Jhal Magsi district: the Mula river plain and ancient Kandabil

Introduction and location

Jhal Magsi is the south-western part of the Kachhi plain, where the Mula river, flowing out of the Jhalawan hills, enters the plain. The district is named after its main town, Jhal, and the Magsi tribe that lives here. The colonial-era Gazetteer (1907) describes Jhal as the centre of the Magsi tribe. It describes Gandava as one of the two towns of Kachhi where the Khans of Kalat spent the winter.

According to the 2023 census of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Jhal Magsi district has an area of 3,615 square kilometres and a population of 203,368. This includes 103,422 men, 99,933 women and 13 transgender persons. The population density is about 56 persons per square kilometre, and only 11.87 per cent of people live in urban areas. The average household has 6.5 members. The district’s population was 148,900 in 2017, which means an annual growth of about 5.35 per cent.

According to the census table, the district has three administrative parts: Jhal Magsi tehsil (area 1,679 square kilometres, population 116,528), Gandava tehsil (1,344 square kilometres, 71,230) and Mirpur sub-tehsil (592 square kilometres, 15,610). The entire urban population of the district is in Gandava tehsil, where about 34 per cent of people live in urban areas.

History

The compilers of the Gazetteer had “very little doubt” that Gandava was the Kandabil mentioned by Arab historians. According to the Gazetteer, the first reliable reference to the early history of Kachhi is that Chach, the ruler of Sindh, attacked Kandabil. The people of the city took refuge in the fort, and peace was finally made on payment of an annual tribute of 100,000 dirhams and 100 hill horses. After the arrival of the Arabs, several expeditions were sent against Kandabil. According to the Gazetteer, the city was plundered during the reign of Caliph Abdul Malik (684 to 705), but it was fully conquered later by Muhammad bin Qasim. Citing the Arab historian Baladhuri, the Gazetteer says Kandabil stood on high ground, and present-day Gandava is also on a raised spot in the middle of the Kachhi plain.

In the 18th century Gandava was in the hands of the Kalhoras. According to the Gazetteer, the brick tomb of Murad Ganja, deputy of the Kalhora ruler Nur Muhammad, still stands south of Gandava. This was the Murad Ganja who fought the Khan of Kalat, Mir Abdullah, at Jandrihar near Sibi in 1730-31. In 1740 Kachhi passed to the state of Kalat. Mir Nasir Khan I died at Gandava in 1794.

People and languages

According to the mother-tongue table of the 2023 census, the largest language in the district is Balochi, the mother tongue of 153,395 people, or about 75 per cent of the population. It is followed by Sindhi (33,218, about 16 per cent), Saraiki (11,716, about 6 per cent) and Brahui (4,243, about 2 per cent).

According to the Gazetteer, the Magsis numbered 10,340 in 1901, including the Lashari and Mughairi, and the whole tribe lived in and around Jhal. Its main sections included the Bhutani, Marzani, Nindwani, Rawtani, Sobhani and Shambani. According to the Gazetteer, besides the Magsis, the town of Jhal was home to Jat cultivators, potters, weavers, barbers and cobblers, and its population was about 2,000. Gandava had about 330 families, mostly Jats; they included 20 Syed and 120 Hindu families.

According to the census, the literacy rate among the population aged ten and above is 30.14 per cent: 37.89 per cent among men and only 22.09 per cent among women. The provincial report counts Jhal Magsi among the districts where the rate of out-of-school children is between 60 and 70 per cent.

Economy

Life in this district is tied to the Mula river. According to the Gazetteer, the Mula rises in the Harboi hills, flows for about 180 miles through Jhalawan and enters the Kachhi plain at Panj Muhna. Its permanent water was brought through a long canal from opposite Pir Chhatta and divided among Panjuk, Fatehpur, Naushahra and other branches, while its flood water irrigated large areas in the Magsi country. The village of Panjuk is named for the fact that it received one fifth of the Mula’s permanent water. According to the Gazetteer, this share was granted by the Kalhora ruler Mian Nur Muhammad in the time of the Magsi chief Bhut Faqir.

The Gazetteer lists the main crops of Panjuk as jowar, bajra, mung, moth, cotton and wheat, and mentions its pomegranate and mango orchards. The garden at Kotra had many mangoes, and south of Gandava there was a large orchard of mangoes and sweet limes. According to the Gazetteer, the Magsi chief of Jhal took a special interest in horse breeding, and the best horses of Kachhi were found at Jhal. Fine swords were made at Panjuk, and salt was produced near Gajan.

According to the provincial report of the Bureau of Statistics, the Mula river (spelt “Mulla” in the report) is 269 kilometres long. There is a dam on it, 30 kilometres from Gandava, with a storage capacity of 0.242 million acre-feet of water. According to the report, the Nulong dam is under construction on the same river. Official figures for the district’s current agricultural output could not be found while this page was being prepared.

Places of interest

Gandava: According to the Gazetteer, this town near the mouth of the Mula pass was once surrounded by a high wall. To its west stood the residence of the Khan, which had a platform where Mir Mehrab Khan used to sit.

Jhal: According to the Gazetteer, to the west of the town stood the chief’s four-storey “mirh” (fort-like house), and in the middle was a covered bazaar with about sixty shops.

Tombs of Khanpur: According to the Gazetteer, before returning to Jhal the Magsi chiefs lived for some time at Khanpur near Kotra, where their old walls and tombs stand. Among them, the tomb of Gwahram, a relative of the chief, is in the Gazetteer’s words the finest tomb in Kachhi. It is lined inside with blue Multani tiles, and the dome is decorated inside with coloured designs.

Pir Chhatta: According to the Gazetteer, an annual fair was held during the date harvest at this shrine in the hills, about six miles west of Kotra. The mounds of Lakhpur, Pahangar and Koru near Kotra are believed to be ruins of old settlements.