Harrand

Harrand stood at the eastern foot of the Sulaiman Mountains, near the mouth of the Chachar Pass and west of the Indus floodplain. Its fort watched routes between the mountain country and the settled plains around Dajal. A garrison here could influence the movement of caravans, livestock and armed groups without controlling every valley beyond the foothills.

The district passed between competing frontier powers in the early nineteenth century. In 1827 the nawab of Bahawalpur annexed the Harand and Dajal divisions, which had previously belonged to Kalat. Sikh expansion subsequently brought Harrand within the military system directed from Multan. In the 1830s Diwan Sawan Mal replaced the earlier mud-brick defences with a substantial baked-brick fort. Bastions and gateways strengthened a position used to restrain Baloch groups in the Pachad country and protect access towards the Indus crossings. The rebuilding gave durable form to a recent conquest. Along this frontier, the fort's authority depended on soldiers and agreements with neighbouring communities as well as on its masonry.