Indian Antiquary Vol 61

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 100

88
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
.( MAY, 1932
little doubt that it was a temple originally-shows pronounced classical influence, and is probably the oldest of the three buildings of this class.13
3. Geographical
(a) Travelling by boat at the mouths of the Indus is so difficult and so circuitous that little reliance can be placed on distance expressed in terms of a day's sailing.
(6) It is not safe to assume great changes in the extent of the delta : its age is geological. The delta is gaining on the sea, but the levels are such that a change of an inch a mile in the gradient would upset the whole of the present régime.
(c) Local changes were probably less rapid formerly than since the British oocupation, since the floods of the abkalani 1 season could then spread themselves more freely over the country as a whole.
(d) It is doubtful whether Lahori Bandar could have been a plaoe of greater permanence than Keti Bandar 15 is today, though its importance was as that of Karachi.
(e) The invocation to the river god is Lahr-Bahr ja sain, mehrbánf de! ("Lord of the water, grant a favour !") with dialectical variations in pronunciation ranging as far as Lôr-Bôr. Similar variations occur in the name Lahori Bandar.
Mr. Cousens assigns the Thambhanwâro Masjid to about the twelfth century. We ought, I think, to assign it to the stage of civilization anterior to the influence of the Ghaznavids and Ghorids. It is strongly Hindu in sentiment and execution. If it was for Muham. madan use, it must have been for that pale reflection of Islâm into which the first phase degenerated in Sind.
The site of the shrine of Darya Pir is probably older than that of the masjid. Neither has any direct connexion with Lahori Bandar, which appeared to me in its present form 16
13 The island hill of Tharro, near Gujo, which contains this remarkable building is rich also in struck flints of a late date, bears the remains of a great walled city of an early date, and overlooks the tomb of Haji Abu Turab (ob. 787 A.D., cp. Cousens, op. cit., p. 29). For reasons given in my paper on "Ptolemy's Map of Sind" in the J. B. Anthropological Soc., Vol. XII (1923), p. 547, I identify the hill with Patala. In the same paper the geography of the delta is discussed in some detail. For plan and view, see Plate I, fig. 3, and Plate II, fig. 4.
14 Abkaldnf, the flood season of April-August, due to (a) the melting of the snown in the Him Alaya and (b) the rains in the Panjab during the monsoon.
15 As recently as 1914.15 Keti Bandar was disturbed by the river eating into the town, and a new Keti Bandar was built close by.
16 It closely resembles the town of Dharajah in Deh Dundi, taluqa Mirpur Sakro, of a date not anterior to the seventeenth century, and possibly of the eighteenth. Looking up my MS. copy of the Tuhfatu'l-kirim (1763 A.D.) and a translation which I had had made thereof, I find the following interesting information :(1) "Bandar Dharajah. It is now made known that Bandar Lahorf, which in ancient times was known
a Bandar Dobal, was a town of great renown inhabited by many learned and pious men. It is only a few years back that owing to the scarcity of water and vicissitudes of times the Bandar disappeared along with its hamleta and rural abodes. Whatever remained of habitations has gone out to Bandar Dharojah, which was originally the native land and the chief town of the tribe called Nik Amirah." _This fixes the following dates : Lahorf Bandar abandoned e. 1725 A.D., Dharajah
built c. 1720 A.D. It explains also the similarity of the existing enclosing walls. (2) "Shaikh JhAryo. He is a maintly man of very ancient times, and lies buried on the hillock called
Stam Takarpe, or perhaps hely J, & resort of pilgrims." There is a story of his having been in Mekks as a sweeper of the holy places, to explain his name as Pir of the Dusters. In modern Sindhi, however, the name is pronounced Jharoon, and there can be little doubt that the
word is a feminine plural, meaning 'trees,' bushes.' Query-Did this hill also bear one of the old “Thambhanw Aro" temples 1 There is nothing thero
now but a curious Muhammadan shrine, where Hindus and Muslims est together, and the foot. print of the horse Dhur Dhur. The hill is about half way between Mirpur Sakro and Tatta.
Built into the present shrine are fragments of old carved stone, the capital of a pillar. (3) "Mulla Mauj Darya [ 4 ]. He lies buried on the bank of Shakar Ghat olge near
Bandar Laharl, which was in ancient times known a Bandar Debel. Pious people visit his tomb. His descendants are called Mulldydn, and reside at Bandar Dh Arejah." This passage clearly shows that the mujdwirs were then claiming the tomb as 'ancestral.' Hindus still go there, if this is the same as Darya Pir.