Saraiki culture

Jhumar or Jhoomar (also called Ghumbar in Sandalbar area)[4] is a traditional Saraiki and Baloch dance in Pakistan.[5][6] It is also popular in the Sandalbar areas of Punjab.[7] It is slower and more rhythmic form.[8] The word "Jhumar" comes from Jhum/Jhoom, which means Swaying. Jhumar is performed at the wedding ceremonies usually.[9] The dance is also performed in circle, to the tune of emotional songs.[9] Ataullah Khan Esakhelvi and Shafaullah Rokhri are considered the main singers of Saraiki music.[10]

Tomb of Sufi poet Khwaja Ghulam Farid

The language, partly codified during the British Raj, derived its emotional attraction from the poetry of the Sufi saint, Khawaja Ghulam Farid, who has become an identity symbol.[11] His poems, known as Kafi are still famous.

Shakir Shujabadi (Kalam-e-Shakir, Khuda Janey, Shakir Diyan Ghazlan, Peelay Patr, Munafqan Tu Khuda Bachaway, and Shakir De Dohray are his famous books) is a very well recognized modern poet.[12]

Dr. Ashu Lal, A Saraiki poet and intellectual

The Department of Saraiki, Islamia University, Bahawalpur was established in 1989[13] and the Department of Saraiki, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan[14] was established in 2006. Saraiki is taught as a subject in schools and colleges at higher secondary and intermediate.[15][16] Saraiki is also taught at degree level at the Allama Iqbal Open University at Islamabad,[17] and the Al-Khair University at Bhimbir have Pakistani Linguistics Departments. They offer M.Phil. and Ph.D in Saraiki. The Associated Press of Pakistan has launched a Saraiki version of its site, as well.[18]

Saraiki is written using the Arabic-derived Urdu alphabet with the addition of seven diacritically modified letters to represent the implosives and the extra nasals.[19][lower-alpha 1] In Sindh the Sindhi alphabet is used.[20] The calligraphic styles used are Naskh and Nastaʿlīq.[21]

Historically, traders or bookkeepers wrote in a script known as kiṛakkī or laṇḍā, although use of this script has been significantly reduced in recent times.[22][23] Likewise, a script related to the Landa scripts family, known as Multani, was previously used to write Saraiki. A preliminary proposal to encode the Multani script in ISO/IEC 10646 was submitted in 2011.[24]