Sodha
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History
A.D. 1226-
BY RAOL PRADIPKUMAR R. Landscape of Truth: The Positive Power
The Sodhar sindhis are said to be descended from Paramara Sodhar, are supposed to have come into this part of Sindh from Ujjain about 1226, when they quickly displaced the rulers of the country. Other authorities, however, state that they did not conquer the country from the Sumras, the dominant race, before the beginning of the sixteenth century. The Sodhas, in their turn, succumbed to the Kalhoras about 1750.
Rana Prasad, a Hindu Sodha Rajput ruler of Amarkot, gave refuge to the Mughal Emperor Humayun. The Sodha controlled Umarkot Fort was where the great Mughal Emperor, Akbar was born in Umerkot, when his father Humayun fled from military defeat at the hands of Sher Shah Suri.
Rana Chandra Singh belonged to the Sodha Rajput clan, and was the Rana (chieftain) of the Amarkot (Umerkot) jagir, a Rajput state in Pakistan, and Pakistani Hindu Sodha Thakur Rajput. His father was Rana Arjun Singh and his mother was Dev Kumari. Arjun Singh was Rana of Umarkot in 1947 when the state became part of Pakistan.
Culture
The Sodhas lead a simple life with no luxuries. Some are not even addicted to beverages like tea and some men usually have only lunch and dinner prepared at home. Fluent in Kutchi, Gujarati, Hindi, they blend well with the local people. They also know Marwari and Thari Sodha language of their earlier homeland. Some even write poetry in Gujarat.
Sodha culture has been preserved through the circular ‘Bhungas’ that the community still uses. They are mostly vegetarian. Their staple diet is bajra or Gheo Chaptis and Khichadi. The women are pure vegetarians but some of the men have now started taking non-vegetarian food outside the house. The ‘Otara’ where the men sit together for meetings or to entertain guests is where they are allowed to eat non-vegetarian food, not inside the house.
Sodha Rajput brides cover their faces and visit sacred spots in their new village on the day after the wedding. A cloth is tied to the turbaned groom who precedes her. The handmade embroidery items in her trousseau are her calling card in her new home. Sodha women and other communities on festivals such as Diwali or Gokulashtmi prepare Gariyu Alekh drawings in the center of the village. Old plaster is removed from the walls and a fresh coat is laid on. When dried, Alekh is done on the walls in colorful designs of Torans and decorations in wall recesses.
Sodha believe in Pithora Pir, a saint whose temple can be seen in all Sodha villages, and hold an annual festival in his honour, and also in Satya Mataji. They celebrate Diwali, Holi, Satam Atam and other Hindu festivals. The victory of good over evil is symbolically expressed in celebration of Dussera (also spelt as Dusshera) and is celebrated by Brahmin, Kshatirya, Vaishya and Shudra Hindus. Earlier a festival of the farming community, it has subsequently turned into a Kshatriya festival.
Agricultural and artisan communities worship Lord Rama, Krishna, Sachiya Mataji or Mother Goddess in her numerous forms. The Sodha Rajput caste blends Hindu and Muslim cultures and some religious practices.
After 1971
[www.rajputroyals.myewebsite.com/articles/sodha-rajput-history.html rajputroyals.myewebsite]
In the year 1971, after the Indo Pak war Sodha Rajput tribe started migrating to Kutch region. They originated from the region of Thar Parkar, it is in east Sindh. People of this tribe which are in Pakistan, have their relatives in Rajasthan, Kutch and Gujarat. Sodha Rajput tribe settled here in Kutch and survived. In Kutch, Sodha Rajput tribe has their thirty two Sodha villages and around twenty five thousand members on the community which contains four thousand artists. This tribe traveled from Pakistan's Sindh region to Kutch and then finally they settled in the Jhura Camp, which is very clean and neat. Women of Sodha tribe sheltered in this village and settled under the chain of mountains, in the north part of Bhuj. This tribe likes to live in a simple manner without having any luxurious facilities. They are not even habitual to drink tea and any other beverages, they only have home made lunch and dinner. They speak languages such as Hindi, Katchi, and Gujarati, because of the knowledge of languages they mix up with the regional local people. They also have the knowledge of Sodha and Marwari language. Some of the people of Sodha tribe write poetries.
This tribe has protected or stored their culture by their Bhungas, which their community is still using. This tribe's people are vegetarian. Their meal contains Khichadi and Gheo or bajra chapattis. Women are also vegetarian, but now some men have started eating non vegetarian food but they eat outside the house. The place called Otara,are where men sit to have meetings and also to eat non vegetarian food. Sodha Rajput men usually wear Adita which is in white color, it is like Dhoti and shirt or Khameez , to cover the head they wrap the turban. Sodha women wear their traditional wear like Odhni and kurta Ghaghra.
The Sodha tribe feel very proud of their artistic embroidery art. They have a unique style of embroidery art. Women use small mirrors and chain stitch to make attractive embroidery. You can find Sodha embroidery on the places like Bibbar, Loriya, Sumrasar Shekh, Jhura, Godhjar and Faradi. The type of embroidery "Soof" is done in the villages; like Suraser, Jhura and border villages of Banaskantha by the women of Sodha Rajputs tribe. This area is known as Sodha Bharat. Sodha women wear jewellery like Nath, lobe earrings and bangles. Young girls of this tribe wear disca earrings and older wear only rings with the pendant of stone. Married women of this tribe wear jewellery which suit their look like gold earrings in a shape of a leaf. Sodha tribe follows their traditional wedding customs like brides of Sodha Rajput tribe cover their faces and visit the sacred places on the next day of marriage. Brides are tied to the groom by a cloth so that she can proceed further with help of the groom. Bride carries her craft and embroidery items to the groom's home. Sodha tribal women and villagers celebrate festivals like Gokulashtmi or Diwali by keeping the Gariyu Alekh painting at the center point of the village. Sodha tribal people believe in the God Pithora Pir , you will find his temple in each village of Sodha tribe. They celebrate annual festival of this god and also the God Satya Mataji. This tribe also enjoys the Hindu festivals like Holi, Diwali, and Satam Atam. Artists and farming communities of Sodha tribe worship Lord Krishna, Rama and Goddess Sachiya Mataji.
