The Soomra dynasty () was a late medieval dynasty of

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

ruled by the

Soomro Soomro ( Sindhi: , Devanagari: सूमरो), Soomra, Sumrah or Sumra is a tribe having a local origin in Sindh, Pakistan. They are found in Sindh, parts of Punjab especially bordering Sindh, Balochistan province, and the Kutch district of ...

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

, and at times adjacent regions, located in what is now

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Sources

The only extant source is the ''Diwan-i Farruhi'', a Persian chronicle by Abul-Hasan Ali describing

Mahmud of Ghazni Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sabuktigin (; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi (), was Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, ruling from 998 to 1030. During his reign and in medieval sources, he is usuall ...

's invasion (1025 AD) of Mansura, the erstwhile capital of Sindh. Contemporary coinage from Sindh is scarce and of poor quality with offset flans — while some of them can be read to contain the name of Al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah and

Al-Mustansir Billah Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Mustanṣir biʾllāh (‎; 2 July 1029 – 29 December 1094) was the eighth Fatimid Caliph from 1036 until 1094. He was one of the longest reigning Muslim rulers. His reign was the twilight of the Fatimid state. The st ...

, the Fatimid Caliphs from 1021 until 1094, then, they lack in the name of the issuer and cannot evidence the dynasty.

History

Establishment

The early history of Soomras is unclear. Ali describes the flight and eventual death by drowning of Hafif (var. Khafif), then-ruler of Sindh, during the faceoff with Mahmud but does not specify whether he was the last Habbarid or first Soomra. Later chroniclers like Ali ibn al-Athir (c. late 12th c.) and

Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...

(c. late 14th c.) attributed the fall of Habbarids to Mahmud of Ghazni, lending credence to the argument of Hafif being the last Habbarid. The Soomras appear to have established themselves as a regional power in this vacuum. The Soomras themselves also claimed an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

origin. They have been retrospectively claimed to be Parmar Rajputs. In Ain I Akbari (16th century) the Sumra dynesty is mentioned as of A

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

leneage. Some of them were adherents of

Isma'ilism Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the ...

— Arab travelers held them to be

Qarmatians The Qarmatians (; ) were a militant Isma'ili Shia movement centred in Al-Ahsa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a religious state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adhered to a syncretic branch of Sevener Ismaili ...

, and correspondence with the Fatimid caliph,

has been located.

Territory

The

Ghurids The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; ; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from the 8th-century in the region of Ghor, and became an Empire from 1175 to 1215. The G ...

and

Ghaznavids The Ghaznavid dynasty ( ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin. It ruled the Ghaznavid Empire or the Empire of Ghazni from 977 to 1186, which at its greatest extent, extended from the Oxus ...

continued to rule parts of Sindh, across the eleventh and early twelfth century, alongside Soomras. The precise delineations have yet to be discovered, but the Soomras were probably centered in lower Sindh. One of their kings Shimuddin Chamisar had submitted to

Iltutmish Shams ud-Din Iltutmish (1192 – 30 April 1236) was the third of the Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sovereign to rule from Delhi, and is thus considered the effective founder of ...

, the

Sultan of Delhi The Sultan of Delhi was the absolute monarch of the Delhi Sultanate which stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent during the period of medieval era, for 320 years (1206–1526).

Sources

History

Establishment

Territory

List of Soomro rulers

Kingdom of Umarkot

See also

Notes

References