The Chaukhandi tombs (Urdu: چوکنڈی قبرستان; Sindhi: چوڪُنڊي) form an early Islamic cemetery situated 29 km (18 mi) east of Karachi, Sindh province of Pakistan.

The upper box is further covered with four or five horizontal slabs and the topmost construction is set vertically with its northern end often carved into a knob known as a crown or a turban.

The tombs are embellished with geometrical designs and motifs, including figural representations such as mounted horsemen, hunting scenes, arms, and jewelry.

Dr. Salome Zajadacz-Hastenrath summarizes earlier research on these and similar tombs in Sindh as follows:[2] A cemetery of this type was discovered at the turn of the 20th century in Hinidan by Major M. A. Tighe, Political Agent in southern Balochistan.

Baskerville's published report raised the question of a possible above-ground burial – but he dismissed this after a careful investigation of one of the stone chambers in the cemetery, which did not contain any remains.

Referring to the studies by G. E. L. Carter, he noted that more than twenty such cemeteries had been identified, and rejected the theory regarding above-ground burials, pointing to the frequent occurrence of arcade-like perforations in the lower casket.

Information about a single tomb of this type in the vicinity of the village of Baghwana, south-west of the Las Bela (princely state), was published in 1931 by Sir Aurel Stein.

[5] According to local tradition the tomb was that of Mai Masura, a saintly beggar women; legend had it that the stone slabs had miraculously flown through the air from Kandahar.

[6] He believed that that cemetery enclosure dated from the 14th century, being therefore older than the monuments on Makli Hill; he also found some additional tombs of lesser significance in the vicinity of the nearby mausoleum of Sheikh Turabi.

I. H. Qureshi, a renowned historian and the then education minister (later Chancellor of Karachi University), drew the attention of the Department of Archeology and Museums to them, having received a letter on the subject from Zahid Hussain, Governor of State Bank of Pakistan[citation needed].

[9] In a 1984 article on the Chaukhandi tombs Shaikh Khurshid Hasan mainly dealt with the decorative elements of the stone carving.

It covered an area reaching from the Hub River in the west up to the region of Tando Muhammad Khan and of Shah Kapur in the east.

Zajadacz-Hastenrath concluded that the Chaukhandi tombs had developed far beyond a kind of folkloristic specialty; they evolved from traditional forms of tombs widely spread in the Lower Sindh ( e.g. on Makli Hill, but there with richer forms, Kathiawar and Gujarat) to graves with a monumental quality, achieved by their unusual height, coupled with strong sculptural decorations.

The apex of this development was reached during the first half of the 17th century of which fine examples were shown in figures 34, 35 and 36 of the study (the author called these 'Tombs with projecting surfaces').

[15] While dealing with the various types of sepulchral structures on the South Asia and referring to the study of Zajadacz-Hastenrath, the author of that article stressed that it was only in the case of the Chaukhandi tombs that such a systematic research had been done.

Some Rajput tribes, namely the Jokhio, the Satlari, emigrated from Kutch (Gujarat) and Rajputana towards the Sindh and Makran regions during the Samma Dynasty.

His hypothesis suggested a tribal Rajput origin in the utilization not only of the monolithic slabs and pedestals in the step-shaped graves, but also in the naive decoration of some tombs, resembling a house facade, or a human face as if drawn by a child.

[7] However, this argument has flaws because all the tombs covered with umbrella shaped domes or with a rectangular pavilion at Chaukhandi have more than four pillars or columns.

[7] [Ali Ahmad] Brohi's view on the other hand is that Chaukhandi is used for a domed roof, a kind of chhattri (umbrella/pavilion) which is supported by four to eight pillars, whiereby the sides are left open.

In support of his theory he refers to a similar inscription on a grave at Got Raj Malik and, therefore, does not agree that Chaukhandi is the name of a place.

The fact that the cemeteries lie in an area in which the Balochis are either the only ethnic group or live alongside other tribes provides support for this description.

Salome Zajadacz-Hastenrath also comments on Mumtaz Hassan's theory and says (...) it does not seem possible to establish a convincing connection between the word 'Chaukhandi' and the tombs themselves.