Cross border matrimony
Himanshi Dhawan, July 7, 2019: The Times of India
Twenty-three-year old Vikram Singh Bhati from Jaisalmer’s Baiya village has rose-tinted memories of his new bride. He sighs wistfully as he talks about the blissful months spent with her in Sinoi village in Pakistan’s Umerkot district. His parents watched the pheras on video-call and blessed them with a long happy married life. But his marital bliss was short-lived. In May this year, Bhati came back to his village in Rajasthan without his wife. He and his older brother, who also got married in the same village a few days later, spent an unsuccessful three months pursuing and waiting for visa documents so their Pakistani wives could accompany them back to India. “I don’t even have a photograph as a keepsake,” Bhati says. His bride is from the Sodha Rajput community of Umerkot district, in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
Sodha Rajputs believe in the gotra system and have traditionally sought marriage alliances outside their community, making them look at Indian Rajputs for a match. The ties between Rajputs in India and Pakistan pre-date Partition. Marriages between the Sodhas and the Rajput communities in Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and other parts of the country have been commonplace despite visa restrictions and tensions across the international border. Until 1965, marriage parties could cross the border unhindered. But in the last couple of decades, the borders have been fenced and diplomatic lines have hardened. So when war hysteria ratchets up, it is this community that bears the brunt. Marriages, funerals, anniversaries fall victim to the “border par tanav.” (tension on the border.) Mahendra Singh from Khejad Ka Paar village in Barmer has seen this up close. Singh’s wedding was slated for March 8, but was postponed following the February 14 terror attack on 40 CRPF jawans in J&K’s Pulwama. The Thar Express was discontinued by Pakistan in the wake of the surgical strikes by India, making Singh’s train tickets useless. The wedding party finally took the train for Sinoi village a month later in April. He too returned last week without his bride.
Hindu Singh Sodha, an activist who has been working for the last 20 years with Sodha community, says Indian spouses are an obvious choice for the community. “Both girls and boys in India are well educated, which is a big draw. Hindus in Pakistan also fear persecution as they are a minority. Given a choice they all want to settle down in India,” he says. Ajeet Singh Sodha from Haveli village in Umerkot, Pakistan, is a newly minted Indian citizen. He moved to Jodhpur in 2007 with an IT diploma, the second brother in the family to do so. He started with a computer operator’s job in a private hospital and worked his way up. In 2011, he got married to a Rajput girl from Sirohi in Rajasthan. Over the years, four brothers and a sister have successfully shifted to Jodhpur. Though he has no complaints, the family has not seen their parents for three years. “We have applied four times and every time the visa papers get rejected. You feel helpless when you see aged parents struggling. They are so near yet so far,” says Ajeet Singh, who received his citizenship last year. Blessings are given on video call and Skype while emoticons on WhatsApp substitute for real hugs and smiles.
The absence of close relatives and loved ones on special occasions bothers Ugam Kanwar Sodha (now Rathore) too but she has come to terms with it. Ugam came to India 18 years ago, after her wedding, and was known in her neighbourhood as the “Pakistan wali ladki” (girl from Pakistan.) For Sodha girls, migrating to India is preordained. “From the moment we are born, our families train us to live in India. We learn Hindi at home, along with Urdu and Sindhi in school, and Rajasthani customs,” she says. So namaste is ‘khammagini’ in Marwari and ‘mujrosa’ in Dhatki language (spoken on both sides of the border), and children are taught both. Ugam also talks about a hard truth. If a Sodha girl walks out of a marriage, she has nowhere to go. Despite following Rajput customs of a full ghoonghat in front of older male relatives, wearing traditional ghagra-choli and cooking food to local taste, there are times when their Pakistani identity is all that people see. Ugam recalls a train conversation when a co-passenger continued to badmouth Pakistan for over an hour. Ugam kept her cool but her friend lost patience and mentioned that Ugam was from Pakistan. “But you don’t look like that,” said the surprised passenger. He immediately went on the offensive, “Go back to Pakistan, where you belong,” he ranted. Ugam says, “I remained calm. I don’t let this anti-Pakistan rhetoric affect me.”
Jodhpur-based Radhika Sodha, 26, says one of the first things she is asked when she reveals that she is married to a Pakistani is which cricket team she supports. “I say I support India because I am Indian, and so does my husband. But why am I asked such ajeeb (strange) questions?”
The war-mongering and Pakistan-phobic content on social media has not deterred 26-yearold Ridhi Shekhawat’s choices either. The masters in business administration was recently engaged to a Sodha boy. She plans to move from Udaipur to Pakistan after her wedding next year. “I made the choice to move to Pakistan because for my family, it is about marrying into a family we have known for years. It is the same culture. I am very happy and excited to make the shift,” she says. Ugam explains this difference in perspective between the Sodhas and many others: “Logon ke liye India ya Pakistan dushman hai. Hamare liye peer ya sasural hai.” (For people either India or Pakistan is the enemy. For us, it is home, whether the maternal or marital one.)
