486 H. GL Raverty— The Milirdn of Sind and its Tributaries. [Ex. No. 
of silt and sand, through which the Indus cuts its varying way with a 
facility that passes description. The erection of even a few feet of 
brickwork built up in the bed of the Indus as it still flows , might divert 
the stream into another channel, cause the decline and downfall of a 
metropolis and twenty towns, convert a region of gardens into a silt 
of Saif-ul-MuluTc, and two other officers, on the part of Tarsun Muhammad Khan, 
entered Rurhi, and sent a copy of the imperial mandate to Kisu Khan, then holding 
the government, and residing in the fort of Bakhar.” It appears that Tarsun 
Muhammad had subsequently left Muhammad Tahir in charge, because, when 
Tarsun Muhammad Khan came to Nag-awr, where the Badshah then was, when ho 
was subsequently dismissed to proceed to Bakhar, some of the ministers of the 
Badshah represented, that “it was not expedient that a descendant of Saif-ul-Mululc 
should he left in charge of a frontier province.” 
Ratta or Ratta-Matta is described at the close of the last century, in the 
Survey record I have been quoting herein, as “ a large fcasbah or market-town three 
Jcuroh (a little over five miles) north-wards of Jatu-i (which was the chief town of 
one of the twelve mahdlls or sub-districts of the Bakhar sarlcar of the Multan stibah 
in the time of Akbar Badshah), and here is the tomb and shrine of Saif-ul-Mululc, who 
is famous among all people” 
According to the tradition, it is predicted that the Hakra is to burst the band 
or dyke of Saif-ul-Muluk, become a perennial river once more, and empty itself into 
the sea. Burton, in his humourous relation of the legend of the “ Seven Headless 
Prophets,” in his work on “ Scinde,” gives the prophecy as follows :—■ 
“ Dyke of Aror be burst, and flow 
Hakro perennial to the main : 
Swim ye fish, ye lillies grow 
Where Sammahs plough the sultry plain.” 
He adds : “ Now the bund or embankment of Aror had, hundreds of years before 
the time of Jam Tamachi [third of the Sammah Jams of Sind], been thrown across 
the Indus [he is mistaken here : the band was across the Hakra, as the verse men¬ 
tions] by the masonic prowess of an honourable husband,” etc., etc. 
The same prophecy appears, as related by a devotee of the “ Mamoi ” sept, in 
the “ Gazetter of Sind,” but was not properly understood. It is :— 
“ When broken shall be the bandh of Aror, 
And the water shall flow over Hakrah, 
Where will be the fishing of the Sammah ? ” 
This does not apply to any village called “ Hakrah,” but to the river, thus :— 
“ The band or embankment of Aror shall be broken, and the water shall flow [once 
more] in the channel of the Hakra; and then where will the Sammahs’ fishing be P ” 
Meaning that it would be spoiled. 
I am unaware whether the two stones set up by Mir Ma’sum of Bakhar in the 
bed of the diverted branch of the river, are still in existence, or whether, if they 
are, any inscription is legible; for he is said to have cut an inscription on them. 
If we could find an inscription we might obtain further information on this inter¬ 
esting subject. See also note 517, page 452. 
