Umerkot (

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

: ;

Dhatki Dhatki (धाटकी; ڍاٽڪي), also known as Dhatti (धाटी; ڍاٽي), Thari (थारी; ٿَري), is a Indo-Aryan Language of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in Tharparkar and Umerkot districts of Sindh ...

: عمرڪوٽ; Sindhi: عمرڪوٽ; IPA: �mərkoːʈ formerly known as Amarkot) is a city in the

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The Mughal emperor

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

was born in Amarkot in 1542. The Hindu folk deities

Pabuji Pabuji is a Folk religion, folk-deity of Rajasthan in India. Pabuji is worshiped in historical region of Rajputana. The Narrative of Pabuji The narrative of Pabuji is sung by the Bhopa poet-singers of Nayak (caste), Nayak community is based a ...

and

Ramdev Ramdev (born Ram Kisan Yadav between 1965 and 1975), also known by the prefix Baba, is an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yoga guru and businessman. He is primarily known for being a proponent of yoga and ayurveda in India. Ramdev has been organizin ...

married in Umerkot. The local language is

, one of the

Rajasthani languages The Rajasthani languages are a group of Western Indo-Aryan languages, primarily spoken in Rajasthan and Malwa, and adjacent areas of Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in India and South Punjab and the adjacent areas of Sindh in Pakistan. ...

of the

Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east of the Indus river in Ba ...

family. It is most closely related to

Marwari Marwari may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the Marwar region of Rajasthan, India, largely in the Thar Desert ** Marwari people, an Indian ethnic group originating in the Marwar region ** Marwari language, the language of the Marwari ...

. Sindhi,

and

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

are also understood by this.

Etymology

The city is named after a local ruler of

, Umer Soomro (of

Soomra dynasty The Soomra dynasty () was a late medieval dynasty of Sindh ruled by the Soomro tribe of Sindh, and at times adjacent regions, located in what is now Pakistan. Sources The only extant source is the ''Diwan-i Farruhi'', a Persian chronicle by ...

) of the

Umar Marvi Umar Marvi is a traditional Sindhi folktale dating back to the 14th century, and first penned by Shah Abdul Karim Bulri in the 16th century. It follows the story of a village girl Marvi, who resists the overtures of a powerful local ruler and t ...

folk tale, which also appears in ''

Shah Jo Risalo Shah Jo Risalo () is a book of poems of the Sindhi Sufi mystic and poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. Shah Abdul Latif's poetry was transmitted orally during his lifetime and compiled after his death and designated as ''Shah Jo Risalo'' or ''Po ...

'', one of the popular tragic romances of Sindh.

History

According to tradition, it was founded by a branch of the Soomra who later lost it to Sodhas in 1226. Sodhas were expelled by the Soomra in 1330 but again rose to power in 1439. In 1590, it became a part of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

. In 1599, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Sulṭān, an

Arghun dynasty The Arghun dynasty () was a Turco-Mongol dynasty that ruled over the area adjoining Southern Afghanistan and then the Sindh Sultanate from the late 15th century to the early 16th century. Arghun rule can be divided into two branches: the Arghun ...

prince drove out the Mughal commander. In 1736,

Noor Mohammad Kalhoro Mian Noor Muhammad Khan Kalhoro (6 August 1698 – 19 June 1755) () ruled Sindh as the Subahdar of the Mughal Emperor from 1719 till 1737. He then consolidated his power over the entire Sindh, subjugating Bakhar Sarkar (Northern Sindh), ...

expelled the last Sodha chief and took control of it. Amarkot province was ruled by the Sodha Rajput clan during the medieval period. Rana Parshad, the Sodha Rajput ruler of Umarkot, gave refuge to

Humayun Nasir al-Din Muhammad (6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), commonly known by his regnal name Humayun (), was the second Mughal emperor, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Northern India, and Pakistan from ...

, the second Mughal Emperor when he was ousted by

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri (born Farid al-Din Khan; 1472 or 1486 – 22 May 1545), also known by his title Sultan Adil (), was the ruler of Bihar from 1530 to 1540, and Sultan of Hindustan from 1540 until his death in 1545. He defeated the Mughal Empire, ...

, and the following year Mughal Emperor,

, was born here. Later on, Akbar brought northwestern India, including modern Pakistan, under

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

rule. After the disintegration of the Mughal Empire, Amarkot was captured by several regional powers, including the

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

, Afghans,

Kalhora The Kalhora or Kalhora Abbasi () is a Sindhi Sammat clan in Sindh, Pakistan. Etymology According to the natives of Sindh, the word ''Kalhoro'' originates from the (/ Kalho) meaning ''Alone''. Origin The Kalhora belong to the Indigenous ...

and

Talpur Talpur ( Balochi: ‏تالپور) is a Baloch tribe. The tribe later formed the Talpur Dynasty. The tribe is mainly settled in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan in Pakistan. The Talpur dynasty ruled between 1783 and 1843, while a branch of the dynas ...

