History of Badin relates with the history of Sindh in general and with the lower sindh in particular. The area of present day Sindh has remained the centre of ancient Indus Valley Civilization. There is then a gap of more than a millenium before the historical record in renewed. This record is monotonous and of episodic nature. The record shows Sindh annexion to the (Parsian) Achaemenid empire under Darius I in the late sixth century B.C. Nearly two centuries later, Alexander the Great conquered the region in 325 and 326 B.C. After his death Sindh came under the domination of empire of Seleucus I Nictor, Chandra Gupt Mauria (C-305 BC), the Indo-Greek and Parathions in the 2nd - 3rd century B.C., and the scythians and the Kushians rulers from about 100 B.C. to AD 200.

The important influences shaping the progress of Sindh during this long period of time were the gradual decay of Brahmanical system of religion which in course of time had become excessively sacredotal and ceremonious and getting out of touch with the feelings of common people. During that period the doctrines of Buddhism and Jainism were established and it is certain that Buddhism for many centuries had a profound influence upon the population of Sindh.

From the 3rd to 7th century AD the area remained under Persian Sasanaids. Before Arabs invasion in Sindh, the area was under the rule of Rai dynasty. During that period Brahmanism revival set in and in the second quarter of 7th century AD Brahmanism and Buddhism were confronting each other.

The Arab conquest of Sindh in 711 AD heralded the entry of Islam into the Indian sub-continent. Sindh was part of the administration province of "As Sindh" in the Ummayyad and Abbassid empires from 712 to about 900 A.D. with the eventual weakening of central authority in the caliphate, this region came under the control of Ghaznavides.

The area remained under Ghazanavides till 1032 AD when Ibne Sumar, the ruler of Multan laid the foundation of Sumra dynasty in Sindh. The sumras possibly recognized the soverignty of the Ghaznavides but for all practical purposes were independent. Sindh remained a part of Shahabuddin Ghori's Kingdom and did not cease to be so defacto or dejure, until the erruption of Tamerlane. The Dehli Sultanate over its neighbours and tributory states strengthened and weakened capriciously and local rulers often able to exert a practical, if not a fully recognized sovereignty over their own local areas. During the reign of Altutamish, Sindh came directly under the throne of Dehli. The depth of Altutamish in 1236 was followed at Dehli by a succession of plots, mutiness and revolutions equally destitute of present interest and permanent effects. It was evidently real enough to be irksome, for when the house of Khilji fell and Ghazi Malik, the strong Governor of Multan left the province to become emperor, the tribe of Sumras occupying the areas about Thatta, took the opportunity to declare their independence. The Sumras dynasty gradually waned in power until 1351 AD when Sammas unseated Soomras and placed "Jam Umar" on the throne in 1451 AD.

In 1526 Mughal Empire was established and in 1592, Akbar the Great established the direct rule Mughal Empire in Sindh by defeating Mirza Jani Beg, ruler of Thatta. The defeat of Mirza Jani Beg put an end to Tarkhan (Arghun) dynasty and Sindh henceforth become a part of Multan province.

Kalhoras began as petty feudal chiefs became strong enough to be appointed Governors of Sarkars and in the end succeeded in getting the control of upper and lower Sindh with headquarters at Bukkur and Thatta till Nadir Shah's invasion in 1737, they reached a position of virtual independence. The struggled of power between Kalhoras and Talpurs ended in the battle at Halani in which the Talpurs emerged victorious and Kalhora dynasty came to an end and Talpur came into power in 1783.

Talpur family was divided into three branches (1) The Hyderabad or Shahdadpur family ruling in central Sindh (2) The Mirpur of Manikari family ruling Mirpur and (3) Khairpir or Sohrabani branch governing at Khairpur.

The government of Mirs was unique. It was a kind of family cooperation with no great interest in anything except keeping Sindh isolated and in collecting the revenue. They continued to rule Sindh until the battle of Miani in 1848 when the forces of the Mirs were defeated and Sindh passed under British rule.

The Badin district was formed in 1975 from districts of Hyderabad and Thatta. It consist of five talukas *namely Badin, Shaheed Fazil Rahu (Golarchi), Matli, Tando Bago and Talhar.

Ethnicity and Tribes

Majority of population is Muslim. The important tribes are Syed, Soomra, Talpur (Mir) Leghari, Memon Mandhra. Sheedi, Mullah Bhurgri. Many races of Baloch are also settled at the scattered places of the district. About 10% of the population of Hindus are found living at the various places of district. New settlers are from Punjab and Balochistan, Afghani and Bengali are also settled here.

The Hindu population of Badin district fall roughly into three main classes the advanced trading and commercial classes, of whom the Lohana constitute the most important element; the intermediate Hindus where the main element consists of Kolis with a slightly higher standard than the Mahadev kolis who were classed among the primitives. The primitive consist almost wholly of Bhils and Mahadev kolis. The short notes that follow will deal with Lohana and their kindred tribes, the Brahmans the intermediate kolis, and amongst the primitives the Bhils.

Culture, Customs and Traditions

The customs of visiting Dargah (Shrines) of saint is common among the Muslim and Hindus. According to faith the people visit the Dargahs during the time of trouble and misfortune and pray for safety and relief from the worldly affairs/problems. It is therefore, the main cause that Pirs, Sueds, Sayeds, Shaiks are considered here as Murshad amoung-un-educated masses.

