Temple of Maha Kali in Thatta

There is a temple, situated, in a cave, on west-south portion of Makli Hills, four miles south-west of Thatta and on a small hill in a depression which used to remain flooded with water most of the year until the mid-sixties of this century. It is said to have been a Mandar or shrine of Kali Devi. No archaeological explorations have been done to find its antiquity, which may also give clue to the founding of Thatta.

Distinguished archaeologist Badar Abro describes about that cave and temple in a few words. A cave in the Makli hill near curve of National highway, he assigns it as a component of Neolithic Age, which in his words, always have been encroached by someone fakirs. He further states, there can be observed human activity near the spring or ‘dhoro’ of cave. That spring were used by the Hindu pilgrims as religious testimonial. There are still current remains.

It is said to have been a magnificent Hindu temple and decorated internally with glazed tiles. There also prevails a tradition that such a temple also existed on Makli hill long time ago. Renowned scholar, Bhirumal Mehrchand Advani described that temple and had given evidence of that Temple and also had corroborated this version about the name of hill. It is supposed that in the tomb of Jam Nizamuddin II the materials of that Hindu temple were used freely. It is a square building, without a roof, built entirely of stone, the carving on which, affords strong grounds for inferring that the materials of some ruined Hindu temple have been freely used, omitting, or obliterating, idolatrous emblems. Two contiguous stones in the wall are sometimes of different breadths and contain dissimilar patterns.

 A staircase through the side wall leads to a narrow balcony and a portico decidedly Hindu in their character. Numerous smaller buildings round about, in a more or less ruined condition, exhibit still more distinct traces of Hindu origin. An adjacent tomb, evidently of more recent date, is decorated internally with glazed tiles.

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