Kharadar () is a neighbourhood in District South of

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 ...

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# ...

. Kharadar and the adjacent communities of Mithadar and Jodia Bazaar together form what is regarded as the original core of Karachi.

Etymology

''Kharadar'' literally means ''Brackish Gate'' in both Sindhi and

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 ...

Location

Kharadar is located in central Karachi, near the Port of Karachi. Together with the adjacent community of Mithadar, it forms what is regarded as the original core of Karachi, when the city was known as "Kalachi Jo Goath." The combined area of the two is approximately 35 square kilometers.

History

PK Karachi asv2020-02 img28 Wazir Mansion

The neighbourhood was named after one of two gates to the old city of Karachi built in 1729 – the other being Mitha Dar or "Sweet Gate," (referring to the potable, fresh water of the

Lyari River Lyari River () is a small ephemeral stream that flows through the Pakistani megacity of Karachi from north east to the center and drains into the Arabian Sea at the Manora, Karachi, Manora channel. It is one of the two rivers of Karachi, the other ...

) which is now the name of the neighborhood adjacent to the northern edge of Kharadar. Both gates were torn down in 1860 after the British conquered Sindh 13 years earlier.

Economy

Kharadar, along with Mithadar, is a center for Karachi's textile industry, with several garment factories and wholesalers located in the adjacent Bolton Markets, as well as numerous textile markets along Laxmi Das Street. Kharadar has also been home to a Muslim South Indian community since the 1890s – a legacy reflected in the name of the nearby market, the Cochinwala Markets named after residents of the city of

Cochin Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...

in South India.

Demographics

Kharadar being the oldest area along with Mithadar and Lyari is known for its diversity and unity. It is home to people from various faiths. The area has Darya Lal Mandir 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 ...

community, Khoja Isna Ashri Masjid of the

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

community and one of the largest Ismaili Jamat Khana, belongs to Nizari Isma'ili community. Ismaili Muslims traders originally settled in Kharadar after having moved from upper and lower Sindh as well as from Kutch,

Kathiawar Kathiawar (), also known as Saurashtra, is a peninsula in the south-western Gujarat state in India, bordering the Arabian Sea and covering about . It is bounded by the Kutch district in the north, the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest, and by the ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

in the 16th and 17th centuries – well before the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. One of the earliest Ismailis in Kharadar, Syed Ghulam Ali Shah or "Ghulmali Shah" of the Kadiwala clan, was a prominent missionary in Sindh, Kutch and Kathiawar. He died in Karachi in 1792 when there were only a handful of Ismailis. Rather than being buried amongst a small community, his body was transported to Kera in Gujarat for burial. The Ismaili community in Kharadar grew rapidly following a famine in Kutch in 1820, during which 250 Ismailis families fled the area to settle in Kharadar, where they built their first house of worship in the Kagzi Bazar ("Paper Market") in 1825. The area housed the headquarters of the Ismaili faith in Pakistan, until they were moved north to

Garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

. Kharadar also has a large Memon community.

Tourism

File:Memon Masjid 4.jpg, New Memon Masjid File:Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Birth Place Kharadar Karachi.jpg, Wazir Mansion File:Allah Rakha Park.jpg, Allah Rakha Park File:KPTKarachi1.jpg, Karachi Port Trust Kharadar remains a major tourist destination in Karachi. The New Memon Masjid's Foundation-Stone was laid on 24 August 1949 By the Governor General Khuwaja Nazim UD Din. It is one of the largest mosque in the city and has a capacity of 10000 people. Among the most popular sights are Wazir Mansion, birth place of the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi Port Trust Building which administers the Port of Karachi, ancient Hindu temple Darya Lal Mandir and Kharadar JamatKhana which is one of the largest Jamatkhana of Nizari Ismaili community.

References

External links

Karachi Website

Saddar Town
{{Neighbourhoods of Karachi Neighbourhoods of Karachi