Saraiki culture

Saraiki culture is the culture of the Saraiki people, residing in Pakistan and outside Pakistan.

The traditional dress of Saraiki People is the Shalwar kameez; This is also the national dress of Pakistan. Traditional Sajarak is an important part of Saraiki male and female dress.

Mango is a seasonal fruit of the region during summers.^[1] Sohan halwa is a traditional speciality of southern Punjab, particularly Multan.^[1] The southern Punjab cities of Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Uch Sharif and Mailsi are also known for their sohan halwa products.^[1] Multani Chaamp is a meat dish consisting of lamb chops prepared with various flavours and spices, placed on sewers and grilled over charcoal.^[2]

The region of Saraikistan is renowned for its Sufi heritage. The city of Multan is known as the city of saints.^[3] It has the shrines of Baha-ud-din Zakariya, Shah Rukn-e-Alam and Shah Yousef Gardez. Similarly, Uch Sharif has been the centre of Qadiriyya Sufi order.

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]

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]

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][a] 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]

• South-Punjab
• Saraiki people
• List of Saraiki people
• Saraiki cuisine
• Saraiki diaspora
• List of Seraiki tribes
• Saraiki literature