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Sodha Rajputs Await New Pak Link
By A Staff Writer
Legends of Sodha Rajput chivalry are still preserved in the ballads and folk songs of the area, be it in India or Pakistan.
Tharparkar (Sindh-Pakistan): The Sodha Rajputs of Sind province in Pakistan eagerly look forward to opening of the Munabao-Khokhrapar railway links with Pakistan. The borders between Sind and Rajasthan have divided them into Indians and Pakistanis severing the social, cultural and historical bonds. They dominate the Umerkot and Tharparkar districts of Sindh inasmuch as they form the majority of population. They enjoy religious freedom and still maintain their traditions. The mustachioed, turbaned burly Thakurs exude a distinct cultural identity. They greet others with traditional ‘majrusa’ by folding hands around the waist.
The Sodha Thakurs had fought long battles against the British for years to maintain their sovereignty over the territory which comprises Jodhpur, Barmer, Jaisalmer in India and Tharparkar and Umerkot in what later became Pakistan. It was perhaps the territorial contiguity and historical identity of the land and the people which kept the Jodhpur Maharaja from signing the instrument of accession with Indian Government soon after independence. Jodhpur joined the Indian union in 1948. Legends of Sodha Rajput chivalry are still preserved in the ballads and folk songs of the area, be it in India or Pakistan. However, the new border fences running across the region divided the family and struck at their time honoured traditions. 95 per cent of the community remained within India while the remaining five per cent were severed and included in Pakistan. According to social customs prevalent among them, Sodha Rajputs cannot marry within their own gotra (sub-caste). So they need to choose spouses for their girls and sons from among other gotras like Rathores and Bhai Thakurs. It is why they constituted a major chunk of Indian visa seekers from India’s Karachi Consulate.
Sodha Rajputs conform to their rigid social customs and consider it infra-dig to even accept a glass of water from their daughters’ sasural (in-laws place). But the unfortunate Partition of the country has so divided the community that they have to take their offspring across the border through Wagah border every year and camp at Jodhpur to seek matrimonial alliances. Even while their relatives may stay at Jaisalmer or Barmer, border towns of India, just about 40 kms across the border, they have to take the circuitous route to Lahore in Pak Punjab, cross the Wagah-Attari border and enter India via Amritsar and travel down to Rajasthan.
The revival of the Munabao-Khokhrapar rail link has made them jubilant at the prospect of visiting their relatives the easy way. But India’s announcement that visas would not be granted to residents of border areas has a bit saddened them. However, they expect this restriction to fade soon. Even then, former Sindh Minister, Kunwar Humer Singh is hopeful about the revival of cultural ties between the severed components of the Sodha Rajputs. Jagmal Singh, a Sodha Rajput leader feels that matrimonial alliances across the border work out costly for them as often they have to visit the Indian embassy in Islamabad to secure a visa (Karachi Consulate remaining closed for almost a decade). The recent visit by BJP leader and former minister for External Affairs, Jaswant Singh to the area (he crossed the Munabao-Khokhrapar border check-point) has also led to the expectation that finally all barricades would be dissolved between the two countries. Currently Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra Singh represents the Barmer constituency. He won the seat promising two things: water to the area and opening the border check-post with Pakistan. Several Rajput families have not seen their daughters for two to three decades after they were married away to bridegrooms on the other side.
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