr are celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm. Different domestic festivals are arranged by the local people to provide people with new things they buy on Eid’s occasion. On different occasions, the Folk dance of Bhagat is also performed by professionals to entertain the visiting people. Hence, a Sindhi Cultural Festival is a compound of folk dances, music and cheap entertainment for local people.

Lifestyle:

People of Sindh are more inclined towards an agricultural based lifestyle. The fertile Indus Plains provide a valuable source of income for the local people who practice farming on these lands. Inland fishing is also practiced along the Indus River in Upper Sind providing further opportunities for local people. Nomadic way of lifestyle is commonly seen in the desertic regions of Thar where people move from place to place in search for drinking water sources along with their animals.

Arts and Music:

Sindhi society is dominated by great Sufis, the mystics and the martyrs. It has always been the land of peace, love, romance, and great cultural and artistic values. There were the great theologians of the Naqshbandi order in Thatta who translated the fundamentals of the religion of Islam into their mother tongue. There were the great Sufi (mystic) poets like Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai who was the cherisher of truth and spent all his life in its propagation, pursuit and quest. Bhitai was also an excellent musician. 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.



Cultural character

The ancient Sindhi civilization was the place, where the aesthetic utilization of leisure was freely indulged. There has been evidence, that the excavations of sites dating back to 3000 B.C. (all over Sindh) is also true, around 1200 years ago when Jaina Dakshiniya Chihna (778 A.D.) described the distinguished features of Sindhis in this way: "Elegant, with a lovely, soft and slow gait, they are fond of the art of Gandharvas (that is, songs, music and dancing) and full affection towards their country."
Sindhis celebrate Sindh Cultural day world wide on 6th December by wearing Ajrak & Sindhi Topi on that occasion.