THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SINDHI ADABI BOARD, KARACHI 1 BY ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL Marburg (Lahn) Exactly one century ago, Dr. E. Trumpp, the first German scholar who investigated the Sindhi language and literature, wrote (ZDMG 15/1861, p. 692 ff.) : "Among the recent languages of India that are of sanscritic origin, none has been more neglected by the public interest than Sindhi.... Sindhi has been, since ever, the most despised language among the Indian vernaculars; even the old grammaticians of Prakrit have scarcely thought that it deservesmention." Curious enough that even to-day this language has not attracted the interest of the orientalists, though Trumpp has praised its richness in grammatical forms in the above-mentioned article and in his Sindhi grammar (1872); and its rich literature-of which Trumpp had already given some examples- 2 is almost unknown in the West, though "no vernacular dialect in India ... possessed more, and few so much, original composition" 3. But even official works like "The Gazetteey" (22/19°8) say shortly (p. 406): "Sindhi literature consists mainly of translations from Arabic and Persian, chiefly theological works, and a few rude national ballads": how- ever in the i8th cty. the great scholars of Thatta had composed 1 I have to thank here Pir Sayyid HussamaddinRashdi for all his help and encouragemen in my Sindhi studies; Mr. Ibrahim M. Joyo, Secretary to the Board, has kindly given me a brief report of the activities of the SAB which I have used as starting point (letter, 25.5. 1960),and was kind enough to send me all the publicationsof the Board; Prof. Dr. N. B. Baloch of Hyderabad University also gave valuable help.-For references lk. : N. M. Billimori a, Bibliographyof Publicationson Sind and Baluchistan,2. ed. 1930,Karachi. - J. F. Blumhardt, Cataloguesof the Hindi, Punjabi, Sindhi and Pushtu printed books in the library of the British Museum.London, 1893.- R. F. Burton, Sindh and the races that inhabit the valley of the Indus with notices of the topography and history of the province. 1851, London.-A. Bausani, Storia delle letterature del Pakistan. Milano, 1958.- H. R as h d i,Sindhi Adab (in Urdu) Karachi s.d. 2 E. Trump p, Grammar of the Sindhi Language. London, 1872.- The same ,Sindhi Reading Book, 1868.- The same, S�rathi(ZDMG 16/1862). - The same, Shah j�ris �l�, Leipzig, 1866. 3 Burton, I.c., p. 75. 224 religious books in the language of their people i, and the mystics had sung their feelings in most touching verses. A. Bausani was, in his Storia delle letteyatuye del Pakistan 2, one of the first to do justice to the sweetness and beauty of both imagination and sound of Sindhi poetry. Sindhi was commonly used by Hindus and Muslims; and after partition the danger arose that much of the literature would be no longer available in Sindh province, a great deal of books being printed in Bombay 3, and printing-houses in Pakistan having been mostly in the hands of Hindus 4 who, then, left the country. To avoid such danger, the Sindhi Adabi Board was founded in 1951, and has shown an extraordinary activity in publishing works in Sindhi, Persian, Urdu, Arabic and English. Curious enough that Bausani does not mention this institution in his chapter on Sindhi literature!-On the other hand, the Pakistan Publications in the Ministery of Information publish regularly the monthly Na-in Zin- dagi the best articles of which are collected in the two volumes Mehydn jun maujun, 1959 and Mehyan ja moti, 19605. "The Board was originallyset up by the Governmentof the former Province of Sindh in rg5for promotion and developmentof Sindhi language and its literature. The Board since its inception functioned as Government Institution and was solely financed by the late Sindh provincialGovernment, until in March, 1955, it was made an independent and autonomousinstitution. The Board stand registered under the SocietiesRegistration Act XXI of 1860. It has 15 members, among whom the Director of Education, Hyderabad Region, and the Inspectressof Girls Schools,Hyderabad Region, are ex officiomembers. In terms of the aims and objects of the Board as laid down vide article 7 of the Constitution and Rules of Business,the Board is presently engaged in the implementationof the fol- lowingresearch and publicationschemes: a) Translationsinto Sindhi from different languages: 30 translations have been published, 4 are under print, 20 ready to be sent to press, 30 more under preparation. b) Original Works: 60 have been published, 12 are under print, 42 ready for press, 24 under preparation. 1 E.g. Makhd�mMuhammad H �shim(d. 1760), cf. Rashdi, l.c., 56, Bausani, l.c., 290 and the numeroustitles givenby Blumhardt; and Makhd�mMiy �nAb �'l-HasanThattawi. 2 Reviewedin WI, N.S. VI 182. (Ed.). 3 Sindh belongedto BombayPresidency till 1937,then it was separated. 4 Cf. 183. 5 The Pakistan Publications printed also Sindhi translations of Iqbal's Asr�r-ikh �d� and rum�z-ibikh �d-� .About the developmentof modern Sindhi literature cf. Lutfull�h Badawi, Sindhi Adab j�gudhr �25l varh�(1929-1954n (orig. in Urdu publ. in the Jubilee number of S�q�Sindhi: translation in Mehr�nj� m �t159-187).� The author mentions i.a. the different literary societies,the Board of control for Sindhi literature (p. 177), and the developmentof newspapers which gave room to literary activities, like Sit�re-yiSindh, al-Vah�Tavhd, �d. .