Chapter I: Foreword

Be the fact good or bad for the Province, fact it is. The beauties of Sind are not for the stranger, or casual visitor. He, perhaps merely seeking the shortest and quickest route to some temporary post up North, or possibly to his permanent home in the damp, grey West, notices only torrid heat, arid wastes, blinding glare, suffocating dust, and a coastal Port somewhat reminiscent of Suez or Port Said. Not for him the enchanting views from the little islands at Bhukkar, or from the banks of the lower reaches of the Indus below Hyderabad. Not for him the green grain fields and shady forests that fringe the great river between Larkana and the late Capital. Not for him the scent of the old Kumbar Road, or the myriad bird life of the Munchar Lake. Not for him the moonlight on the great desert on our Eastern frontier; or the sunrise from the Indus delta, throwing its golden shafts across Karachi’s beautiful lagoon to the rugged sky-line of the Hub hills.

But for the old Sindhi these things mean much. Further, nobody who has lived long in Sind, can have failed to be affected not only by its beauties, but by the atmosphere of romance that pervades the whole Province. It meets one on every side—north, south, east and west. But little imagination is required to picture the argosies of bygone centuries sailing silently down the river past the green fields of Kushmore: or the old caravans from Kandahar with their strings of stately camels slowly emerging from the foot of the Bolan Pass on their way to Shikarpur: or the buggalas of old Nearchus nestling in the Chinna Creek in the shelter of the Oyster Rocks during the monsoon, patiently awaiting the arrival of the Great Alexander shortly to appear at the Ghizree mouth of the Indus on the conclusion of his triumphal progress through Western Asia! Then, too, think of the circumstances leading up to the birth at Oomerkot of that infant who was afterwards to be one of the greatest rulers in Indian history,—the mighty Akbar. Here are materials for romances galore.

We are not dependent, however, simply on historical incidents to stimulate our imaginations. Though the vagaries of the Indus and the severity of the hot season in the interior combine quickly to obliterate man’s puny strivings for permanency, material evidence exists in many places of the great vitality and culture of those who have lived before us in this ancient land of Sind. The beautifully coloured and perfectly glazed tiles and pottery of Hala bear testimony to an art lost to the present generation of Sindhis; whilst the ornamented graves and temples which can still be seen in many parts of the Province, reveal the existence in the past of a God-fearing people with well developed notions of sculpture and architecture. Who can regard the wonderful tombs on the Makli Hill at Tatta or the ruins of the great city of Brahmanabad without realising that those responsible for these things must have been, in their day, well advanced in social and civilised life, and deserving of the respect of the present generation.

It is about certain leaders—religious and political—of these peoples of the bygone centuries that the Hon. Mr. Justice Kincaid has compiled the stories that have been reproduced in the following pages. The stories which have been passed on from generation to generation, are, like the legends of the West, to some extent mythical, but no doubt based on actual incidents in the past which, in the repeated telling, have been added to and embroidered in a way calculated to impress the minds of the simple folk who heard them; and thus their remembrance and transmission to later generations has been assured. Mr. Kincaid has well caught the spirit of the stories, and his transcriptions are in his happiest style. The thanks of every patriotic Sindhi will go out to him for thus preserving in the printed page the legends that have grown up around some of the more celebrated figures and remains of ancient Sind.

But we hope that Mr. Kincaid’s good work will not cease yet. The investigations of the Archaeological Department of the Government of India have recently brought to light facts that have turned the eyes of the whole world towards the valley of the Indus. Searching amongst the ruins of northern Sind, Mr. Rakhaldas Bannerji has discovered at Mohenjo Daro in the Larkana District buildings and domestic articles that seem to indicate the existence in Sind of an advanced civilisation some thousands of years ago! This discovery is confirmed by the unearthing, almost at the same time, of similar remains 400 miles away at Harappa in the Montgomery District of the Punjab. These remains include “houses and temples, massively built of burnt brick, and provided with well constructed water conduits covered with marble slabs. The smaller antiquities include a quantity of pottery—painted and plain, terra cotta, toys, bangles of blue glass, paste and shell, new types of coins (or tokens), curious stone rings and dice.” Further, there are a number of engraved and inscribed seals bearing inscriptions in a hitherto unknown pictographic script. A careful comparison has now confirmed the surmise that these antiquities are closely connected and contemporary with the Sumerian antiquities of southern Mesopotamia, dating from the third or fourth millennium before Christ. And so the conclusion has been arrived at that the peoples of Sind and the Punjab were living in “well-built cities in a relatively mature civilisation with a high standard of art and craftsmanship and a developed system of writing 5,000 years ago.” (vide Sir John Marshall, Director-General of Archaeology in India’s communications to the Pioneer and to the Times in November and December, 1924).

Whether any trace of this remote civilisation can be detected in any of the old legends at present current among the country-folk of Sind, it is impossible to say. We hope that Mr. Kincaid will be able to continue his investigations into these matters, and will give to the public all that he can find. With the translation of the pictographic script on the recently discovered seals, some clue or connection with later civilisations may possibly be traced. A fascinating vista of Sind, i.e., the land of the Indus, as the cradle of modern Civilisation has been opened up, (for Sumerian culture was probably the source of Babylonian, Assyrian and Western Asiatic culture). It is to be hoped that the Government of India will continue its investigations with redoubled energy, and will further explore the rich plains on both banks of the Indus.

M. de P. Webb. London, 16th December, 1924.

CONTENTS.

I.—SIND FOLK STORIES.

Page.
1. Lal Shahbaz 7
2. Udero Lal 12
3. Jinda Pir 18
4. Abdul Latif, the author of Shah Jo Risalo 22
5. Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh 28
6. Haidarabad 32
7. Brahmanabad I 35
8. Brahmanabad II 38
9. The Eighth Key 45
10. The Noose of Murad 53
11. The Makli Hill 57
12. Larkana 62
13. Two love Tragedies 65
14. Swami Vankhandi of Sadh Belo 68

II.—GUZARAT FOLK STORIES.

15. King Mansing of Sirohi 75
16. The Wisdom Seller 80
17. Magadha and Rupvati 85
18. Rupsinh and the Queen of the Anardes 90

III.—ROUND ABOUT NASIK.

19. Round About Nasik 105
20. July and December 111

FOLK TALES OF SIND AND GUZARAT.