Thatta Subah

The Thatta Sarkar (1593–1629) and later the Thatta Subah (1629–1737) was a Mughal administrative division. The region was originally a Sarkar within the Multan Subah of the Mughal Empire before being elevated to the status of a separate Subah.^[3][4]

In 1629, Thatta was made into a separate Subah (Province) and was divided into three divisions: Sehwan Sarkar, Bhakkar Sarkar and Thatta Sarkar, each administered by a Faujdar who reported to the Subahdar. In 1699–1700, the Subahdar of Lahore and Multan, Prince Muhammad Mu'azzam and the Subahdar of Thatta, Hifzullah Khan faced off against the Kalhora chieftain and Mianwal Movement leader Deen Mohammad Kalhoro at Khore. Deen Mohammad was killed while his brother, Yar Muhammad Kalhoro, was exiled to Kalat. In his absence, Bhaktia Barozai, a local landowner, took over the Kalhora estate. Yar Muhammad returned to Sindh in 1701 after Hifzullah's death and, along with his subordinate Shahdad Khan Talpur, retook his land making Khudabad his capital. Yar Muhammad was later pardoned by the Mughal court in exchange for complete loyalty. After the death of Emperor Aurangzeb, Yar Muhammad was given the administration of Sehwan Sarkar by the Subahdar of Thatta Prince Mui'zz-ud-Din. In 1708, Yar Muhammad was provided with the additional charge of Sibi and Dhadar which were initially granted to the Barozai Panni tribe by Emperor Aurangzeb. On the orders of Emperor Farrukhsiyar, Yar Muhammad and Mir Lutf Ali Khan, the new Subahdar of Thatta, laid siege to the town of Jhok which served as the base for Shah Inayat, a revolutionary and an agriculturalal reformist who led a peasants rebellion against the feudal landlords and estate holders of Sindh. The siege continued from September–December 1717 and was deemed successful as Shah Inayat was deceivingly captured on 1 January 1718 and executed by Lutf Ali on 7 January. In 1725, Noor Mohammad Kalhoro, the son of Yar Muhammad and also the de facto ruler of Sind (who now had gained the administration of Bhakkar along with Sehwan), forged an alliance with the Emir of Afghanistan Hussain Hotak during his war with the Khanate of Kalat. Noor Mohammad later killed the Khan of Kalat, Abdullah Khan Ahmadzai in the Battle of Kachhi. Noor Mohammad also came into conflict with the Nawab Amir of Bahawalpur, Sadeq Khan I Daudpotra for control over Shikarpur.

Sind officially broke away from the Mughal Empire in 1737 and asserted autonomy under Noor Mohammad and his Kalhora clansmen as the Thatta Sarkar too was allotted to him by Emperor Muhammad Shah.^[3]

The Thatta Subah was bordered to the north by the Multan Subah, to the west by the Safavid Empire and later the Khanate of Kalat, to the east by the Ajmer Subah and to the south by the Gujarat Subah and the Arabian Sea.^[3]