Kotdiji Fort Khairpur

Kot Diji Fort, located in District Khairpur is a Talpur era fort located between Ranipur and Khairpur. According to the official records, it was built in 1785 by Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur. Kot Diji, earlier known as Ahmed Abad is a town located about 25 miles east of the Indus River at the edge of the Nara-Rajisthan Desert. The Kot Diji fort, previously known as Fort of Ahmed Abad is an important site of the Harappan civilization and is located in the Rohri Hills.

Some historical records claim that Kot Diji fort provides evidences of a civilization before Moen-jo-daro. Kot Diji Fort spread over 5 kilometers is located on a limestone hill about 110 feet high. Kot Diji fort has a 12-feet mud wall present around the city and a huge iron gate at its single entrance. The Iron Gate has several pointed iron nails on it to prevent different methods of breaking it such as elephant attacks. The walls of the fort are 30 feet high and the fort has 350 feet tall towers strategically placed on the fort.  The idea of using baked bricks tells that the brick were made strong enough to with-hold dangerous attacks and the people who built it were aware of this knowledge and had the skills to produce such bricks that stand to date.

The Kot Diji fort consists of two parts, a higher area and an outer area. The ruling elite used to live in the higher area where a Shahi Mahal or Royal Palace was built that provided comfort and security to the ruler and his family in case there was a war. This Mahal has beautifully decorated mural ceramic walls and is a marvel of workmanship and archaeology .The outer area is a lower ground where all the common people resided.

There are two graves inside the fort, the first one is Faqir Qadir Bakhsh of which little is known and the second one on the eastern side of his tomb is of Syed Saleh Shah, nothing is known but some account presume that it is of a disciple of Faqir Qadir Bakhsh.

Kot Diji culture is marked with well-made pottery/ceramics which are just as sophisticated and artistic as the red pottery of the Harrapans even though they are built with a different technique. In 1955, the Khairpur State was merged with Pakistan and Mir Ali Murad II handed over the fort to the Government of Pakistan.