ABSTRACT
Colonization had a deep impact on Sindhi literature and on other fields of knowledge. Sufism was objectified by a new intelligentsia in which the Hindu literati were the forerunners. In the nineteenth century, there was a will to show the Sindhis constituted a unified community through the sharing of Sufism between all the religious persuasions. In Sindh, Sufi poetry is the core of Sufism, not only in the development of a vernacular knowledge but also in the performance of the Sufi rituals in the many dargahs of the province. This chapter provides a brief outline of the Sufi life in present day Sindh. Vernacular Sufi poetry in Sindhi shares a number of structural similarities with neighbouring territories, but it also has a number of specific features. For many years Sindh was a refuge for heterodox religious persuasions; however, it is impossible to evaluate how the successive layers which finally make Sindhi Sufism were influential.
