Story · Region & Heritage

Sindh heritage at the edge of the Thar Desert

Eastern Sindh’s heritage is a desert heritage — and its gateway is Umerkot, the last substantial town before the Thar Desert opens east towards the Indian border. Here an 11th-century fort on UNESCO’s Tentative World Heritage List stands watch over towns where Dhatki is spoken, Hindu temples rise beside Muslim shrines, and the Sodha Rajputs still trace their line to the rulers who sheltered an emperor.

Understanding the heritage of eastern Sindh

The Thar Desert is one of the world’s most densely populated deserts, spanning Rajasthan in India and the eastern districts of Sindh in Pakistan. The Sindh side — centred on Umerkot and Tharparkar — is not empty sand but a lived-in cultural landscape: rain-fed fields, pastoral herding, centuries-old towns, and a society shaped by scarcity and hospitality in equal measure.

Umerkot District, created in 2011 from the eastern half of Mirpur Khas District, sits at the desert’s threshold. Its capital, Umerkot (also Umarkot, historically Amarkot), has been a crossroads for nine centuries — the point where the settled world of the Indus Valley hands over to the open Thar.

What makes this landscape heritage

Umerkot Fort and UNESCO recognition

In 2026 Pakistan added three Sindh forts to its UNESCO Tentative World Heritage List: Kot Diji, Naukot and Umerkot. Umerkot Fort is the most storied of the three — the traditional birthplace of Emperor Akbar the Great (1542) and the setting of the Umar–Marvi romance. UNESCO describes it as “a unique blend of folklore, desert resilience, and living heritage.”

A plural religious landscape

Eastern Sindh is famous across Pakistan for the peaceful coexistence of its faiths. In Umerkot and the Thar towns, Hindu temples and Muslim shrines stand within sight of one another; Hindu festivals and Muslim Urs celebrations are part of the same calendar. The Hindu population of the region is among the largest in Pakistan — a living continuation of the plural society the region has kept for centuries.

Dhatki and the desert’s languages

Around Umerkot, the everyday speech of the desert is Dhatki, a language of the Rajasthani family spoken by Hindu and Muslim communities alike, alongside Sindhi and Urdu. Language here is another layer of living heritage — carried in songs, proverbs and the verses of Bhittai recited across the region.

The Sodha Rajputs

The Sodha Rajput community, whose rulers once held Amarkot (Umerkot) and sheltered Humayun in 1542, still lives in the region, tracing genealogies back to the fort’s Rajput centuries. Their presence is a reminder that the desert’s heritage is carried by people, not just monuments.

Why Umerkot is called the City of Peace

The city’s epithet — Umerkot, the City of Peace — is earned by its history: a fort that gave refuge to a defeated emperor, a romance in which a girl’s refusal was honoured, and a society that has held Hindu and Muslim life together at the desert’s edge for generations. That is the heritage this experience was built to carry.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sindh heritage?

Sindh heritage is the culture, history and living traditions of Pakistan’s Sindh province — from the Indus Valley civilisation and Sufi poetry to forts like Umerkot, Kot Diji and Naukot, and plural communities that have coexisted for centuries.

Where is the Thar Desert in Sindh?

The Thar Desert occupies the eastern districts of Sindh — chiefly Tharparkar and Umerkot — bordering India’s Rajasthan. Umerkot is its western gateway.

What language do they speak in Umerkot?

Dhatki is the traditional desert language of the Umerkot region, spoken by Hindu and Muslim communities alike, alongside Sindhi and Urdu.

What forts of Sindh are on the UNESCO Tentative List?

Three Sindh forts were added to Pakistan’s UNESCO Tentative List in 2026: Kot Diji Fort, Naukot Fort and Umerkot Fort.