Sindhi workies, (''alternatively'' Sindworkis, Sindworkies ''or'' Sindwork merchants, ( sd, سِنڌُ وَرِڪِي ; ur, سندھ ورکی ; hi, सिंधवर्की), were wealthy Hindu traders and merchants from the Sindh region of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. This merchant class rapidly gained prominence during the British rule of India and spread their businesses overseas to places as far as

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Many of the Sindhi workies were from the Bhaiband merchant caste, and to some degree the Amils, who were based and lived in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

. They established their businesses on the supply of traditional Sindhi arts and crafts, collectively known as ''Sindhi work'' or ''Sindwork'', particularly in the British and European markets. The Sindhi workies were amongst the first Indian traders to establish business outside of India, particularly in places where the British had influence.Sindhi Diaspora in Manila, Hong Kong, and Jakarta. Thapan, Anita Raina. Ateneo University Press, 2002. Due to the nature of their business, the men traditionally spent only six months at home in Hyderabad, while up to the following three years abroad. It was the women and children of these Sindhi workies who were left to look after their homes and who later established a new-age Hindu socio-religious movement in Hyderabad known as ''Om Mandali'' (now ''

Brahma Kumaris The Brahma Kumaris are a spiritual movement that originated in Hyderabad, Sindh, during the 1930s.

History

When the British took over Sindh, many of the Bhaiband and

Amil Amil Kahala Whitehead (born September 19, 1973) is an American former rapper and singer. She was prominent in the late 1990s as a Jay-Z protégé, and recorded the single " Can I Get A..." with him for the '' Rush Hour'' soundtrack. Amil's d ...

castes of Sindhi Hindu

Lohana Lohana, also referred to as Loharana, Thakkar and Lohrana, are an Indian trading or mercantile '' jāti''. Lohanas claim to be descendants of the Lava, son of Rama, and to descend from the Raghuvanshi dynasty.Lachaier, Pierre. "Cérémonies D'ho ...

s residing in

took advantage of the British rule. They “strengthened their commercial links between Sindh and Bombay to embark upon a completely new venture,

elling ''Elling'' is a Norwegian Black comedy film directed by Petter Næss. Shot mostly in and around the Norwegian capital Oslo, the film, which was released in 2001, is primarily based on Ingvar Ambjørnsen's novel ''Brødre i blodet'' ("Blood bro ...

local craft productions to European clientele”. These craft products became known as ''Sindwork'' in the European and British markets. Almost all of the Sindwork merchants were largely based in and around Hyderabad, while a few lived in Shikarpur and

Sukkur Sukkur (; ) is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh along the western bank of the Indus River, directly across from the historic city of Rohri. Sukkur is the third largest city in Sindh after Karachi and Hyderabad, and 14th largest city ...

. In “ akinggood use of the benefits of being British Indian subjects”, the Sindwork merchants established for themselves a sea-based network of commerce on a worldwide scale. The Sindwork merchants fared better than their Chinese and Japanese counterparts they didn’t have to face political obstacles and became “‘global middlemen’ between

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

and India". The Sindwork merchants had “privileged connections” with the Japanese and marched ahead of their Gujarati counterparts after being facilitated by the Chinese merchants’ boycott of Japanese goods following the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

Sindwork trade

The Sindwork trade primarily included printed and embroidery materials, silks, silverware, lacquer ware, pottery and jewellery. Typically, Sindwork was produced by Muslim craftspeople and artisans, but because it was traded across the globe by Hindu traders, it brought immense wealth to these Hindu merchants who owned these firms. Such wealth was acquired by these traders that they fashioned their abodes into palatial mansions. Renowned scholar

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

even called Hyderabad “the most fashionable city in India” because of this extravagant lifestyles of its trader citizens.

''Hatta varnka''

The Sindwork merchants had developed a special writing script that was used as a secret code while codifying their cash books and ledgers. This script was known under several names: ''hatta varnka'', ''hat varnka'', ''varnka'', ''hattai'', or ''hatvanika''. Its use was not well documented and therefore scholars debate, to date, about the true meaning of this script. This script was used for business and overseas communications and its purpose was to make the company's accounting unintelligible to revenue collectors in order to enable tax evasion.

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