Agham Kot

{{Use Pakistani English|date=February 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Agham Kot | native_name = | native_language = | alternate_name = Agham, Aghamani, Aghamano | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | image_map = | map_type = Sindh#Pakistan | map_alt = | map_caption = | mapframe =  | altitude_m =  | altitude_ref = | map_relief = yes | coordinates = {{coord|25|13|50|N|68|46|20|E|display=inline,title}}<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> | gbgridref = | map_dot_label = | location = ''[[Deh (Pakistan)|Deh]]'' Aghamano, [[Matli Taluka]], [[Badin District]], [[Sindh]], [[Pakistan]]<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> | region = | type = Settlement | part_of = | length = | width = | area = | volume = | diameter = | circumference = | height = | builder = | material = | built = 700s or earlier | abandoned = Late 1700s | epochs =  | cultures = | dependency_of = | occupants = | event = | discovered = | excavations = | archaeologists = | condition = In ruins | ownership = | management = None | public_access = | other_designation = | website =  | architecture = | notes = }}

'''Agham Kot''' ({{langx|sd| اگھم ڪوٽ }}), historically known as '''Agham''' and today also called '''Aghamani''' or '''Aghamano''',<ref name="Akhtar 1983">{{cite book |last1=Akhtar |first1=Muhammad Saleem |title=Shāhjahānī of Yūsuf Mīrak (1044/1634) Sind under the Mughuls: an introduction to, translation of and commentary on the Maẓhar-i Shāhjahānī of Yūsuf Mīrak (1044/1634) |date=1983 |pages=106–7 |doi=10.25911/5d74e2bda15ab |hdl=1885/11279 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1885/11279 |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref> is a historical city and present-day ruin site located in [[Badin District]], [[Sindh]], [[Pakistan]].<ref name="Express Tribune">{{Cite web|date=2019-03-15|title=The Agham Kot dilemma - is Sindh's apathy erasing its history?|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/1930343/agham-kot-dilemma-sindhs-apathy-erasing-history|access-date=2020-09-04|website=The Express Tribune|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Friday Times">{{Cite web|date=2019-02-08|title=Splendour of Agham Kot|url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/splendour-of-agham-kot/|access-date=2020-09-04|website=The Friday Times|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9o9AAAAMAAJ&q=%22agham+kot%22|title=The Archeology: An Organ of the Friends of Cultural and Archeeological [i.e. Archaeological] Heritage of Pakistan|date=1989|publisher=International Press & Publications Bureau|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Elliot|first=Sir Henry Miers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dMgNAAAAQAAJ&q=%22agham+kot%22&pg=PA362|title=The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period|date=1867|publisher=Trübner|language=en}}</ref> It is located about 1.5 km northwest of the current town of [[Ghulab Khan Laghari]], near the border with [[Hyderabad District, Pakistan|Hyderabad District]].<ref name="Laghari 2000">{{cite journal |last1=Laghari |first1=Muhammad Hanif |last2=Veesar |first2=G. Mohiuddin |title=History and Archaeology of Aghamano Site |journal=Ancient Sindh |date=2000 |volume=6 |issue=6 |pages=75–85 |url=http://ancientsindh.salu.edu.pk/index.php/ancientSindh/article/view/6 |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref> Agham Kot was founded in early decades of 7th century and is named after its founder [[Agham Lohana]], Governor of region from [[Lohana]] community<ref>{{cite book|title=The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period|pages=362|isbn=9781108055833|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQAfog1QEZsC&q=agham+lohana&pg=PA362|last1=Elliot|first1=Henry Miers|date=21 March 2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> Agham Kot historically lay on the right bank of the Dhoro, a branch of the [[Indus River]] that is now dried up.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> Because of this strategic location on an important waterway, Agham Kot was an important commercial centre in its heyday.<ref name="Daily Times">{{cite news |last1=Dars |first1=Muhammad Sultan |title=Agham Kot — a forgotten archaeological site of Sindh |url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/309132/agham-kot-a-forgotten-archaeological-site-of-sindh/ |access-date=9 January 2022 |work=Daily Times |date=2018}}</ref>

