The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c11.152

v1.c11.152

The origin and history of the Sūmras are also shrouded in considerable difficulties. *Ta'rīkh-i-Maʻṣūmī* (c. 1600 A.D.), our earliest authority on the dynasty, says that "after the death of Maḥmūd, the sovereignty passed to his offspring, and the government of Sind devolved upon ʿAbd ur-Rashīd Sulṭān Masʿūd (*c.* 1052 A.D.). This prince gave himself up to the pursuit of pleasure and heeded not the duties of government; so the people on the distant borders began to reject his authority and threw off the yoke of obedience. At that time the men of Sūmra assembled in the vicinity of Thari (the 'little desert' separating Sind from Kachh) and raised a man named Sūmra to the throne. He had passed a long time as the head of the tribe of Sūmra and he cleared the country of disaffection."¹ Mīr Maʿṣūmī then gives an account of this dynasty from local tradition, and admits that he never met with any written account of this dynasty. He concludes with the statement: "I have composed this summary. If any one is better acquainted with the subject, he should make additions to this."² The *Ā'īn-i-Akbarī* simply states that the Sūmra (Rajput) line of 36 princes reigned for 500 years.³ Firishta (*c.* 1611 A.D.) tells us that the Anṣārī tribe was succeeded in the government of Sind by the Sūmra Zamindars, who reigned for 500 years; but he frankly admits: 'neither the names nor the history of these princes are, I believe, at present extant, since I have failed in my endeavour to procure them.'⁴ The *Ta'rīkh-i-Ṭāhirī* (*c.* 1621 A.D.) says that 'from the year of the Hijra 700 (1300 A.D.), until 843 (A.D. 1439), that is to say, for a period of 143 years, the Hindu tribe of Sūmra were the rulers of Sind.'⁵ The *Beg-Lār-nāma* (*c.* 1625 A.D.) simply states that the Sūmras succeeded the men of the Tamin tribe, and occupied the seat of government in Sind for 505 years.¹ Muḥammad Yūsuf in his *Muntakhab ut-Tawārīkh* agrees with Mīr Ma‘ṣūm in his account of the Sūmras, but he supplies us in addition with a list of these princes with their reign-periods.² This list is also found in the latest Sindian chronicle *Tuḥfat ul-Kirām* (*c.* 1767-68 A. D.) which however adds that the ‘Sūmra tribe sprang from the Arabs of Sāmira, who arrived in Sind in the fourth century of the Hijra.’³