Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Arts & Culture Culture, Arts, Literature & Linguistics
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I’m currently reading a Sindhi book ’ Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi, written by researcher / writer ‘Gul Hassan Kalmati’. The book contains the important information as to archeological places of Karachi, its old names, its description in old books including Ramayan and greek books, its famous personalities, its demographical components before and after partition and other important material, we Karachiites and all Pakistanis should know.

Through this thread, I’ll be sharing important information of the book.

The Foreword of the book is written by famous Sindhi / Urdu writer Amar Jaleel. While remembering his memories of karachi, where he spent his childhood, he tells us the following:

(1) Early 1940’s ka Karachi , Kemadi (us waqt ka Kiyamaadi) se lekar Takri (Iss waqt ka Mazar e Quaid) ke area tak mehdood tha. Takri ke qareeb Patel park ke naam se park tha jo Hindu-Christian communities ne banaya tha. Partition ke bad Sardar Patel ke naam se mansoob iss park ka naam ‘Nishter Park’ rak diya gaya. Saddar main jahan iss waqt ‘Sabri Nihari’ hai wahan qareeb main Shiva ji Park tha, jiska naam badal kar ‘Aurangzeb Aalmgir Park’ kar dia gaya. Partition se pehle, Hindu Muslin Nojawaan yahan per kasrat karte the, ab yahan kasrat se nasha hota hai. Naam badalne ka sab se anokha waqiya ‘Aaram Bagh’ se mansoob hai, jo partition se pehle ‘Raam Bagh’ kehlata tha. Ye Bagh / Jagah Hindu logon ke liye boht Mutabbarik hain, kiyunke Raam, Seeta, aur Lakshman Hangllaj (Balochistan) jaate hue, kuch arsaa yahan thehre the. Yeh bhi kaha jata hai ke iss jaga ka naam hindoun ki muqdass kitaab ’ Ramayan’ main bhi hai.

Iss ke ilawa jin jaghon ke naam tabdeel hue un main Barneese street (now Jameela street, God knows, who she was), Elphinstone street (now Zaib u nisa street) qabil e zikr hain. Na badla to Napier Road ka naam(waja koi dhaki chupi nahin. Jis ko nahi pata wo wikipedia pe Napier Road likh ker serach kare).

(2) Partition ke baad shehr se but shikni ka khatima karne ke liye boht se mujassime tore gae jin main High Court ki Imarat main mojud qanoon ki devi ka mujassima aur Sindh Sceratarate aur Sindh Assemmbly ke sangam per chorahe pe mojud Mahatma Gandhi ka Khoobsuart mujassima qabil e zikr hain. Kaha jata hai ke Gandhi ji ka mujassima ukhaar ke uss ke materials se degain banai gain jo phir Burnus Road per Haleem Banane ke kaam aain.

(3) Boulton Market pehle Empress market ke tarz pe bana hua market tha, iss ki ek khas baat ye bhi thi ke iss ke qareeb kahin ‘Zero Point’ ka pathar laga hua tha. Partition ke bad jab puarni boulton market ko gira ke mutli storey building banane ka faisla kia gaya to iss heritage ko bachane ke liye kisi ne awaz nahin uthai, halanke jab kuch arsa pehle Lahore ke Litton Market ko girane ki baat uthi to pura Lahore shehr Sarapa’e Ihtejaaj bun gaya tha, kiyunke wahan ke log apne shehr aur uss ke virse ko own karte hain.

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Karachi’s Heritage & its destruction - A story of gross negligence

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

WoW. Very informatic thread. :biggthumb: Keep Shairing.

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Where the name Karachi came from

(1) Karachi ka naam 'Karachi ki khaari / Bhanwar' se mansoob hai jo iss waqt ke 'Khadda market Lyari' ka ilaqa tha, yahan per Lyari naddi samandar main girti thi jis ki waja se khaari ka wajood aya. Lyari Naddi ka rukh badalne se yeh khaari sookh ke 'khadda' bun gai aur phir ye area aaj tak 'khadda' ke naam se mansoob hai

Iss khari ka naam 'Kolachi' ya 'karachi' kaise pada iss bare main mukhtalif khayalaat hain:

(i) Yahan per Baloch qabeela 'Kolachi' ya 'Kolacho' rehta tha jin ke waja se yeh jaga mansoob hogai. (Balochistan ke ilaqe makraan main aaj bhi do ilaqon ke naam kolaanch ke naam se hain. Kolochi qabeele ke log Meetha dar ke paas wale ilaqe main abad the.

