Kharadar ( ur, کھارادر ) is a neighbourhood in District South of

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Kharadar and the adjacent communities of

Mithadar Mithadar ( ur, میٹھادر ) is one of the neighbourhoods of Saddar Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, and comprises the oldest part of Karachi that was once encircled by a wall. Mithadar and the adjacent community of Kharadar together form wha ...

and Jodia Bazaar together form what is regarded as the original core of Karachi.

Etymology

''Kharadar'' literally means ''Brackish Gate'' in both Sindhi and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

CITIES: A KARACHI BY ANY OTHER NAME
by Sibtain Naqvi, Dawn Newspaper, July 30, 2017

Location

Kharadar is located in central Karachi, near the

Port of Karachi The Port of Karachi ( ur, , ''Bandar gāh Karāchī'') is one of South Asia's largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60% of the nation's cargo (25 million tons per annum) located in Karachi, Pakistan. It is located on the Karac ...

. Together with the adjacent community of

, it forms what is regarded as the original core of Karachi, when the city was known as "Kalachi Jo Goath." The combined area of the two is approximately 35 square kilometers.

History

PK Karachi asv2020-02 img28 Wazir Mansion

The neighbourhood was named after one of two gates to the old city of Karachi built in 1729 – the other being Mitha Dar or "Sweet Gate," (referring to the potable, fresh water of the

Lyari River Lyari River ( ur, ) is a small ephemeral stream that flows through the Pakistani megacity of Karachi from north east to the center and drains into the Arabian Sea at the Manora channel. It is one of the two rivers of Karachi, the other one bein ...

) which is now the name of the neighborhood adjacent to the northern edge of Kharadar. Both gates were torn down in 1860 after the British conquered Sindh 13 years earlier.

Economy

Kharadar, along with Mithadar, is a center for Karachi's textile industry, with several garment factories and wholesalers located in the adjacent Bolton Markets, as well as numerous textile markets along Laxmi Das Street. Kharadar has also been home to a Muslim South Indian community since the 1890s – a legacy reflected in the name of the nearby market, the Cochinwala Markets named after residents of the city of

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

in South India.

Demographics

The area is also known for its large community of

Ismaili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...

Muslims traders who originally settled in Kharadar after having moved from Kutch,

Kathiawar Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, it is ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

in the 16th and 17th centuries – well before the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. One of the earliest Ismailis in Kharadar was Syed Ghulam Ali Shah, or "Ghulmali Shah" of the Kadiwala clan, was a prominent missionary in Sindh, Kutch and Kathiawar. He died in Karachi in 1792 when there were only a handful Ismailis. Rather than being buried amongst a small community, his body was transported to Kera in Gujarat for burial. The Ismaili community grew rapidly following a famine in Kutch in 1820, during which 250 Ismailis families fled the area to settle in Kharadar, where they built their first house of worship in the

Kagzi Bazar The Kagzi also pronounced kagdi are a Muslim community found in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra in India.People of India Gujarat Volume XXI Part Two edited by R.B Lal, P.B.S.V Padmanabham, G Krishnan & M Azeez Mohideen pages 571-575People o ...

("Paper Market") in 1825. The area housed the headquarters of the Ismaili faith in Pakistan, until they were moved north to

Garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

. Kharadar also has a large Memon community.

Gallery

File:BISMILLAH MASJID KHARADAR - panoramio.jpg, Kharadar features narrow roads serving the densely populated neighbourhood File:ARFAAT market new neham road kharadar - panoramio.jpg, Kharadar features several examples of British colonial architecture File:Very old bulding near Bukhari masjid Gate no.2 - panoramio.jpg

References

External links

Karachi Website

Saddar Town
{{Neighbourhoods of Karachi Neighbourhoods of Karachi