Mai Kolachi

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Mai Kolachi (Auntie Kolachi) an old fisher woman 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 or Kulachi tribe of Baloch. Its name was Kulanchi or Kulachi pronounced in Sindhi as "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.

Yet another tale narrates the story of a little child, probably belonging to a family of fishermen and women, who settled in the area now known as Karachi with her kin. Kolachi grew up into a beautiful young girl, and the word of her beauty was spread far and wide by traders who came to the little fishing village. So famous, in fact, did Kolachi become, that the village began to be recognized by her name.

Kolachi or Kulachi is a Baloch tribe which originated from Kulanch, an area in Makran Balochistan. Mai Kolachi migrated from Makran and settled in the area presently known as Karachi. The word "Mai" is still used by the tribe and it means "Respected Lady".