Place · lake & Noori's tomb · Pakistan
Keenjhar Lake
The largest freshwater lake in Pakistan, formed when the older Kalri and Keenjhar lakes were embanked together, and the source of most of Karachi's drinking water. Out in the water stands the tomb of Noori, the fisherwoman whom Jam Tamachi of the Samma dynasty is said to have married over the objections of his court. Shah Abdul Latif made the story one of the surs of the Shah Jo Risalo, so the lake is at once a reservoir, a Ramsar-listed wetland and a stanza.
- Function
- Archaeology & heritage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 24.950, 68.050
Worth knowing
Boatmen take pilgrims out to Noori's tomb and sing the sur that tells her story on the way, which means the poem is performed on the water it describes.
Connections (2)
- Canonised by textShāh Jo Risālo
The tomb out in the water at Keenjhar is Noori's, the fisherwoman whom Jam Tamāchi of the Samma dynasty is said to have married against his court's advice, and whom he buried in the lake. Shāh Abdul Latīf made it Sur Kamod of the Shāh Jo Risālo, which turns a story about rank into one about the soul being chosen without deserving it. Boatmen take pilgrims out to the tomb and sing the sur on the way, so the poem is performed on the water it is about.
- Site adjacencyMakli Necropolis, Thatta
Both belong to the Samma dynasty's Thatta. Makli, on the ridge above the old capital, holds the tombs of the Samma sultans, the Arghuns and the Tarkhans across some four hundred years — one of the largest funerary landscapes anywhere. Keenjhar, twenty-odd kilometres north, holds the tomb of Noori, the fisherwoman that Jam Tamāchi of the same dynasty is said to have married against his court's advice. The kings are buried on the hill in carved stone and the fisherwoman out in the lake.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Keenjhar Lake”. Ramsar Site 1064 information sheet; Shah Abdul Latif, Shah Jo Risalo, Sur Kamod.
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