The place where I stand is the beginning of Kirthar Mountain range which spread as far as 190 miles, sometimes rising as high as seven thousand feet above sea level. In the lap of this range stands world’s largest Fort known as Ranikot. This fort is about 18 miles in length. Its walls are truly a roller coaster ride - sometimes take as high as three thousand feet above sea level while other times instantly slide down towards the ground. Because of its resemblance with Great Wall of China, it is also known as the Great Wall of Sindh, Pakistan.
I can glimpse sundry features of this fort from the hill where I am standing right now. This is the left side of fort visible from eastern side, adjacent to Lundi Hills. From here, I can see the inner area. The entire fort is surrounded by hills together making a small valley from where Stream passes. Its name is taken from this stream: “Rani” means Stream. Also, there are signs of a Dam near its walls. Some walls are broken, suggesting that once a flood ripped through Ranikot and caused much damage.
Inside the fort are two small forts or citadels, each located at different elevation. The lower one is called Mirikot, and the upper one is known as Shergarh. Mirikot is about 3 kilometers from eastern gate, while Shergarh is further a kilometer away. Both the forts appear to be residential forts. Ranikot is so large that there is enough space in it for building hundreds of other forts.
This fort has no resemblance with any other fort in the world. Its unusual size, lost history, strategically useless position, uninhabited area, and unexplored features make the fort one of the strangest places in the world. It requires a time machine to solve its mystery. Its unusual size and location in absolute wilderness doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense at least in the present times.
Somehow, history of Ranikot interacts every time I sit under these magnificent walls. It is as if this place is explaining the entire history of Sindh. It is as if everything is linked to this Great wall of Sindh, an exaggeration for which I hold myself accountable. By touching these strong walls, I often witness time travel. I witness five thousand years of Sindh under the shades of Ranikot.
Some 5,614 years ago, the stream of this area had a resemblance of a river. It generated from underground sources and passed through Lundi and Karo Takkar hills, before finally merging into the River. Most of the times, the Stream and the River competed with each other in terms of quality; and newly formed Stream won every time in these hills, as old as hundred and twenty million years.
During those days, river banks became thickly populated because of the large scale migration from west. People who came to settle near Indus were not as colored as Dravidian of South India but had a light brown skin. Some wanted to cross the river and settle deeper around Ganges and Brahmaputra but fearing a clash with rural populations, they chose to live within the territory of Indus.
Initially, they were about a million in number, but kept on increasing until they became 5 million. Within a period of few hundred years, Indus civilization grew from Kutch to Kashmir. Along with Egypt and Mesopotamia, it became one of the most populous areas of the Old World. Thus, came into existence the first geographical map of ancient Sindh.
It was a time when in North West corner of Kirthar range, near Indus River, construction of a city began some few centuries before the construction of Mohenjo-Daro. The name of the city was Amri. It was located some few miles away from a place where Rani stream emerged.
People of Amri reached the area slightly earlier than people of Mohenjo-Daro. Amri city had a special significance in Pre-Harappa period and then at the start of Harappa period. Its people built a fortified structure around the city. They were victims of war, so they built the fortification. Thus, the city became first fortified place in Ancient India.
Kot Diji
Then, one day, the whole city caught fire. Someone demolished the entire city; someone was the culprit. Most people called him wrath of God, while some considered him a devil. He, along with his men, turned the entire city into ashes. Several people died during the great fire. Only few managed to escape for Mohenjo-Daro and Dholavira city of Kutch.
After the Great Fire, some of the ancient tribes chose to live nearby Amri. They followed the fresh water stream which was coming out from hills. They chose to settle on hills, because Indus River became too risky a place to visit. Fortunately, they found a separate water channel deep inside wilderness. During those troubled times, the Rani water stream became their primary source of survival.
Several centuries later, Alexander entered India and saw the Rani hills when he was on his way back to Macedonia. After establishing his rule in upper Sindh, he decided to leave the region. He chose a path adjacent to Runn of Kutch. It can be inferred from Greek accounts that they saw a lake around Kutch, still navigable during those times. Alexander reached Patala (modern day Thatta city of Pakistan). Since his forces were tired and homesick, he sent most of them through Arabian sea while he marched through the land route.
