The Chaukhandi tombs (Urdu: چوکنڈی قبرستان; Sindhi: چوڪُنڊي) form an early Islamic cemetery situated 29 km (18 mi) east of Karachi, Sindh province of Pakistan. The tombs are notable for their elaborate sandstone carvings. The tombs are similar in style to the elaborate tombs at the Makli Necropolis near Thatta, and are built in the funerary architectural style typical of lower Sindh.
History
See also: Principality of Kalmat
Generally, the tombs are attributed to the Sindhi tribe Jokhio (also spelt Jokhiya) and known as the family graveyard of the Jokhio tribe, other Sindhi tribes like Burfat, Jakhra and Shaikh tombs are also found, although other Kalmati Baloch tribe have also been buried here. They were mainly built during Mughal rule sometime in the 15th and 18th centuries when Islam became dominant.
Architecture
This type of graveyard in Sindh and Baluchistan is remarkable because of its main north–south orientation. The more elaborate graves are constructed with a buff-colored sandstone, which has often kept remarkably well over time in the arid local climate. Tombs were constructed either as single graves or as groups of up to eight graves, raised on a common platform.
A typical sarcophagus consists of six vertical slabs, with two long slabs on each side of the grave indicating the length of the body and the remaining two vertical slabs on the head and foot side. These six slabs are covered by a second sarcophagus consisting of six more similar vertical slabs but smaller in size, giving the grave a pyramid shape. The upper box is further covered with four or five horizontal slabs and the topmost construction is set vertically with its northern end often carved into a knob known as a crown or a turban. The tombs are embellished with geometrical designs and motifs, including figural representations such as mounted horsemen, hunting scenes, arms, and jewelry.
Discovery and Research
The earliest reference to the Chaukhandi tombs (a.k.a. Jokundee) is in a letter of J. Macleod, addressed to H. B. E. Frere in 1851.[citation needed] The tombs, however, were given more serious attention for the first time by H. D. Baskerville, the Assistant Collector of Thatta in Karachi district in 1917. The tombs near Landhi were included in the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904 in 1922.
Dr. Salome Zajadacz-Hastenrath summarizes earlier research on these and similar tombs in Sindh as follows
A cemetery of this type was discovered at the turn of the 20th century in Hinidan by Major M. A. Tighe, Political Agent in southern Balochistan. J. P. Vogel was the first to investigate this and other cemeteries – including Karpasan (a plateau south of Hinidan), Gundar (a village near Dinga, south of Hinidan), and Manghopir – and he drew attention to another cemetery discovered by Captain Showers, Political Agent in Kalat, lying between the Hub River and Sonmiani. Vogel recognized that the tombs were Islamic, as indicated by the use of the Arabic script and the alignment of the monuments. According to Islamic custom, the dead are laid to rest in such a way that they are facing Mecca, resting on their right shoulder. Mecca lies approximately to the west of Sindh; the longitudinal axis of the tombs accordingly lies more or less in a north-south direction, with the head always lying in the north.
In (…) 1910, Sir Thomas Holdich described a similar cemetery near Malir and also referred to several other cemeteries. He stated that local tradition ascribed these to the ‘Kalmati’ Balochis, and he linked this name to the town of Kalmat on the Makran Coast.
In 1917, H. D. Baskerville discovered a similar cemetery in the vicinity of the village of Chaukhandi, near Karachi. Baskerville’s published report raised the question of a possible above-ground burial – but he dismissed this after a careful investigation of one of the stone chambers in the cemetery, which did not contain any remains. A number of tomb inscriptions were found at the Chaukhandi cemetery, consisting of names and/or sayings from the Quran. Some of the named dead were said to belong to the Jokhiya tribe, still resident in the vicinity. Only one of the tombs was dated – the date of death being inscribed on it with the numbers in reverse order – as AH 1169 (AD 1756). Jokhio, Jokhia or Jokhiya (Urdu:جوکھيو) are said to be descendants of the Samma (tribe) of Sindh.
In 1925, Henry Cousens devoted a chapter of his book on the antiquities of Sindh to ‘Baloch tombs’. He studied the tombs in Jarak (now spelt Jerruck), Sonda and Kharkharo, which were of the same type as Chaukhandi. Referring to the studies by G. E. L. Carter, he noted that more than twenty such cemeteries had been identified, and rejected the theory regarding above-ground burials, pointing to the frequent occurrence of arcade-like perforations in the lower casket. Cousens was the first to draw comparisons with other architectural monuments in Sindh, and he refers to similarities between the decoration of a tomb in Sonda and the tombs of Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro (Shah Wardi Khan) (d. 1772) in Hyderabad as well as the tomb of the Samma king, Jam Nizamuddin II (reigned 1461–1509), an impressive square structure built of sandstone and decorated with floral and geometric medallions. Comparable is also the mausoleum of Isa Khan Tarkhan the Younger (d. 1644) in the necropolis of Makli Hill. Regarding the covering of the tombs with chattris (cupola’s or pavilions), he points to similar tombs in the same Makli necropolis and to the tomb of Mir Masum in Sukkur. He considered the tombs to be of approximately the same date as the tombs of Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro – i.e. the second half of the 18th century. Cousens pointed out that depictions of riders, as seen on some of the tombs, are also found on sati (shrine) stones in Kathiawar and Kutch.
Information about a single tomb of this type in the vicinity of the village of Baghwana, south-west of the Las Bela (princely state), was published in 1931 by Sir Aurel Stein. According to local tradition the tomb was that of Mai Masura, a saintly beggar women; legend had it that the stone slabs had miraculously flown through the air from Kandahar. Stein considered it to date from the end of the 15th century.
In 1934, in a publication concerning monuments of Sindh, Nani Gopala Majumdar described a funerary enclosure on Tharro Hill near Gujjo. He believed that that cemetery enclosure dated from the 14th century, being therefore older than the monuments on Makli Hill; he also found some additional tombs of lesser significance in the vicinity of the nearby mausoleum of Sheikh Turabi.