Today, the site of Agham Kot consists of several mounds that rise 3–5 m above the surrounding farmland and are spread across an area of 200 [[acre]]s.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> Some of these mounds are crowned with old mosques or tombs, which are all in poor condition.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> Some tombs belong to Sufi saints and draw pilgrims from throughout Sindh.<ref name="Friday Times"/> Only a small portion of the city's old fort is still standing.<ref name="Express Tribune"/>

== History == The early history of Agham Kot is alluded to in works such as the ''[[Chachnama]]'' and the ''[[Tuhfat al-Karam]]''.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> The former, for example, describes pre-Muslim Agham Kot as a rich city that lay on the bank of the Indus.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> The latter describes it as an important trading hub under Arab rule after the [[Muslim conquest of Sindh]].<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> According to legend, [[Muhammad bin Qasim]] supposedly founded mosques during his brief stay at Agham Kot, providing a starting point for the growth of Muslim religious culture in the city and its surroundings.<ref name="Daily Times"/>

Around the time of the [[Samma dynasty]], Agham Kot emerged as one of the great learning centres of Sindh, with hundreds of [[madrasa]]s and thousands of students.<ref name="Friday Times"/> After [[Thatta]], it was the most important city in Sindh for Islamic education.<ref name="Daily Times"/><ref name="Friday Times"/> A prominent figure of this period was the Sufi saint Makhdoom Muhammad Ismail Soomro, who died in 1588 CE (996 [[Hijri year|AH]]) and was buried here in a monumental tomb which still stands.<ref name="Friday Times"/> He also established a madrasa here which, at its peak, is said to have had 500 students.<ref name="Express Tribune"/> Agham Kot remained an important centre of Islamic education through the time of the [[Kalhoro dynasty]], but none of its madrasas remain standing today.<ref name="Friday Times"/>

According to the ''[[Tarikh-i-Tahiri]]'', during the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] era Agham Kot lay in the historical [[pargana]] of [[Samawani]], in the [[sarkar (administrative division)|sarkar]] of Nasarpur.<ref name="Hodivala">{{cite book |last1=Hodivala |first1=Shahpurshah Hormasji |title=Studies in Indo-Muslim History: A Critical Commentary on Elliot and Dowson's ''History of India'' |date=1939 |location=Bombay |page=644 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.65899/page/n663 |access-date=6 January 2022}}</ref>

Agham Kot continued to flourish until the 18th century.<ref name="Dawn">{{cite news |last1=Mansoor |first1=Hasan |title=Footprints: Mysterious Agham Kot |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1200566 |access-date=6 January 2022 |work=Dawn |date=2015}}</ref> The reason for its decline and eventual abandonment is debated.<ref name="Friday Times"/><ref name="Daily Times"/> Some historians, such as M.H. Panhwar,<ref name="Daily Times"/> cite the city's destruction by the Afghan invader Madad Ali Khan Pathan, which is variously dated to 1781<ref name="Friday Times"/> or sometime in the 1790s.<ref name="Express Tribune"/> Madad Khan destroyed other cities at the time, such as [[Badin]], [[Bukera]], and [[Nasarpur]]; they were rebuilt, but Agham Kot was not,<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> and its residents migrated to other parts of Sindh.<ref name="Friday Times"/> Other historians, such as Kaleemullah Lashari,<ref name="Dawn"/> favour a more economic explanation: when the Indus changed course in the 1700s, the city no longer had access to a vital artery of transport and commerce, and it lost its status as a major trading centre.<ref name="Friday Times"/><ref name="Dawn"/> Its residents then migrated to other major commercial cities, such as [[Hyderabad, Pakistan|Hyderabad]], which was then the political capital of Sindh, or Thatta, which was still the most important city in the region.<ref name="Friday Times"/>

== Site description == The current archaeological site of Agham Kot covers an area of 200 [[acre]]s.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> It consists of several mounds, ranging from 3 to 5 meters in height.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> Various artifacts have been found in these mounds such as pottery fragments, terracotta toys, decorated tiles, and copper coins.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> This debris has been dated to the 8th-13th centuries CE.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> Some newer structures are located on top of the mounds, mostly dated to the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> There are six mosques, as well as saints' tombs.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/>