He reached the area of Ranikot but it was not a fort back then. It was only a partial boundary which locals made for protection. He subdued the already subdued tribes of ancient Amri who, after the great fire, found out hills as their last refuge. He took no interest in construction. He was in utmost hurry; it was the last year of his life. But his presence remained in shape of fear after people found out that they were no longer safe even on high hills.
Then, came the year 200 BC and a second migration breezed through the same side. They were different people; they were Indo-Scythians. Some remained in Sindh, while some traveled as far as China. Like a carpet, they quickly scattered throughout modern day Pakistan.
Their tribes had seen the Great Wall of China. First major structure of the Great Wall was built in between 220-206 BC. It was built by first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. That place and the construction was in knowledge of Scythians.
They also came to know about the ill fate of Amri, so they decided to build a fortified area around Rani Stream. They were in a position to do so. Firstly, they were numerous in number. Then, some of them saw the Great Wall and were ready to reproduce such a wall in Sindh. Along with that, people of Amri - who could not migrate anywhere, and chose to live on hills - had the knowledge of the construction of a fortified city. Hence, the work started.
With the help of locals and foreigners, they started building the first phase of a fortified wall. Plan was to build a wall only for the unprotected low lands between hills while leaving the tall hills as natural barriers for the fort. This was one of the earliest constructions of any fort in India. This was a replica of the Great Wall of China.
Ranikot ruined once the Scythians’ (Sakas) rule came to an end in 380 AD. Indian King Chandragupta 2 defeated the King Rudrasimha 3. The battleground was Gujarat. The war was not the cause of defeat but King’s death was the ultimate blow to Sakas.
Though people inside the wall remained safe but they decided to move on. Chandragupta never crossed the Rann of Kutch, and whereabouts of Rani were missing as well, but Sakas were defeated. It was more of a moral defeat rather actual. They moved towards lower plains of Sindh, and merged with other communities of the area.
Ranikot was then visited by rulers of Rai dynasty in the year 640 AD. Sindh was under attack by Rashidun Army under the Caliphate of Hazrat Umar Farooq. Their army took over Makran and nearby places. Then, the Caliph ordered his troops not to cross the River Indus. Rai dynasty troops marched from Alor (present day Rohri city, Sindh) and reached the gates of Ranikot from where Indus was only about 16 miles away.
Rai dynasty rulers saw the fort and felt need to further extend it. They made it a military garrison. The place remained a cantonment only for a short period of time until the end of Rashidun and beginning of Umayyad dynasty. Arabs, under the leadership of Muhammad Bin Qasim marched towards Sindh in the year 712 AD. The young commander conquered Sindh in less than few months.
Arabs came to know about Ranikot, and decided to use it for the same purpose. They constructed its main entrance sites. A close look to the deceptive entrance of Ranikot resembles the entrance of Arab city of Mansura. Mansura was a city they built when they arrived in the region during early Umayyad Caliphate. During the time of Abbasid Caliphate, the city became one of the major centres of Sindh, and rivaled medieval cities such as Multan and Debal.
Arabs were not as much interested in Ranikot as they were in plains. This fortification then became invisible to Tartars and Soomra rulers of Sindh, but only became apparent to Firuz Shah Tughluq. In 1360s, he visited Sewan Shareef, a city close to Ranikot. He was a devout of Qalandar Lal Shehbaz, one of the greatest Sufis of Subcontinent. During his travel, he saw the area and decided to build it further.
Tughluq was the Sultan of Delhi and had as many as 70,000 slaves. So, the construction of a giant place was not an issue for him. The fort was initially constructed for arrow and bow warfare. Rai dynasty made some improvement in its structure and Tughluq further consolidated it. He made it fit for his time. Then, Tughluq went back and fort became desolate again. For hundreds of years the fort remained unknown to world. It was because of its remote location and extreme emptiness.
When Mughals reached Sindh, they knew about a giant fort in middle of hills but they were not interested in such a remote location. There was no need to deposit weapons in such a lonely fort. So the area became strategically useless. Instead, they worked on Thatta city and nearby Sindh. This continued till the end of 16th century when Kalhora rulers refused to take authority of Mughal Grand Vizir, Mirza Ghazi Beg.
