Historical Dictionary of the Sufi Culture of Sindh in Pakistan and India

This book tackles the issue of delimiting Sufism: where does it start and where does it end? Speaking about Sufism does not typically account for its broad range of influence on societies and cultures, thus this Dictionary aims to highlight the extent of Sufismas reach, specifically in the context of Sindh.

Various forms and iterations of Sufism are practically ubiquitous across Sindh, including even its most remote regions. The many discourses expressed by Sufism are often interwoven with other devotional traditions in the region, merged by the use of a shared technical lexicon in the fields of both poetry and ritual. The Dictionary consequently includes references to the traditions and literatures with which Sufism has engaged, like those of the Muslim Isma`ilis and ikris, and the Hindu Daryapanthis and Nanakshahis.

The reference language of the Dictionary is Sindhi as, besides some dialectical variations, the language remains a common thread between the Sufi cultures of Sindh, the neighbouring regions of India, and the Sindhi diaspora. The Dictionary is alphabetically-arranged, and features vivid illustrations, an extensive bibliography, and a chronological chart of major historical events pertaining to the topic.

Michel Boivin was trained at Sorbonne University, Paris (France) in Islamic Studies, Contemporary History and Ethnology. He is currently Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for South Asian Studies, CNRS-EHESS. He also teaches history and anthropology, and is External Examiner for PhD programmes at the University of Karachi and University of Punjab, both in General History. His work focused on the social and cultural evolution of Muslim communities of the Indian subcontinent, from British colonization to the post-Partition period. His fieldwork is mainly centered on the southern part of the Indus Valley.

Boivin is a published author and editor. He has written numerous articles in leading academic journals. His last work in English wasArtefacts of Devotion (Karachi: OUP, 2012), and in French, it was The Agha Khan and the Khojas: Shiite Islam and Social Dynamics in the Indian Subcontinent (1843a1954) (Paris: Karthala, 2013).