One of the shrine at Agham Kot honours Makhdoom Muhammad Ismail Soomro, a 16th-century Sufi saint who is held as the patron saint of the [[Patoli (tribe)|Patoli]] community but also revered by other groups as well.<ref name="Friday Times"/> The shrine, which is entered by way of a monumental domed gate,<ref name="Friday Times"/> consists of a square 8x8 meter structure<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> that is ornately decorated in ceramic tiles, but most of them have since fallen off.<ref name="Friday Times"/> The interior was covered in paintings of floral patterns, but these have also been damaged.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/> Besides Makhdoom Muhammad Ismail, the mausoleum also houses the tombs of his sons Makhdoom Muhammad Hamid and Makhdoom Muhammad Yahya, as well as that of his grandson Makhdoom Muhammad Qasim.<ref name="Friday Times"/> His daughter, Bibi Ayesha, was buried in a separate tomb just to the north, while to the east of her tomb are two others: one belongs to her father's disciple Makhdoom Muhammad Ismail Quraishi, and the other belongs to one Saeed Khan Madvani Laghari, an 18th-century military officer serving under the Kalhoro dynasty.<ref name="Friday Times"/>

Another prominent tomb belongs to Shah Abdul Majid, who is regarded as the patron saint of the Hindu [[Lohana]] community.<ref name="Friday Times"/> His original tomb collapsed many years ago and a new one was built by Lohana devotees of his.<ref name="Friday Times"/> There is also the 18th-century tomb of Makhdoom Sadho Mohayo, which features mud-plastered walls whitewashed with lime; like Makhdoom Muhammad Ismail Soomro's tomb, its interior is also covered in floral paintings.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/>

The old city's [[Jami mosque]] was built during the Kalhoro dynasty, with its inscription dating it to 1755 CE during the reign of [[Mian Muradyab Kalhoro]].<ref name="Friday Times"/> The mosque's foundation stones and [[dado (architecture)|dado]] were inscribed by the stone engraver (''sarang-tash'') Abu Talib Makarpayo of Thatta.<ref name="Friday Times"/> There is also another Kalhoro-era mosque at Agham Kot, of which the western wall and gate have survived.<ref name="Friday Times"/>

Located by the site's entrance is the Patanwari Masjid, or "mosque along the jetty".<ref name="Daily Times"/> It is now almost completely collapsed, with only the arches surviving.<ref name="Daily Times"/><ref name="Friday Times"/> This mosque was originally built next to the jetty on the riverside where cargo and passenger boats would arrive.<ref name="Dawn"/> Because of this location by the Dhoro, it was built with a high foundation and thick walls.<ref name="Laghari 2000"/>

The fort of Agham Kot, like the city itself, is attributed to Agham Lohana.<ref name="Express Tribune"/> Its walls once stood 20 feet thick and were built out of brick, ashes, and limestone.<ref name="Express Tribune"/> The fort was damaged by Madad Khan's attack in the late 1700s, and a storm in 1999 further damaged what was left.<ref name="Express Tribune"/> Only a small portion of the outer wall survives today.<ref name="Express Tribune"/>

