Cosmopolitan Connections International Comparative Social Studies Editorial Board D A, Ann Arbor, USA – W A, Tilburg, The Netherlands M D, Paris, France – S.N. E, Jerusalem, Israel J G, Versonnex, France – L H, Loughborough, UK J K, Urbana-Champaign, USA C K B, Hongkong, China – F L, Atlanta, USA R L, Brussels, Belgium – O L, Trondheim, Norway R P, Toledo, USA – E R, Leuven, Belgium M S, Tokyo, Japan – S S, New York, USA J R, Melbourne, Australia – L V, Toronto, Canada B W, Berlin, Germany – J Y, London, UK VOLUME 9 Cosmopolitan Connections The Sindhi diaspora, 1860–2000 by Mark-Anthony Falzon A E G I D B E U . P S . A A L L A .. L T L A A U S T . S BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2004 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Falzon, Mark-Anthony. Cosmopolitan connections : the Sindhi diaspora, 1860-2000 / by Mark-Anthony Falzon. p. cm. — (International comparative social studies, ISSN 1568-4474 ; v. 9) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 90-04-14008-5 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Sindhi (South Asian people)—Migrations—History—20th century. 2. Sindhi (South Asian people)—Commerce—History—20th century. 3. Sindhi (South Asian people)—Migrations—History—19th century. 4. Sindhi (South Asian people)—Commerce—History—19th century. I. Title. II. Series. DS432.S64F35 2004 381’.089’948—dc22 2004047564 © Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. 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CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................................... vii Glossary ...................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................ 1 1 The Challenge of Translocal Ethnography ........................ 9 2 Locating Hindu Sindhis: Roots and Routes of Diaspora .. 29 3 Sindhi Cosmopolitans .......................................................... 64 4 Sindwork, ca 1860 to the Present ...................................... 104 5 Localities and Histories ........................................................ 148 6 The Meaning of Corporacy ................................................ 187 7 Cosmopolitans in Business .................................................. 218 8 Towards an Integrative Model of Commerce and Diaspora ................................................................................ 256 Appendices .................................................................................. 270 Bibliography ................................................................................ 277 Index .......................................................................................... 291 Illustrations .................................................................................. 301 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is based on doctoral work conducted at the University of Cambridge between 1997 and 2001. My foremost words of grati- tude go to my supervisor Dr. James A. Laidlaw whose constant aca- demic judgement, encouragement, and friendship made this work possible. On a broader level, to him I owe a good part of my four years in Cambridge and of my education as a social anthropologist. The help of other members of staff at Cambridge proved invaluable at particular points in my research: Dr. Susan Bayly in particular as my faculty advisor, friend, and oracle on all things Indian, and Dr. Stephen Hugh-Jones as convenor of the writing-up seminar. A very special ‘thank you’ goes to Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern for making available her anthropological wisdom, as well as of the labyrinthine architecture of funding bodies—often at very short notice and always in the most accessible of manners. Dr. Denis Vidal of EHESS in Paris and Dr. Jan Rath of the Institute of Migration and Ethnic Studies in Amsterdam, were kind enough to discuss my work and help me develop my ideas. Dr. Claude Markovits of EHESS trusted me with an early manuscript of his book on Sindhi merchants. Professor A.R. Momin helped me in Bombay. Dr. Paul M. Clough of the University of Malta was lib- eral with his expertise on economic anthropology as well as his friend- ship, both of which were of great help. The technical advice of Mr. Paul Caldwell (Department of Social Anthropology, Cambridge), Mr. Philip Stickler, and Mr. Owen Tucker (Department of Geography, Cambridge) was essential when it came to the plates and maps. My College, Clare Hall, provided me with a home, the excellent tutorship of