Accessibility:
Village of Moosa Khatian.
GPS Coordinates:
25.466557 N, 68.523011 E.
Project Duration:
Started: November 2019, On-going.
Beneath the shade of the thick forests of district Hyderabad, is a beautiful tomb. The same forests oversaw one of the most deterministic battles for the province of Sindh; the battle of Miani, fought against the encroaching British under the command of General Charles Napier. The tomb of the Khatian Jagirdars can be found around 30 kilometers from the battlefield. The decisive battle was won by the colonialists, annexing the province of Sindh and incorporating it in the ill-gotten lands of British India. Many Sindhi warriors and lords were martyred on that eventful day which was, hitherto, to be the last unified Sindhi war effort. The tomb was built by Muhammad Moosa Khan Khatian – I, to commemorate his father Muhammad Ismaeel Khan Khatian, a celebrated general of the Talpur Dynasty. Muhammad Ismaeel Khan Khatian fought alongside Mir Fateh Khan Talpur at the battle of Halani in 1783 A.D. against the Kalhora Dynasty. The battle resulted in the end of the Kalhora rule and the advent of the Talpur Dynasty in Sindh. It is said that Muhammad Ismaeel Khan was first the part of the Kalhora army. When the Talpurs rose to power and contested the Kalhora regime, Muhammad Ismaeel Khan defected, possibly due to Baloch sentiments. The surname ‘Khatian’ is of Baloch origin. The tribe was locally called ‘Khetran’ in the region of Dera Ismail Khan. The shift in regional pronunciation and dialect led to it morphing into ‘Khatian’ after the tribe settled in Sindh. The beautiful tomb comprises of 11 graves of the Khatian tribe. The first personality to be entombed was Muhammad Ismaeel Khan Khatian who fought in the war of Halani, all the way to, Shaheed Karimdad Khan who was martyred in the battle of Miani. Alongside the buried, the first hand history of all the wars fought during the Talpur Dynasty lays forever entombed in the earthly embrace of the magnificent structure enshrouded by the swaying forests of Hyderabad.