== Shrine of Bibi Maham == In Agham Kot also stands the shrine of Bibi Maham who traveled from Arab to Sindh and settled in Agham Kot,<ref name="Mansoor">{{Cite web |last=Mansoor |first=Hasan |date=2015-08-15 |title=Footprints: Mysterious Agham Kot |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1200566 |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}</ref> her actual name is Khadijah, the daughter of Shi'ite Imam [[Musa al-Kazim|Musa Al-Kazim]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-01-18 |title=Chapter 15: The Imam's Children |url=https://www.al-islam.org/life-imam-musa-bin-jafar-al-kazim-baqir-shareef-al-qurashi/chapter-15-imams-children |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=www.al-islam.org |language=en}}</ref> the name ''"Maham"'' is believed to be given by the locals who also know her as ''"Medinay Wali Bibi"'' which translates to ''"The Lady of Medinah".'' Bibi Maham Khadijah belongs to the sacred lineage<ref name="Mansoor"/> of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] through [[Musa al-Kazim|Imam Musa Kazim]], and is estimated to arrive in Indian Subcontinent somewhere between 128 A.H and 170 A.H–deduced from the inscription from the grave's headstone,<ref name="Mansoor"/> during the rule of Abbasid dynasty over the Arabian peninsula. Due to the persecution of the descendants of [[Ali|Imam Ali]] son of [[Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib|Abi Talib]] at the hands of Abbasid caliphs<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-10-04 |title=Part C: Persecution of the Shia by the Abbasid kings |url=https://www.al-islam.org/hidden-truth-about-karbala-ak-ahmed-bsc-bl/part-c-persecution-shia-abbasid-kings |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=www.al-islam.org |language=en}}</ref> many members from the progeny of [[Muhammad]] had to migrate to far-off lands including the children of [[Musa al-Kazim|Imam Musa Al-Kazim]], imprisoned at the time on orders of [[Harun al-Rashid|Harun Al-Rashid]], which also seems to be the reason of Bibi Maham's migration to Sindh region.<ref>{{Citation |title=Bibi Heybat {{!}} Bibi Haibat {{!}} Daughter of Imam Musa Kazim (a) {{!}} The Lost Legends {{!}} Abu Talib Rizvi |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a798HygsrTg |language=en |access-date=2023-02-17}}</ref>

Bibi Maham Khadijah bint-e Imam Musa Kazim's grave was discovered in 2002 by historians and a shrine was built upon the grave in 2009. In 2010, a sindhi editorial was published by Abdul Sattar Dars, chief editor of ''Mahana Parado,'' in which historical details of the shrine were published. Since its inception the shrine has been visited by different researchers and scholars alike who have verified the discovery.<ref>{{Citation |title=How To Bibi Khadija's Shrine Was Discovered In Sindh {{!}} Daughter Of Imam Musa Kazim {{!}} Maham Bibi |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otp0iAwyAa8 |language=en |access-date=2023-02-17}}</ref> According to the persian inscription on the headstone, the grave dates back to 170 A.H which makes it the oldest tomb in the region.<ref name="Mansoor"/> Shrine is currently constructed with burnt brick and lime plaster with a tier and girder roof. The size of the Shrine is 10m x 5.5m with an entrance to its south, whereas the size of the tomb is 4m x 5.5m. In the courtyard there are four graves and inside the tomb there are three more graves. The interior of the tomb has been renovated with modern tiles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dargah Bibi Maham at Agham Kot |url=https://www.lariarchive.com/Object/10219/dargah-bibi-maham-at-agham-kot-this-tomb-belongs-to-bibi-maham-it-was-constructed-with-burnt-brick-a |access-date=2023-02-17 |website=Yasmeen & Suhail Lari Archive}}</ref> Ministry of Awqaf has authenticated the shrine and construction for a proper and bigger shrine under Ministry of Awqaf will soon begin.

== Present condition == The site of Agham Kot is poorly maintained and suffers from official neglect as well as residential encroachment — 130 of its 200 acres are illegally occupied as of 2019.<ref name="Express Tribune"/> Many structures are in precarious condition or have already collapsed.<ref name="Daily Times"/>

Agham Kot is not [[List of cultural heritage sites in Sindh|officially listed as a culture heritage site]], although as of 2015 it is included on a "tentative list" of candidates for future listing.<ref name="Dawn"/> As a result, it does not receive government protection.<ref name="Dawn"/> Locals and visitors have taken many artifacts and either displayed them in their homes or sold them for money.<ref name="Dawn"/>

The [[2011 Sindh floods]] uncovered parts of the ruins at Agham Kot, and careless human activity ended up damaging or destroying a lot of what was dislodged.<ref name="Dawn"/> Local social workers requested assistance from the provincial archaeology department, but only one official came, and briefly.<ref name="Dawn"/>

== References == {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Sindh]] [[Category:Badin District]] [[Category:Ruins in Pakistan]] [[Category:Lohana]]