This district has many important Dargahs/Shrines such as Dargah of Luari Sharif, Saman Sarkar, Ghulam Shah Qadri, Sajjan Sawai, Dodo soomro, Sawan Fakir, Shah Triat Ahmed Rajo.

The following festivals / melas are being celebrated every year.

1.      Mela of Saman Sarkar
2.      Mela of Sajan Sawai
3.      Mela of Sawan Fakir
4.      Mela of Ghulam Shah

* During Census 1998, there were only 4 talukas. Taluka Talhar has been created recently and after the 1998 census.

Food

Rice is the staple food of labour class as well as middle class. The staple food used in rural areas is rice-bread with lassi, Dall, Vegetable or Chilly as Chutney are usually taken in morning and at lunch. At night rice is generally consumed with lassi. Wheat bread is generally used in urban areas. Beef and fish is also taken who can afford it.

Dress and Ornaments

As the great majority of population of the district is agricultural and rural and spends most of its time in the open-air, the question of dress is not one to cause much thinking as the suitability of, or the need to change the uniform. In fact, the cultivator and the herdsman of this district is most conservative in the matter of dress and the great changes which the last fifty years have seen in all directions throughout the country have very little effect upon the clothing of the agricultural classes, whether zamindar or hari. Shalwar and Kamiz are the common dresses worn by the people of the district in rural and urban areas. The Hindu ladies do wear ghagra para and sari commonly instead of choli and shalwar.

The majority of the people of rural area keep angocha patka on head. The women in the town wear ornaments at the occasion of marriage ceremony. The use of silver ornaments is common in the rural area. The Hindu ladies wear silver ornaments permanently. The common ornaments are nose ring. Neck ring, phulri, pazeb, hassi, jhumka choris etc.

Dwelling

The houses of well-to-do persons in town are built with pucca bricks and covered with limestone plaster. The persons of average position building their houses with katcha bricks and mud. There are sufficient arrangements for drainage, ventilation and lighting. The house mostly consist of three to six rooms, one hall, verandah, latrine, bathroom and kitchen. One room is also provided mostly to every house as baithak or guest room. The houses conytain the necessary furniture. The house in villages are built of katcha bricks and covered with timber, wood reeds, and grass. The courtyards are surrounded by fence of thorny bushes. They are built in a haphazard manner and not in compact blocks. The poor presents and farmers live in hunts made of reeds and covered with sur grass. There are little arrangements of sanitation and drainage in rural areas.

Occupation

The main occupation of the people is agriculture. The women folk in the rural areas help the male members in the fields. As the lands of this district are low lying, therefore numbers of Dhands exist as such a good number of population of Mallah community is engaged in the fishing occupation. The skilled persons are engaged in the administrative and other related jobs. The district being a sugarcane and oil & gas producing state, therefore a good number of people are engaged in mills and oil & gas fields in the district.

Betrothal and Marriages

The marriage ceremonies in the district are similar to those in rest of the province/country. The approach of the wedding day in heralded by playing drums, blowing pipes/ shehani. In the betrothal ceremony known as maja or wanwah the women from the bride-grome's side go to the house of bride few days before marriage and make the bride (wana-wah) to sit in seclusion. She is fed on churo, an unleavened cake of wheat flour made into dough with clarified butter and mixed with brown sugar. According to Sir Richard Burton it is a billious mess, popularly supposed to increase the delicacy of the skin. The bride, later goes through other ritual ceremonies like dyeing/decorating hand and soles by mehndi (henna-lawsonia) dyeing the lips with musag (walnut bark) and blackening the eye with kajal etc. the occasion of marriage ceremony starts with registration of marriage settlements by the witnesses. After acceptance from both bride and bride-groom, the priest/Nikkah khawan gives a sermons, reciting verses from Holy Quran and ended with prayer/good-wishes.

In matrimonial affairs among the Hindus, particularly Lohanas, the proposal of marriage must come from young lady and not from the swain. The first step towards the celebration of marriage is the ascertainment of lucky-day. The months of Sawan and Bhadu are propitious. Asu is not. With respect to other ceremonies, purohit must be consulted. When the lucky hour approaches, the bridegroom appears, attired in a wonderful facade of pasteboard decorated with flowers of colour paper, or sometimes made entirely of silver, called a mutik, and mounting on a mare, starts for the bride's house, accompanied by his friends, papers, drummers, torch-bearers and men that let off fireworks. At the birde's house he is received with due ceremony into the angan. Over which a canopy has been erected, where he has a bath and puts on wedding garments presented to him by the bride, the mother of the bride washes his feet with water or milk. Then he goes into the inner chamber, where the women are, and comes out leading his bride by the hand and with the corner of his skirt tied to hers. In some places he does not come out, but the ceremony is performed in the zanana, the couple sit on two stools, side by side, with the family or priests in front of them.

The priests recite the sapta-padi and when the bride and bridegroom walk four times round the sacred fire, on which the priests have already made the hom sacrifices, the joining of hands (hathialo) and the circuit of the fire (pheray) are the essentials of the marriage rite, after it is over gifts are distributed to the relatives and the officiating priests. Then the bridegroom, mounting his mare again, but this time with his wife behind him in a doli, goes in joyful procession to his father's house, next day the father of the bride gives a feast, a hindu as a rule has only one wife, but if she remains long childless, he takes another. Divorce is unknown among them, so is remarriage of widow.