Steeped In The Past

Umerkot, Emperor Akbar’s birthplace, is rich in cultural diversity, a place where tharis, desert natives, converse in Hindi, Sindhi, Sanskrit or thari but not in Urdu.

- Reema Abbasi

To be in Tharparkar is to trip on an ancestor’s memories.

The great white of entwined cliffs and scorched earth presents myriad illusions. Paths, caught in merciless elements, seem in search of destinations.

A long, five-hour road trip from cosmopolitan Karachi ends at a place steeped in the past -- Umerkot. Thar has now begun to unfold. And its spell is cast on adventurers and seekers of history.

Once known as Amarkot, this is the birthplace of the most majestic of Mughals, Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar. As a fragile 15-year-old, his mother, Hamida Bano Begum, gave birth to him under a tree here. The historic spot is honoured with a red brick chauburji (four-sided, arched enclosure) on a brick platform nestled in dense gardens, beside a signboard with an ode to the king’s exemplary 50 year reign and conquests.

Few know that the newborn prince was sent to Kandahar from here till the time his father, Humayun, returned to Lahore in 1551.