Balochs The Baloch ( ) or Baluch ( ; , plural ) are a nomadic, Pastoralism, pastoral, ethnic group which speaks the Western Iranian, Western Iranic Balochi language and is native to the Balochistan region of South Asia, South and Western Asia, encompas ...

of Sindh, Rathore

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

s of

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

and finally by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

. Amarkot was annexed by

Jodhpur State Kingdom of Marwar, also known as Jodhpur State during the modern era, was a kingdom in the Marwar region from 1243 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. It was established in Pali by ''Rao Siha'', possibly a migran ...

in 1779 from the Kalhora nawab of Sindh. Umerkot and its fort was traded to the British in 1843 by the Maharaja of Jodhpur in return for a Rs.10,000 reduction in the tribute imposed on Jodhpur State. The British appointed Syed Mohammad Ali governor of the province. In 1847,

Rana Ratan Singh Rana Ratan Singh was a hereditary land owner in Umerkot Umerkot (Urdu: ; Dhatki language, Dhatki : عمرڪوٽ; Sindhi language, Sindhi: عمرڪوٽ; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �mərkoːʈ formerly known ...

was hanged at the fort by the British, for killing Syed Mohammad Ali in a tax protest. After the British conquered Sindh, they made it part of the Bombay Presidency of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. In 1858, the entire area around

Tharparkar Tharparkar (Dhatki language, Dhatki/; , ), also known as Thar, is a district in Sindh province in Pakistan, headquartered at Mithi. Before Indian independence it was known as the Thar and Parkar (1901⁠–⁠1947) or Eastern Sindh Frontier Distr ...

became part of the Hyderabad District. In 1860 the region was renamed Eastern Sindh Frontier, with a headquarters at Amarkot. In 1882, it was reorganized as the Thar and Parkar district, headed by a British Deputy Commissioner, with a political superintendent at ''Amarkot''. However, in 1906 the district headquarters moved from Amarkot to

Mirpur Khas Mirpur Khas (Sindhi language, Sindhi and ; ''meaning "Town of the most-high Talpur, Mirs"'') is a city in Sindh province, Pakistan. The city was built by Talpur rulers of Mankani branch. According to the 2017 Census of Pakistan, its population w ...

Rana Chandra Singh Rana (title), Rana Chandra Singh (; 1931 – 1 August 2009), also known as Rana Chandar Singh, was a Pakistani politician and a federal minister. He was one of the founding members of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and was elected to the Natio ...

, a federal minister and the chieftain of the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Sodha Sodha () is a Rajput clan residing in India and Pakistan. They are an off-shoot of the Parmar Rajputs and claims Agnivanshi descent. History They are off-shoot of Parmara Rajputs, who once controlled regions of Malwa and later North-West p ...

Thakur

clan and the Amarkot Jagir, was one of the founding members of the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

(PPP) and was elected to the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly of Pakistan, also referred to as ''Aiwān-ē-Zairīñ'', is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate of Pakistan, Senate. As of 2023, the National Assem ...

from Umarkot seven times as a PPP member between 1977 and 1999, when he founded the Pakistan Hindu Party (PHP). Currently, his politician son

Rana Hamir Singh Rana Hamir Singh is a Pakistani politician who had been a member of Provincial Assembly of Sindh from August 2018 to August 2023.Rana Rana may refer to: Astronomy * Rana (crater), a crater on Mars * Delta Eridani or Rana, a star Films * Rana (2012 film), an Indian Kannada-language action drama * Rana, a 1998 Telugu-language action film directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy * R ...

of Tharparkar, Umarkot and Mithi.Footprints: Once upon a time in Umerkot

Dawn (newspaper) ''Dawn'' is a Pakistani English language, English-language newspaper that was launched in British Raj, British India by Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1941. It is the largest English newspaper in Pakistan, and is widely considered the country's newspap ...

, 16 January 2015.Pakistan's Umerkot gets a new Hindu ruler

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

, 30 May 2010.

Points of interest

The city is well connected with the other large cities like

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, the provincial capital and

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. Umarkot has many sites of historical significance such as Akbar's birthplace,

Umarkot Umerkot (Urdu: ; Dhatki : عمرڪوٽ; Sindhi: عمرڪوٽ; IPA: �mərkoːʈ formerly known as Amarkot) is a city in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The Mughal emperor Akbar was born in Amarkot in 1542. The Hindu folk deities Pabuji and ...

, Umerkot Fort and Momal Ji Mari. There is an ancient temple,

Shiv Mandir, Umerkot Umarkot Shiv Mandir (), also known as Amarkot Shiv Mandir, is a Hindu temple situated in Umerkot District, near Rana Jaageer Goth, in Sindh Province of Pakistan. This temple is perhaps the oldest in Sindh. The temple is one of the most sacred ...

, as well as a Kali Mata Temple, Krishna Mandir at old Amarkot and Manhar Mandir Kathwari Mandir at Rancho Line.

Education

The city has more than 100 schools, 20 colleges, and one polytechnic college.

Demographics

Population

According to 2023 census, Umerkot had a population of 144,558.

Religion

The

Umarkot Shiv Mandir Umarkot Shiv Mandir (), also known as Amarkot Shiv Mandir, is a Hindu temple situated in Umerkot District, near Rana Jaageer Goth, in Sindh Province of Pakistan. This temple is perhaps the oldest in Sindh. The temple is one of the most sacred ...

is one of the most ancient and sacred Hindu temples in

Gallery

Umarkot Fort view3.JPG, Umerkot Fort Umarkot museum view.JPG, Umerkot Museum

Notes

References

External links

District government Umerkot official website (English version)
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 Hinduism in Sindh Tehsils of Umerkot District