(ii) Ye bhi kaha jata hai ke Balochistan ki ilaaqe Qalaat jo uss waqt ek azad riyast thi unka karobar ke silsile main yahan boht ana jana tha, jinhon ne yahann apni bastian bana li thi. Unn ke nisbat se ye ilaqa 'Qallati' Kehlwaya jo bad main bigad kar Qallachi or phir Kallachi aur Karachi bun gaya.

(iii) Ek rivayat ke mutabiq yahan per machheron (jinhe maqami zaban main Muhana kaha jata hai) ki basti main ek 'Mai Kolachi' rehti thi aur ooper zikr ki hui khari uss ki milkiyat thi aur jo bhi machli uss khari se shikarr hoti thi uska ek hissa mai kolachi ko diya jata tha jis se wo mehmaano aur musafiron ka kharcha pura karti thi. Ussi mai Kolachi ki waja se ye ilaqa Kolachi aur phir Kalachi kelaya.
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Sindhi Literature main Karachi ka zikr
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Soomra Dur e Hukoomat (around 13th century) main Morero Meerbehar ka mashoor waqiya pesh aya, jis qisse ka zikr soomra aur uss ke bad aane wale samma dor ke shairon ne apne kalaam main kiya. Phir 18th century main Kalhora dur main Shah Latif ne iss qisse ko apni shairi (Jo Shah Jo Risalo ke naam se mashoor hai) main pura ek Sur (chapter) Ghaatoo ki surat main pesh kia, jiski waja se iss qisse aur iss se wabasta jaghon ko door daraaz tak shuhrat mili. Morero ke bhaiyon ko Kalachi ki khari main mojud ek magar mach ne nigal liya tha, jiska badla lene ke liye Morero ne uss magar mach ka shikaar kar ke uss ke pet se apne bhaiyon ki lashen nikali thi.**

Ek lateefa Karachi ke naam ke bare main

**Jabshru main yahan Angrez aaye to ek angrez ne ek Memon se iss jagah ka naam poocha. Memon ko angrezi nahin aati thi to uss ne angrez ko kaha 'Kurro chee' - Kia Keh rahe ho. Uss se us angrez ne iss jagah ka naam 'Kureochee' samajha jo bad main karachi main tabdeel hogaya.

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Interesting :k:

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Amar Jalil beautifully and emotionally expresses his attachment with Karachi. Karachi is the city of his childhood. He loves Karachi as every patriot loves his homeland. Old memories of every nook and corner of this city are still fresh in his mind. He reminds the reminiscence of the city with its past beauty with emotional honesty. He tells about the days of tolerance, peace and tranquility of older days of Karachi to new generations as an eye witness. Aijaz Jamali

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Karachi jo Umer kon?

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Altaf Hussain :hehe:

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Do you think, Karachi was/is mistreated by its new migrant after partition? In case of Lahore, people were loyal to city and saved historical buildings.

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

yes currently I'm reading his autobiography, where he discusses his memories about Karachi in detail . NJV school plays important role in his life and most of the characters including Indira (heroine of his first story) relates to NJV school.

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

No I don’t blame migrants. It is mistreated by a group, who does not own thing except their interests.

Migrants owned this city and this city owed to them. :k:

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Nice

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Interesting thread,I will see if I can get this book.

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

How old is Karachi?

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

What was the proportion of Muslims and non Muslims in Karachi? As it seems the population of Lahore (671000 versus less than 500000) was more than Karachi in 1941, but after independence Karachi had really mushroomed.

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

Excavations near Karachi University and Manghopir area discovered articles from the era of Moen-jo-Daro period. This shows that it has been inhibited for more than 5000 years

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

The book contain that statistics. will post it later, but as far my memory works probably it was Hindu majority city at the time of partition. Sikhs and even Jews were present in the city and each formed 1-2% of total population of the city

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

The stats are quite astounding. By 1951 Karachi had overtaken Lahore’s population.

[TABLE=“width: 310”]

1941
1951
% increase

Lahore
671659
1135000
168.9845591

Karachi
435887
1137667
261.0004428

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

I think Karachi got more migrants compared to the people who migrated from Karachi

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Re: Karachi - Sindh Ji Marvi ( A Book on Karachi)

^ In 1947 there were about 52 % non muslims in Karachi and 36 % in Lahore, all of them would have moved across the borders. Karachi took around 600000 immigrants by 1951, I think the situation was different as Karachi was made the capital and had more job opportunities. The immigrants from UP, Delhi etc were generally educated and were used to living in urban areas hence for them Karachi was the appropriate choice. As far as Punjab is concerned, the people who migrated (from East Punjab) were mostly from rural areas and not that much educated, hence most I believe preferred rural areas as compared to Lahore.