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Dr. Salome Zajadacz-Hastenrath summarizes earlier research as follows :

A cemetery (...) In 1910, Sir (...)

XXX.

In the meantime (1978) the German scholar Dr. Salome Zajadacz-Hastenrath published a book in German, in which she mainly dealt with the stylistic evolution of Chaukhandi tombs. When comparing Chaukhandi tombs (namely tombs of particular types and forms thereof) among each other, a typological framework was established and consequently a relative chronology. By comparing this framework with dated structures, mainly of Makli Hill, but also of other sites, the study arrived at dates for the various stages of evolution of the Chaukhandi tombs which later developed, but which did, however, not replace preceeding ones. Besides, Chaukhandi tombs strictly speaking, the study dealt also with individual topics like, for instance, with 'Form of the tombstones', 'Riders, weapons, and other depictions on men's graves', 'Jewellery depictions on women's graves', articles which all show the richness of Chaukhandi funerary art. Further, the documentary part of the book includes a list of dated stonemasonry patterns on Chaukhandi tombs.

The study is mainly based on photographs taken at a total of 50 cemeteries; the book includes a representative selection of 112 photographs. A catalogue of the cemeteries visited provides details on their locations, and the number, types and conditions of the tombs. The cemeteries listed include tombs and other structures located in areas reaching from the Hub River in the west up to the region of Tando Muhammad Khan and of Shah Kapur in the east.

As a result of her study Salome Zajadacz-Hastenrath summed up that Chaukhandi tombs developed far beyond a kind of folkloristic specialty; they evolved from traditional forms of tombs widely spread in the Lower Sindh (also on Makli Hill, but there with richer forms), Gujarat and Kathiawar to tombs having a monumental quality achieved by height with a strongly sculptural decoration. 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'). Being unique in the whole Islamic world the author considered the Chaukhandi tombs a most original and independent contributions to Islamic sepulchral architecture and ornamental sculpture.

The notable character of the study was also outlined in the Encyclopedia of Islam. When dealing with the various types of sepulchral structures on the Indian Subcontinent and when referring to the study of S. Zajadacz-Hastenrath the author wrote that it was only in the case of the Chaukhandi tombs, that anything like a systematic study has been made.

In 2003 (i.e. after the author's decease in 1998), an English translation of the book was published in Pakistan.

Controversy
Shaikh Khurshid Hasan writes: (...)

Nath has traced the origin of Chaukhandi. According to him Chaukhandi is a vernacular term derived from the Sanskrit Chaukhanda which means four storeyed, Khanda technically denoting (...)

The Chaukhandi graveyard was declared as a protected monument by the pre-independance government of India under the AMPA 1904 in September