The
Saraiki people or
Multani people (ملتانی
Perso-Arabic, मुल्तानी
DevanagariDevanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
, ਮੁਲਤਾਨੀ
Gurmukhi) are an ethnic group from the central and south-eastern areas of
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, especially the former
princely stateA Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
of Bahawalpur and the districts of
MultanMultan , is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about from Islamabad, from Lahore and from Karachi...
, Lodhran, Vehari, Khanewal, Rahim Yar Khan,
RajanpurRajanpur is a city and the headquarters of Rajanpur District in the far southwestern part of Punjab, Pakistan. The district lies entirely west of the Indus River. it is a narrow, to wide strip of land sandwiched between the Indus River on the east and the Sulaiman Mountains on the west. The...
,
Dera Ghazi KhanDera Ghazi Khan is a city located in Dera Ghazi Khan District, Punjab, Pakistan. Dera Ghazi Khan is one of the most populous cities in Southern Punjab, and it is the largest district in Punjab in terms of area, being approximately in extent....
,
MuzaffargarhMuzaffargarh is a city in southwestern Punjab, Pakistan, located on the bank of the Chenab River. The Town of Muzaffargarh was founded in 1794 by the Governor of Mulran Nawab Muzaffar Khan.The Meaning of Muzaffargarh is "Fort of Muzaffar" because the old town lies inside the walls of a fort built...
,
LayyahLayyah, also spelt Leiah , is the capital city of the Layyah District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located at 30°58'0N 70°56'0E with an altitude of 143 metres .-Old History:...
,
BhakkarBhakkar is the principal city of Bhakkar District, Punjab, Pakistan. It lies on the left bank of the Indus river. It has a population of almost 300,000 and was given status of district in 1981.-Administration:...
,
MianwaliMianwali is the capital city of Mianwali District and situated in the north-west of Punjab province, Pakistan. The city is located on the eastern bank of the Indus River...
,
Dera Ismail KhanDera Ismail Khan is a city in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. It is situated on the west bank of the Indus River, west of Lahore and northwest of Multan. The city is the capital of the district and tehsil of the same name. In Pakistan, its name is often abbreviated to D. I...
, Bahawalnagar,
SukkurSukkur, or Sakharu , formerly Aror and Bakar, is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River in Pakistan in Sukkur District. However, the word Sakharu in Sindhi means "superior", which the spelling of the city's name in Sindhi suggests is the origin of the...
,
LarkanaLarkana or Larkano is the fourth largest city in the north-western part of Sindh Province, Pakistan, and is located within Larkana District.The old name of larkano is chandka which was changed in 1901. In August 2000 Larkana celebrated its hundred years of existence...
, Dadu, Sehwan,
SangharSanghar is a city in Sanghar District, Sindh, Pakistan. Sanghar is the headquarters of Sanghar District and Sanghar Taluka . It is one of the agriculture town situated approximately 265 km from Karachi city...
,
NawabshahNawabshah , or Shaheed Benazirabad, is a district in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is headquarter of Shaheed Benazir Abad District...
,
Hyderabad, Sindhis the second largest city in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the seventh largest city in the country. The city was founded in 1768 by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro upon the ruins of a Mauryan fishing village along the bank of the Indus known as Neroon Kot...
, Mirpurkhas, Dera Bugti, Jafarabad, Nasirabad and Sibi. A significant number of Saraikis also reside in
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, with most concentrated in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi,
MaharashtraMaharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
and
Gujarat. The Saraikis speak the Saraiki language. Saraikis follow
IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and were earlier known as
SauviraSauvira was a kingdom mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. According to the epic, Jayadratha was the king of Sindhus, Sauviras and Sivis. Probably Sauvira and Sivi were two kingdoms close to the Sindhu kingdom and Jayadratha conquered them. Jayadratha was an ally of Duryodhana and husband of...
.