Umerkot
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Umarkot, also known as Omarkot, (Urdu: عمرکوٹ) is town in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is also referred to as Amar Kot by old historians, including Tej Singh Solanki, who refers to the city as Amar Kot Itehas. The city is well connected with the other large cities like Karachi, the provincial capital and Hyderabad.
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[edit] History
Once, it was the capital of Greater Sindh Province (including some parts of present Rajasthan state of India). It also became prominent during the time of the Mughals and during the British Raj. The great Mughal king Akbar was born in Umerkot when his father Humayun fled from military defeat at the hands of Sher Shah Suri. Rana Prasad, a Hindu Sodha Rajput ruler of Amarkot, gave refuge to Humayun. Akbar later became the King of India and was a popular figure with both Hindus and Muslims. Umerkot has many sites of historical significance such as Akbar's birthplace and Umarkot Fort. The present head of Sodha tribe is Rana Chander Singh.
Rana Ratan singh sodha(surtan branch)-1850's was the brave legend who challenged the British appointed local chieftain sayeed mohammad ali responsible for revenue collection under British India, mohd.ali was eventually killed by ratan singh due to various attrocities and unwanted taxes he imposed on people of umerkot.After a run of almost 6 months ratan singh was captured along with bhagoo ji (his colleague)and hanged on fort of umerkot ratan singh's horse which was present at the fort at the time of his hanging died shortwhile after her master's death. bhagoo ji was sent to andaman prison or kaala pani. It is said that ratan singh's hanging orders were cancelled later on due to powerful lobbying of distinguished hindus however when telegram reached umerkot it wasn't made public due to conspiracy of some influential brahmins.Eventually telegram was announced at the last moment when ratan singh was about to be hanged on which ratan singh refused to get down from hanging pedestal and was hanged thereafter.Due to his supreme sacrifice for the plight of unheard people of umerkot he was given title of RANA by the people and is still sung in folklore of local songs......"Amrane aijo re rana ratan." As he didn't belonged to royal rana family, his later generations refused to keep title of rana.keeping is view aspirations and demands of people his son jeevraj singh was allotted "bhadaily jagir"in lieu of his father's supreme sacrifice by British empire.his descendants lived thereafter as zamindars. Rana ratan singh's grandsons Thakur bherji singh held the post of bench megistrate and Thakur sonji singh was police in charge of the region. Further Rana ratan's great grand son Thakur sawai singh was member of sindh assembly from umerkot after india's independence.Eventually Rana ratan's 5th generation i.e Thakur jaitmal singh and thakur swaroop singh migrated to present day india alongh with their immediate families and are presently residing at jodhpur-rajasthan. [1][2]
[edit] Folklore
Another significant story relating to Umarkot is that of Umar Marvi. Marvi was a young Thari girl abducted by Umar, then-ruler, who wanted to marry because of her beauty. Upon her refusal she was being imprisoned in the historic Umerkot Fort for many years until her ultimate release. Because of her courage, Marvi is an ideal for the local people.
Great city has a very beautiful fort, nice shopping streets, more then 20 schools, 5 colleges and one mono technical college. People of Umerkot are very gentle and progressive. Most spoken language is Dhatki which is actually mixture of several local languages.
Kirshan sweets are very famous in all over Pakistan. People of Umerkot like to play cricket. It is indeed a business hub that connects thar and fertile land of Sindh. Dr. Harchand Roy is very famous due to his expertise in medical field.
[edit] Zamindars of Umerkot
In Umerkot, there are only two waderas of genuine authority, due the the lesser density of the population. Syed Rashid Shah, who has more popularity as compared to his peer Makhdoom Hamid Ali, left the political scene after the demise of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and was a major critic of military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq. His son Syed Haroon Shah takes care of the vast amount of land. Conversely Makhdoom Hamid Ali is still affiliated with the Pakistan Peoples Party.
[edit] Notes
There is not Zamindar and competition in the town there are few corrupts live there, especially in education department, police, public works department and other government departments have corrupt officers. Education ratio is very low. students pay teachers for private study. no one turned up in the collage. Only rich people can give education to their children. Most of the local school closed round the year schools open only for marriage ceremony or other purpose for Zamindars Overall Town Scenario.
[edit] External references
- District Government Umerkot Official website (English Version)
- District Government Umerkot Official website (Sindhi Version)
