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Hindu cave shrine in Hingol National Park

Hinglaj Mata

هینگلاج ماتا

A Hindu cave shrine in the desert canyons of the Makran

Hinglaj Mata is a Hindu shrine in a small natural cave at the foot of a mountain on the bank of the Hingol river, in the Makran region of Balochistan, Pakistan, about 250 kilometres west-north-west of Karachi. It is dedicated to the goddess Hinglaj, a form of Durga, and counted among the Shakti Peethas, the seats of the goddess, places where according to Hindu tradition parts of the body of the goddess Sati fell to earth.

Every spring tens of thousands of pilgrims, many of them Hindus from Sindh, travel to Hinglaj for the yatra, the pilgrimage. Before reaching the shrine many climb the mud volcanoes nearby, cones of grey mud known to pilgrims as Chandragup, to throw coconuts and offerings into their bubbling craters and ask permission to continue. At the cave they crawl in to see the shrine of the goddess, a small stone marked with red. Local Muslims also revere the shrine, which they know as Nani Mandir or the shrine of Bibi Nani.

The shrine lies within Hingol National Park, one of the largest in Pakistan, a landscape of eroded sandstone cliffs, canyons and wind-carved rock formations along the Makran coast, home to ibex, gazelles and crocodiles in the river. The Makran Coastal Highway, which runs from Karachi towards Gwadar, has made the journey far easier than in the days when pilgrims crossed the desert on foot and by camel. The Makran region shares its name with the Iranian province across the border, and Baloch, the language spoken by most of its people, is an Iranian language.

Hinglaj Mata through time

Iranian history
  1. Elam and the first cities4000 BCE
  2. The Medes850 BCE
  3. The Achaemenids550 BCE
  4. Seleucids and Parthians330 BCE
  5. The Sasanians224
  6. The Arab conquest and the Persian revival636
  7. Seljuks, Mongols and Ilkhanids1040
  8. The Timurids1370
  9. The Safavids1501
  10. Afsharids, Zands and Qajars1736
  11. The Pahlavi century and after1925

1925–2026

The Pahlavi century and afterدوران پهلوی و پس از آن

Two Pahlavi shahs built railways, universities and a centralised state, while poets, novelists and film-makers created a new Persian culture. The era ended with the revolution of 1979.

  • 1988 Hingol National Park established

More in Balochistanبلوچستان

Balochistan

  • Bolan Pass

    The pass from the Indus plain up to Quetta

  • Mehrgarh

    One of the earliest farming villages in South Asia, at the foot of the Bolan Pass

Stories from the regionداستان‌ها

A long panel of Baluch needlework, red and saffron-edged, filled with diamonds and stars and set with tiny mirrors, beside the Makran coast at night with a dhow on the sea, clay hills, saffron sand and date palms under a white moon.

From the Makran coast to the deserts of Sistan

Baluch

The Baluch, *Baloch* in their own spelling, live across Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan and around the Gulf. They keep the Balochi language, epic ballads, healing music and some of Iran’s finest embroidery.

An upright black sorud fiddle with a red bow across it before a saffron halo, between two date palms, inside a pointed arch

From Makran to the Karakum

Balochi

Spoken across the dry lands where Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan meet, and by communities from Turkmenistan to Oman, Balochi carries a long tradition of sung epic and romance.

A saffron rubab with a white skin-covered body held at a slant before a red halo, dark mountains behind, inside a pointed arch

The language of the Pashtuns

Pashto

One of Afghanistan’s two official languages and a major language of Pakistan, Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language with a fierce literary tradition and a folk poem of just two lines.