Dr Abdul Waheed Mastoi
The fort, located in Kot Diji, a town in Khairpur district, dates back to the 18th century Talpur period. It is located on the banks of the Thar Desert, about 25 miles east of the Indus River. The fort was built on the pre-Harappan civilization archeological site of Daji Hill (dating from 2500 to 2800 BC).
If you look at the history, thousands of years ago, Khairpur was a small town on a hill to the west of Kot diji, about 15 miles from Mirs. It was very famous during the reign of DJ Rani. With the passage of time, the city did not remain, but the hill remained in its place under the name of diji. When excavated by archaeologists, many rare items were found here.
The historic fort Kot diji bears witness to the majestic style of the royal family of the state of Khairpur. Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur, the first ruler of Khairpur state, built three forts, one of which was Ahmedabad. As this fort was built on the same old settlement on the hill Diji, it is called ‘Kot Diji’.
The other two castles still exist today in the Rajasthan desert in India across the border cities of Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. Kot Diji Fort construction was launched in 1785 and since its completion in 1795. Iranian architect designed the Fort and cinstruction was supervised Khairpur state housing minister Mohammad Saleh Baloch Zuhri. The construction was made by thousands of workers, artisans and experts.
It is estimated that this fort is at a height of 70 feet above ground level, while the length and width of 3 to 5 thousand feet thousand feet. It has dimensions of 85 thousand 730 square meters. The wall is built of baked bricks and castles were fortified positions on the hills around. Almost at each point of eight square kilometers several small tower have been built in the historic fort.
The fort is 50 feet high over the east tower (white Thul), called the Victory Tower. Here Talpur rulers of the state flag was planted and was the residence of the commander. Also a tower, Mary Mary Thul Portuguese cannons were placed. The eastern part of the fort that was used to turn the tower has been placed by the Indian desert state of Rajasthan, Jaisalmer, Jaisalmer is called Thul Bridge.
To enter the fort is a big sturdy wooden door, the stairs in front of the walls which are raped by twelve castles made of white stones on a high and strong platform in part of the northern side, where was Mir Sohrab Khan’s court. This throne is the stone sculpture art of beautiful and precious sample. To reach the residential part of the castle has to cross three large wooden doors extremely strong.
Iron tip at the gates to prevent the invasion of elephants have been pounded nails. The nails are such that once an emerging jandaz will also seriously injured after colliding with them. The first door on the left you will see the field well before you arrive at the small cross. Front looks a room, which was probably used as a warehouse. There is room ceiling while there are hundreds of holes to keep the lamp in front of the wall.
To the left of the warehouse is a cistern, 37 feet long, 33 feet wide, and 12 feet deep. This pool was built to meet the water needs of the fort. Not far from the main gate of the fort, on the north side, is the temporary residence of the former state. The exterior walls and kitchen are made of mud bricks, while the living quarters are decorated with solid bricks, Mughal-style arched doors and beautiful carvings.
Kot Diji Fort was designated for defense and administrative purposes. A contingent of 500 soldiers with 100 cannons was stationed here under the supervision of a Salar till about 1843. It is also worth noting that no battle was ever fought inside or outside the fort, but it contained large cannons, three of which became particularly famous. One of them is ‘Maryam Top’, which was brought with him by the King of Portugal but was abandoned on the Indus River near Rohri.
From there, Mir Sohrab Khan delivered the cannon to Kot Diji via elephants. It is said that there are two rings in the Maryam cannon which change their position every year ie if one year they are in the upper part then next year they will be seen in the lower part. The other two cannons became known as ‘Sana Sana’ and ‘Malik Maidan’. When the Mirs of Khairpur made Qila Kot DG their capital, construction of palaces and houses of the rich and ministers started here while the people living in the vicinity also started coming here for official functions. Kot DJ was of great importance till 1845, but after the establishment of British rule, when Sir Charles Napier became the resident of the area, Kot DJ was replaced by Khair Purchasing.