In the year 1739, Sindhi rulers suffered enormously in the hands of foreign aggressors. The coming of Nadir Shah frightened Kalhora Ruler, Mian Noor Muhammad Kalhoro, who then rebuilt the fort of Umerkot for a strategic retreat. But Nadir Shah followed him. Mian Noor Muhammad Kalhoro could not go any furher in Kuch, Kathiawar, or Jodpur. Hindu territories were too hostile for him. As a result, he could not do more but surrender.
Nadir Shah came, plundered, and went back. But the ill fate of Kalhoro was in knowledge of Talpurs, the new rulers of Sindh. They decided to spend a large amount of money in reconstruction of the invisible fort in Kirthar hills. Wali Muhammad Khan Leghari, Nawab of Larkana, gave the initial idea. He talked about strategic retreat. In the year 1812 AD, Mir Karam Ali Talpur and Mir Murad Ali Talpur assigned him for the reconstruction of Ranikot.
Talpurs realized that the fort was strategically invisible from Sindh's mainstream towns and cities. No one could dare to enter into hills, locate, and successfully conquer the fort in such an elevation. First, the access to that place was difficult. Second, there was no water source available outside Ranikot. Only water source was from the stream which flowed inside the 36 kilometer long fort.
They gave Wali Muhammad Khan Leghari the amount of 1.2 million rupees for the reconstruction of Ranikot. He repaired the outer fortification as well as the inner structures. He constructed two small forts inside Ranikot as second and third line of defense. He also built a dam so that the rainwater and underground stream could be utilized to make the place habitable. He tried and he was successful but only for a short period of time, until rainy season came and swept away his ambitions.
The geography of the area was as such that the idea of a dam was not feasible. Construction of a dam was not an issue but the entrance was. Stream, when mixed with rain water, flowed furiously from the gates, making it hard for the iron structures to stand unaffected. As a result, the whole construction proved out to be a futile exercise. Perhaps, failure of design and force of rain stream hampered the entire project.
Later, when British forces conquered Sindh in 1843, they came to know about a giant but lonely and abandoned fort in middle of Kirthar Hills. A person named Captain Delhoste, the assistant quarter general master of that sector, visited Ranikot. He wrote that River Sann (stream named after a city near Ranikot) changed its direction resulting in destruction of the fort. So, it was never inhabited. He also mentioned the scarcity of water in the area as possible reason of its abandonment. Stream was not sufficient, and except in rainy season, water was not available in Ranikot.
He, and some others, could not believe that such a giant construction was the work of Talpurs and that too in only rupees 1.2 million. It required at least 20 million rupees in the year 1812, and as many as 50,000 strong men to complete the task. This was not possible for Talpurs who had no such manpower to invest for so many years in the wilderness.
Talpurs were local lords and had limited resources. Their revenue system was based on Zamindari (landlord) system which hardly brought them 3.5 million rupees per annum. Even their army was not well maintained. When in 1843 British soldiers knocked their doors, they could hardly produce 50,000 men for the ultimate battle. That too, contained mostly unskilled local population of Sindh. Then, how could they arrange labor and finance for the construction of world’s largest fort in the no man’s land?
British forces saw the place but no matter how stunned they remained after seeing such a giant construction, they did not consider the place good enough for living. There was a scarcity of water in the area. Dam was broken, and water stream could only be seen after the rainy season. There were no roads in middle of hills. The location was so remote that they preferred to ignore the fort.
People of Sindh did not care about the fort either. Who cares for a place which becomes useless? They never gave it a value which the fort deserved. People, who migrated and left for plains, never turned back to see Ranikot again. This fort disappeared from the annals of history. Today, no one embrace it but the hills of Kirthar.
Today, when I stand on Ranikot, and see the view, I find traces of stream which leaves the area to enter into Indus. But it dries out just few meters away from the boundary. I believe, though Ranikot is older than my imagination, it is now dying. If you ask a Pakistani or a Sindhi about world’s largest fort, he doesn’t know it. Strange indeed, the “King of Forts” is asking for attention. The Great Wall of Sindh wants to defend the land again, if only allowed by its people.
