VANISHING VISUAL HERITAGE: SATI AND HERO STONES IN NAGARPARKAR, SINDH ZULFIQAR ALI KALHORO Introduction: Nagarparkar is located in south-eastern part of Tharparkar district in Sindh. It joins marshy Rann of Kachchh in south. The desert of Thar is so vast and gigantic that its physiographic properties vary markedly from one region to other. Tharparkar is thus divided into nine parts namely Kaerr Thar, Kantho Thar, Parkar area, Samroti Thar, Wangho Thar, Wat, Mohrano, Dhat and Achhro Thar (Harijan 2005:1-12).The present study was conducted in Parkar area of Tharparkar. Parkar area consists of southern portion of taluka Nagarparkar. The outcrop of hills including Karunjhar range covers quite a bit of this area. The land is fertile and cultivable. Both Muslims and Hindus inhabit in the Nagarparkar taluka. Nagarparkar is rich in terms of history, archaeology and architecture. While travelling in Nagarparkar, one comes across many Jaina and Hindu temples. Apart from Jain and Hindu temples, the landscape of Nagarparkar is dotted with memorial stones. These memorial stones are objects of veneration for Hindus living in the area. Most of the memorial stones belong to Sodha Rajputs who ruled over Nagarparkar. The paper aims at describing the crumbling condition of free-standing memorial stones commemorating satis and Jhujhars (beheaded heroes) Prior to moving to the discussion of memorial stones, it is indispensable first to throw some light on history of Sodhas since most of the memorial stones in Nagarparkar are related to them. History of the Sodhas: The Sodhas belonged to the Parmar branch of Rajputs. Parmars are divided into 35 branches, notably Soomras, Sankla, Mori, Sagra, Rehar, Dhunda, Pasra and Barkota (Ganguly 1933:24). Dharni Brah, the Raja of Abu (Rajasthan) in AD 1030, had two sons, named Mahipal (alias Devraj) and Bahar. Bahar had three sons, Sodho, Sankhlo and Bagh, it was from the line of the first two (Sodho and Sankhlo) that the Sodha and Sankhla tribes were created, respectively while the third son, Bagh, died without producing a tribe to carry his name ( Solanki 2004, 19). After the death of Dharni Brah (alias Charrai) in AD 1070, his elder son Mahipal became the Raja of Abu. Bahar left Abu and settled in Radhanpur. His eldest son, Sodho, captured Ratokot in AD 1125, which was then under the suzerainty of the Soomra Rajputs. Sodho and his son Chachak lived in Ratokot and consolidated many neighbouring villages. The Sodhas became known as Ranas in Ratokot (Harijan 2005, Solanki, 2004,), Rano Raj Dev, son of Chachak Dev, was a brave ruler in the family of the Sodhas. He began to plot the attack and capture of Umarkot from the Soomras. In forming his strategy, he sent his court poets, Junfah Charan and Budhiman Charan, to prepare the ground