Area guides / Sindh / Thatta, Makli & Keenjhar
Area guide
Thatta, Makli & Keenjhar
Sindh's medieval capital and its city of tombs
Region
Sindh
When to go
November to February. Summer on the Thatta plain is severe, and most of the sites offer no shade
Getting there
About two hours from Karachi on the N-5. The town's monuments, Makli and Keenjhar Lake, about 36 km from Thatta, fit in a single trip.
Spots
4 key places
Overview
About Thatta, Makli & Keenjhar
Thatta, about 100 km east of Karachi, was the medieval capital of Sindh and the seat of three dynasties. Beside it, the Makli Necropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981, holds an estimated half a million to a million tombs over some 10 km, built across 400 years.
About two hours from Karachi on the N-5. The town's monuments, Makli and Keenjhar Lake, about 36 km from Thatta, fit in a single trip.
Makli Hill
Royal tombs, Sufi shrines and scholars' graves spread across the hill, from Jam Nizamuddin's time to the Tarkhan rulers and the Mughal governors who followed them. Allow a few hours and bring water; there is little shade.
Town and lake
The Shah Jahan Mosque and the Dabgir Masjid are in and around Thatta town. Keenjhar Lake, formed by joining two lakes, is an important source of Karachi's drinking water and a common stop on the way back.
Top sights in Thatta, Makli & Keenjhar
Region guide →Field Guides
All places →Makli Necropolis: UNESCO World Heritage Site
Makli Necropolis is one of the world's largest historic burial grounds and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Spread across approximately 10 square kilometres near Thatta, it contains tombs, mausoleums and graves associated with rulers, saints, scholars and prominent figures of Sindh from the 14th to the 18th centuries.
Shah Jahan Mosque, Thatta
The Shah Jahan Mosque at Thatta is a 17th-century Mughal masterpiece, built between 1644 and 1647 as a gift from Emperor Shah Jahan to the people of Thatta, partly, tradition holds, in gratitude for the hospitality shown to him there during an earlier period of exile, and partly to help the city recover from a devastating storm in 1637. It is famed for the most elaborate tilework of its kind in the subcontinent, with Persian Safavid-influenced glazed tiles in blue, turquoise, and white covering its 93 domes, and for acoustics so precise that a voice raised above roughly 100 decibels at one end of the dome carries clearly to the other, sermons and prayers reach the entire hall without amplification. It anchors Thatta's UNESCO-recognised heritage alongside the nearby Makli necropolis.
Tomb of Jam Nizamuddin
It has been restored but suffers from cracks and wall distortions caused by rough weathering and erosion of the slope on which it stands.
Tomb of Mirza Jani & Mirza Ghazi
This tomb holds the last independent ruler of Sindh and his son. Mirza Jani Beg Tarkhan reigned from 1585 and was the final sovereign of the Tarkhan line; when Akbar annexed Sindh in 1593, Jani Beg submitted and stayed on as a Mughal governor. His son Mirza Ghazi Beg governed Thatta after him, from 1601 to 1612.
Dabgir Masjid
It was completed in 1688 CE. It measures 30 x 13.1 m and has three bays surmounted by one large and two small domes. Despite very bad state of preservation, it still retains some very fine coloured tile work. Its Mehrab is built with stone with most delicate tracery, a superb piece of work.
Resorts
All resorts →GreenPak stays in this area are listed on the region guide.
