Dadu ( Sindhi and ), is a city and the capital of

Dadu District Dadu District (), () is a Districts of Pakistan, district of Sindh, Sindh Province, Pakistan. With headquarters in the city of Dadu, Pakistan, Dadu, the district was created in 1931 by merging Kotri and Mahal Kohistan (later Jamshoro) tehsils fro ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The city is located on the western bank of

River Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans- Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northwest through the disp ...

and is administratively subdivided into four Union councils. Dadu is famous for its tea. Dadu is the 11th most populous city of

Sindh Province Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind or Scinde) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest provin ...

and 52nd most populous city in

with a population of 171,191 (2017). It is located 100 miles (160 km) to the north of

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, the second largest city of Sindh.

History

The early history of this city is unknown. It is generally believed that Dadu was founded as a village by Syed Dad Muhammad Shah Alias Dadu Shah during the

Kalhora dynasty The Kalhora dynasty () was a Sindhi Muslim Kalhora tribe dynasty based in the region of Sindh, present day Pakistan. The dynasty governed much of Sindh and parts of Kutch (present-day Gujarat, India) between 1701 and 1783 from their capital of ...

(1701–1783). Dadu Shah was a powerful religious leader and landlord and had close relations with Kalhora rulers and was called ''Daderah''. Some historians are of the opinion that the old name of Dadu was Marakhpur, which was conquered by Mian Yar Muhammad Kalhoro during the first decade of the 18th century. Nowadays, Marakhpur is a small locality in Dadu City. There is also another theory regarding the origin of Dadu. Dadu Dayal (1544–1603) was a great saint, poet, and follower of Guru Gorakhnath from Gujrat, India. He introduced a new Panth of Yogi known as the Dadu-Panth.

Dadu Dayal Dadu Dayal (Devanagari: दादू दयाल, , 1544–1603) was a poet-saint religious reformer who spoke against formalism and priestcraft, and was active throughout Rajasthan. Etymology "Dadu" means brother, and "Dayal" means "the ...

visited Sindh and lived here for a long time. His followers were called Dadunavasi. Two of his followers, Dayo Ram (1836–1906) and Sanat Bhagat Ram, were from Dadu. Dadu became the town of the Danunavasi and hence got the name Dadu. During the

, Dadu and the surrounding area's fortunes flourished, the irrigation system was improved, and new canals were constructed to boost the agricultural economy of the area. As a result, Dadu became an important centre of trade and agriculture. When Kalhora rulers shifted the capital of Sindh to Hydrabad, Dadu lost its prosperity. In Talpur rule, the glory of Dadu further declined. The Talpur rulers were more focused towards

, Khairpur Mirs and

Mirpur Khas Mirpur Khas (Sindhi language, Sindhi and ; ''meaning "Town of the most-high Talpur, Mirs"'') is a city in Sindh province, Pakistan. The city was built by Talpur rulers of Mankani branch. According to the 2017 Census of Pakistan, its population w ...

. They did not pay much attention towards Dadu and surrounding areas.

Demographics

Population

According to 2023 census, Dadu had a population of 188,317.

References

Populated places in Dadu District Populated places in Sindh {{Sindh-geo-stub