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Sindhi Hindus

Sindhi adherents of Hinduism

  • 8 min read
  • 6 chapters

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According to the 2023 census, there are 4.9 million Sindhi Hindus residing within the Sindh province of Pakistan with major population centres being Mirpur Khas Division and Hyderabad Division that combined account for more than 2 million of them. Meanwhile, the 2011 census listed 2.77 million speakers of Sindhi in India, a number that does not include Sindhi Hindus who no longer speak the Sindhi language. The vast majority of Sindhi Hindus living in India belong to the Lohana jāti, which includes the sub-groups of Amil, Bhaiband and Sahiti.

History of Hinduism in Sindh

Before the Arab invasions

Prior to Arab invasions, majority of Sindh's population practiced majorly Hinduism. During the Arab invasions, majority of Sindhi Hindus were a rural pastoral population, who lived mostly in upper Sindh, a region that was entirely Hindu; while the Buddhists of Sindh were a mercantile population, who lived entirely in the urban areas of lower Sindh.

Arab rule

After many successful raids, collaboration by the local Buddhist population, and resistance by the local Hindu population, the army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muhammad Bin Qasim successfully invaded and conquered Sindh in 712 CE, against the last Hindu king of Sindh, Raja Dahir.

Sindh, under the control of Qasim, saw a decline of Buddhism, as most Buddhists started converting to Islam. The later reign of the Delhi Sultanate, led to further decline, with both Hinduism and Buddhism becoming minority religions in Sindh. Buddhism later collapsed and ceased to exist in Sindh, while Hinduism remained persistent, managing to survive and flourish throughout the centuries as a minority religion. The consistency of Hinduism in Sindh is attributed to the dependency of the rural Hindu population on intra-regional commerce and flexibility to adapt to altered circumstances.

Partition and after

Prior to the partition of India, as per the 1941 census, the Sindhi Hindu population accounted for around 27% of Sindh's population, most of whom moved to India. Today, Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan number around 4.2 million, around 9% of the region's population. Sindhi Hindus are the largest ethnolinguistic Hindu group in Pakistan. Those remaining in Pakistan face religious persecution and discrimination. Reports cite instances of violence against Sindhi Hindus, unequal economic opportunities, and the forced conversion of women to Islam. These conditions have caused continued mass migration and created a significant refugee population, with activists often criticizing the state's failure to address these violations.

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