THE%20SINDH%20STORY

handsome young Hindu, who used to act female parts in local dramas. The Pir
fell off a window crying “Suggu! Suggu!”, while seeing a Suggu rehearsal. The
death of the Pir in these circumstances so enraged some local Muslims that they
engaged an assassin who shot down ten Hindus with a 12-bore gun one May
evening in 1929. Nothing like that had happened in Sindh before. Even Pandit
Madan Mohan Malaviya arrived on the scene to see things for himself. For days
the market was closed. Sukhiya, a Parsi intelligence officer, was specially
deputed to inquire. (Whenever a serious Hindu-Muslim situation arose in Sindh,
an Englishman or a Parsi was sent in, to handle the issue impartially.) Sukhia did
unearth the conspiracy of big landlords and maulvis. But they were not touched.
In their place some fake accused were prosecuted and then duly acquitted. The
actual killer was never nabbed.
In Upper Sindh, many Muslims visited Harijan women, advanced loans to their
families, and later converted them. The local Arya Samajists hit upon an idea:
they presented pigs to those Harijan families. The sight of pigs kept the Muslims
away; and the income from pigs made Harijans independent of money-lenders.
To the extent that a tit called for a tat, the Arya Samaj played a useful role in
Sindh. The Arya Samajists did not put up any colleges, or many schools; but they
did organize many gyamnasia and Kanya Sanskrit Pathshalas. They gave the
Hindus a new pride. Somehow, the Arya Samaj did not attract the classes in
Sindh --- as it did in the Punjab. Its leading lights were Tarachand Gajra and
Swami Krishnanand. It was not chic to be in the conversion business; but Arya
Samaj did influence Sindhi Hindu masses. It was a good service well performed.
Meanwhile another movement arrived on the scene to take care of the Sindhi
elite in the wake of the eclipse cf the Brahmo Samaj. This was the Theosophical
Society. It revived the basic Hindu thought in international idiom. This was
doubly welcome to the educated Sindhi, who valued his Hinduism and who did
not underrate internationalism. Stalwarts such as Jethmal Parasram and Jamshed
Mehta became the pillars of Theosophy in Sindh. The Theosophical Lodges
became non-denominational centres of intellectual and cultural activity. The
Theosophical Society of Karachi was found to be the most active branch in the
whole world. Dayaram Gidumal’s son Kewalram became an active theosophist.
He helped set up D.G. National College in Hyderabad, and Sarnagati, a research
library in Karachi.
The universal appeal of Theosophy attracted not only Parsi leaders such as
Jamshed and Kotwal but also Muslim intellectuals such as G.M. Syed, Hyderbux
Jatoi and A K. Brohi. who have all been major characters on the Pakistani scene.
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