Omani Sindhis are citizens of Oman, who are Sindhi people, originally came from Sindh and around its regions.
History
editSindhi Bhatia traders established a colony in muscat between 1400 and 1860.[1] In the seventeenth century when Portuguese lost Hormuz, Muscat became headquarters of their Arabian Gulf operation, during that period Oman's most important trading destination was Thatta city of Sindh, Thatta's main export items were clothes, silk, cotton yarn as well as opium, ghee, indigo and sugar.[2]
Other Sindhi communities are Kumbhars, traditionally living in Kumbhar quarters of Matrah, they were bread baking community, another was Sonhara/Sonabara who are goldsmiths and silversmiths and are called as "Al Sayigh" meaning jeweler in Arabic, they speak a Sindhic language called after their name Al-Saigh.[3]
The Khowajas (Khoja) are another Sindhi people called as Al-Luwatiya who came from Hyderabad, Sindh. They speak Lawati (Khojki) language of Sindhi.[3] The Luwatiya are merchants and deal in textiles, jewelry, grain and dates, besides this they trade in dried fish from Muscat, they were also involved in different skilled crafts like carpentry and boat building.[4]
Moreover, the Jadgal or Al Zidjali as called in Oman are also Sindhi origin people, who migrated from Makran region into Oman.[5][6] Jadgals speak the Jadgali dialect of Sindhi language.[7]
The Sindhi Memon are called as Al Maiman or Al Maimani in Oman and elsewhere in Gulf countries who speak Maimani language related to Luwati language.[8]
There are also 14,700 Sindhis from present day Sindh province of Pakistan. Who are citizens of Oman.[9]
References
edit- ^ George, Sam (2019-01-15). Diaspora Christianities: Global Scattering and Gathering of South Asian Christians. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1-5064-4706-3.
- ^ Jones, Jeremy (2013-03-10). Oman, Culture and Diplomacy. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-7463-3.
- ^ a b Wippel, Steffen (2013-08-16). Regionalizing Oman: Political, Economic and Social Dynamics. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-94-007-6821-5.
- ^ Cavendish, Marshall (2006). World and Its Peoples. Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-7614-7571-2.
- ^ Lorimer, J. G. (2003). Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia. Archive Editions. ISBN 978-1-85207-030-4.
- ^ Nicolini, Beatrice (2004-01-01). Makran, Oman, and Zanzibar: Three-Terminal Cultural Corridor in the Western Indian Ocean, 1799-1856. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-13780-6.
- ^ Jahani, Carina; Korn, Agnes; Titus, Paul Brian (2008). The Baloch and Others: Linguistic, Historical and Socio-political Perspectives on Pluralism in Balochistan. Reichert Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89500-591-6.
- ^ Al Jahdhami, Said (2022). "Maimani Language and Lawati Language: Two Sides of the Same Coin?". Journal of Modern Languages. 32: 37–57. doi:10.22452/jml.vol32no1.3.
- ^ "Sindhi | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All). Retrieved 2024-06-19.