The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s1.1

v3.c29.s1.1

THE history of Sind from the period of the Arab conquest early in the eighth century to the time when it became a province is fragmentary and obscure. From the first conquest until A.D. 1010, when it was conquered by Mahmūd of Ghaznī it was ruled by a governor or governors who pretended to represent the ‘Abbāsid Caliphs of Baghdād, but were more probably hereditary rulers who obtained the Caliph’s recognition as a matter of form, and in some cases, doubtless, neglected even this formality. From its conquest by Mahmūd until 1053, in the reign of Farrukhzād, the tenth of his line, it was, at least nominally, a province of the empire of Ghaznī, but in that year, while the empire was still in confusion owing to the recent usurpation of Tughril ‘the Ingrate,’ the Sūmras, a native Rājput tribe of Lower Sind established themselves in that region, but failed to extend their authority over Upper Sind and Multān. The province was conquered by Mu‘izz-ud-dīn Muhammad Ghūrī, and was governed by his lieutenant, Nāsir-ud-dīn Qabācha, who attempted, after his master’s death, to assert his independence, but was conquered by Shams-ud-dīn Iltutmish. Of the nature and extent of the authority exercised by the later Slave kings over the province little is known, but it probably varied with the personal character of the monarch and of the ruler of Sind. The province owned the authority of Ghiyās-ud-dīn and of the Khaljīs of Delhi, whose power preserved it from becoming the prey of the Mughuls, but retained so much autonomy, even during the reign of Muhammad Tughluq, whose empire included the whole of India except Kashmīr and some tracts in the neighbourhood of Cape Comorin in the extreme south and in Kāthiāwār in the extreme west, as enabled the Sammās, a Rājput tribe of Cutch and Lower Sind, to oust the Sūmras and to usurp, without the interference of any central authority, the government of the country. There are many discrepancies as to the date of this event, and one authority places it in 1439, which is at least a century too late. From a consideration of all the circumstances it is safe to conclude that it occurred about 1336.