Dr. Bobbie Wells and Dr. Terri Apter, and a stimulat- ing environment in which to work. My girlfriend Nicole put up with longue durée procrastination—no mean feat. My friends at Clare Hall made possible the long summer afternoons in Grantchester that ren- dered my life pleasant while writing up. The Departmental Studentship in Social Anthropology paid for the privilege of living and studying in Cambridge. Funds for fieldwork were made available by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Fieldwork, the Smuts Memorial Fund, and the Emslie Horniman Scholarship Fund (Royal viii Anthropological Institute). Mattie Kuiper at Brill helped me with the logistics of going to press. To all of these, my gratitude. Last not least, this work would not have been possible without the cooperation of the hundreds of Sindhis I met in the field, who gave me of their time, hospitality, and cuisine—and at times friend- ship. My hope is that my writing does some justice to their fasci- nating lives. GLOSSARY Note: Alternative forms of spelling—as found in travellers’ accounts and the literature—are given in parentheses wherever applicable. arati a central ritual in and often the culmination of Hindu worship. The worshipper holds a lamp and in a clockwise direction traces a broad circle in front of the image of the deity. Symbolises the illumina- tion of the deity as part of the process of darshan. amil (amal ) A Hindu Sindhi jati whose members held official positions in Sind. Most of the munshis of the Talpur Mirs and their important delegates were amils, as were civil servants in British Sind. Today some amils have entered the business sector but most are occupied in white-collar jobs. bahrano sahib the ritual that involves the carrying aloft the head of the arati thaal (a tray containing food, fruit, aakho and a mudak jo atta) on the occasion of Jhulelal chand. bania a broad term signifying a Hindu small trader, widely used in the subcontinent. bhagnaree a very small and localised Hindu Sindhi jati, originally associ- ated mainly with the foodstuffs and liquor trade. bhaiband lit. ‘brotherhood’. A term used to denote a jati of Sindhi traders, in the past mostly associated with the Hyderabad area. Most Sindworkis are drawn from the bhaiband group. The term is also used in India to mean ‘a fellow member of the caste/community’— so for instance two Rajput royals would belong to a bhaiband. bhatia (bhattia, bhatio) a trading caste of north-west India, incorporating sev- eral distinct sub-groups. Among Sindhis, bhatias are a jati as distinct from bhaiband, amil, Shikarpuri, etc. ‘Bhatia’ is also a common sur- name among Sindhis, and denotes membership of the group. bradari a patrilineal kinship unit, tracing lineage from a common ancestor. chand new moon, considered by Sindhis and by Hindus generally to be very auspicious. Chand is the day associated with Jhulelal and devo- tions directed to the god such as bahrano sahib. Cheti Chand the first new moon of the solar year, considered to be the ‘Sindhi New Year’ by most Sindhis and certainly the most impor- tant day of the calendar among Sindhis in India (possibly replaced by Diwali and to a lesser extent by Guru Nanak’s birthday among Sindhis overseas). It usually falls between the last days of March and the beginning of April. chhapru a Sindhi trading jati, originally from Karachi and today centred mainly in a few urban centres in India (notably Bombay). dalal a broker, a middleman. x gumashta a commercial agent, often in charge of running a business branch for a trader. hari a landless cultivator/agricultural labourer in Sind. hatta varnka (hat varnka, varnka, hattai, hatvanika) a secret script used by the Hindu traders of Sind, the use of which has decreased but which apparently is still extant especially in Ulhasnagar and the more bounded circles of Sindhi traders in India and possibly overseas. hundi a promissory note, finance instrument of Indian indigenous bankers. ishtadeva a ‘community god’—a Hindu deity that is associated with a par- ticular regional, liguistic, and/or caste group. Jhulelal (Uderolal, Daryalal, Amarlal) the river god, today thought of as the ishtadeva of Hindu Sindhis. Variable iconography. kothi a business firm. langar a communal meal associated with Sikhism and generally held at the end of prayers and/or worship; in the case of Sindhi Nanakpanths, prasad is distributed as part of the langar. lohana (lowanna, lohano, luvana, lohanna) a caste incorporating several trading groups originating in