IN Pakistan, antiquity has been at odds with the politics of ideology and identity, leading to a partisan concept of culture based on dominance. Therefore, Thursday’s judgement by a division bench of the Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad circuit on the preservation of Nagarparkar’s Karoonjhar Hills and their “protection in conformity with international guidelines” was momentous as it endorsed the range as a well of heritage. The order stated that “the entire range of Karoonjhar Hills is one monument under the law and cannot be divided into pieces and portions”. The court also called for the resurrection of every Jain temple in its original form and that statues declared as world heritage be made available.

Sindh’s forgotten ties with Jainism nestle in the depths of Nagarparkar and Karoonjhar Hills, a range which some archaeologists say is nearly three billion years old. Nourished by the lost Hakra river, the area throve as a cultural hub in the Chalcolithic and Paleolithic ages. The pink granite stretch, once known as Kinro, is still encrusted with magnificence: Bodhesar, Sadhro, Ambaji, Virawah temples, the Gorri Jain Mandir and a Bodhesar mosque. Almost six kilometres from central Nagarparkar stands a complex of three Bodhesar Jain temples built in 1375 AD and in 1449 AD; two have domes carved from Karoonjhar stone and the third is in complete decay. While the higher Bodhesar temple, with an uneven stone stairwell, was said to be by the Gulf of Sindhu, Bodhesar talao and a white marble mosque built in 1505 are at the foot of the hills. Such relics, and the remains of the fifth-century Parinagar Fort, which connected Karoonjhar to the sea, illustrate how sacred the slopes were to Jains. The least we can do today is to ensure that all beautiful residues of the past do not fade away as besides monetary rewards, such vestige reconnects us to our humane, accepting selves — an invaluable inheritance for future generations.

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2023