The recent heavy monsoon showers that lashed lower Sindh have not only wreaked havoc in several cities, towns and villages, but also badly affected the historical sites. Rains in several districts including Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Hyderabad, Badin, Tharparkar and Thatta resulted in the death of more than 25 people and inundated thousands of acres of standing crops.
One of the worst-affected sites is the Talpur-era fort of Naukot – much of it submerged in rainwater – and residents fear that if the government does not make immediate arrangements to drain out the water, the fort may collapse. Commonly known as the gateway to Thar Desert, the Naukot Fort is located on the border of the barrage area.
The fort is divided into three main portions including the residential area, the barracks and a huge ground, where it is said that the rulers held darbars or public gatherings. Archeologists believe that the Talpur rulers used the Naukot Fort as the centre for collecting tax on agriculture or ‘Dhal’.
The Sindh Archeology Department’s official record reveals that Mir Karan Ali Khan Talpur built the fort in 1814. During a visit to the fort, Pakistan Today observed that most of the walls are shattered, there are big holes in the roof and from many places the bricks were displaced.
The main ground inside the fort where it is said that the then rulers used to hold public gatherings is completely filled with rainwater and till this story was filed, no any government authority had made any arrangements to drain out the water from this archeological site.
The fort was already suffering from the sheer negligence of government authority and it was renovated in 1995 after heavy rains. But in 2001, the massive earthquake in India’s Gujarat damaged a large portion of this fort.
The government has provided no facilities for people visiting the site including drinking water, sitting shade or a museum that displays coins, armours or any other important archeological discovery made at the site. Talpur rulers had also built several forts in the Thar desert. Some of them include the Islamkot, the Singaro and the Mithi forts, but none of them are as prominent as the one in Naukot.
Around 64 kilometers south of divisional headquarter city of Mirpurkhas, the Naukot Fort is symbol of architect of the Talpur-era. Built with bricks with a mixture of mud and limestone, the fort is unique in style in the sense that no wood and iron is used in its construction, even in the roofs.
Despite the passage of around two centuries, the fort is still an impressive sight. Official record reveals that its arched entrance is around seven metre in height and about four metres in width. Some historians say that the Talpur rulers entered the fort sitting on elephants.
The fort has nine semi-circular bastions, two of them guarding the main entrance, four at the corners and one each in the middle of the northern, southern and western walls. The main outside boundary is four metres wide that runs on the four sides of the fort and there are two brick stairs to climb the wall top from the interior of the fort.
After crossing the main entrance, this scribe found a few rooms in shambles now due to the lack of proper maintenance. The security guard there said that these were residential quarters for the lower staff and officials of the Talpur army. Beside the residential quarters, there is small domed dungeon shaped hall that was used to keep weapons and armours.
Sindh is famous for having several archeological sites that reveals the rich history of this land. These include the 5,000 year old site of Mohenjodaro in Larkana district; Kot Diji Fort in Khairpur district, resembling closely the Great Wall of China; the Runi Kot Fort located in the Khirthar range of Sindh’s mountains in Dadu district; the Naukot Fort; the historical site of Bhanbore that is associated with folklore of Sussui and Punhoo – some archeologists believe that Banbhore is the actual site of the port of city of Debal where Arab General Mohammed Bin Qasim invaded in 712 AD; Pakko Qilo or Neroon Kot Fort in Hyderabad, the great necropolis of South Asia, the Makli Graveyard in Thatta district; Masoom Shah Jo Munaro (Munaro means minaret in Sindhi) located in the middle of Sukkur city and the historical site of Chaukundi located on the main Thatta-bound National Highway.
