Mai Kolachi

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Mai Kolachi (Auntie Kolachi) an old fisherwoman by the name of who settled near the delta of the Indus River to start a community. This port was named after her as Kolachi and this community developed into modern Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.

Historians tell us that its old name of Karachi was Kolachi after the name of an old woman, Mai Kolachi, who was head of the village. She commanded respect among the habitants, and as a mark of respect, they named the village after her.

The other view is that it was a village of a Kolachi tribe, which was Baloch from maternal side and Soomras from paternal side. In my view its name was Kalanchi or Kalachi which was in currency even up to the period when Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (1689-1752), the great mystic sufi poet of Sindh, was composing poetry and immortalising folktales, legends, historical and semi-historical characters of Sindh.

Kolachi is a Baloch tribe and has originated from Kulanch, an area in Makran Balochistan as I have known it from my forefathers and I being one from Kolachi tribe.Mai Kolachi migrated from Makran and settled in the area presently known as Karachi.The word "Mai" is still used by our tribe and it means "Respected Lady".