Larkana

Lore & Background

Larkana is located within Larkana District. Formerly known as Chandka, it is situated on the south bank of the Ghar canal, about 40 miles south of Shikarpur and 36 miles northeast of Mehar. The historic Indus River flows to the west of the city. Larkana has a hot desert climate with sweltering summers and mild winters; the highest recorded temperature is 50.0 °C, while reliable records for the lowest temperature are not widely confirmed. Rice is the most famous crop of Larkana, along with peas, grape, mustard, and sunflowers.

Reader's Guide

Larkana is significant as the location of Mohenjo-daro, a major site of the Indus Valley civilization, and as a cultural and educational center in Sindh. The city hosts several universities and colleges, including Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University, Chandka Medical College, and a campus of SZABIST. Notable people from Larkana include former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Sufi singer Abida Parveen, and cricketer Shahnawaz Dahani. The city is connected by rail and road to major Pakistani cities and has Moenjodaro Airport near Dokri.

Did You Know?

• Larkana is home to the Indus Valley civilization site Mohenjo-daro.
• The highest recorded temperature in Larkana is 50.0 °C.

The Caves That Named a Town

The Bagh Caves are the reason this small Madhya Pradesh settlement appears on any map at all. These late 4th- to 6th-century Buddhist rock-cut chambers, adorned with painted murals, form the spiritual and artistic heart of the region. Local legend offers a vivid origin for the town's name: when the Buddhist monks abandoned their carved sanctuaries, tigers — "bagh" in several Indian languages — took up residence in the empty chambers. The name stuck, and the town grew around the caves rather than the other way around. The murals and chambers remain a window into early Buddhist artistic traditions in central India, drawing scholarly and devotional attention for centuries.

Kings, Inscriptions, and the Gupta Shadow

C. Sircar and R. C. This places the Valkha rulers firmly in the 4th and 5th centuries, and Sircar and Majumdar theorized they served as subordinates to the Gupta empire. Art historian Walter M. Spink went further, identifying Subandhu with the prince Vishruta from the literary work Dashakumaracharita, and proposed that this Gupta prince founded the dynasty later known as the Kalachuris.

The Khatri Printers and a Sufi Inheritance

The story of Bagh printing is inseparable from the Khatris, a community whose spiritual identity was shaped by a deep Sufi influence. Originally practitioners of Ajrakh printing, the Khatris carried their craft and their enterprising spirit across a remarkable migration path: from Larkana in Sind (today's Pakistan) to Pali, through the Marwadi Thar, and into Manawar in Madhya Pradesh. The Sufi influence on the Khatris is described as a lasting, resonant chord in their inward lives. This blend of Sufi spirituality, Ajrakh textile tradition, and commercial daring gave Bagh a distinctive cultural identity.

A Living Town in the Shadow of History

The community is nearly evenly split between males at 51 percent and females at 49 percent, with 15 percent of residents under the age of six. Literacy stands at 76 percent, notably above the national average of 59.5 percent at the time, though a gender gap persists with male literacy at 83 percent and female literacy at 69 percent. Education is supported by several institutions including Mahesh Memorial Public Higher Secondary School, City Convent Higher Secondary School, International Public School, and Government School of Excellence. Indore also serves as the nearest airport, linking Bagh to broader travel networks.