The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c11.173.3

v1.c11.173.3

It is possible that the beginning of the rise of the dynasty is to be traced to the period of confusion in Sind which followed the rise of the Ṣaffārids in the middle of the 9th century (257 A.H.=870-71 A.D.). There is some likelihood that the prince who was ousted by Maḥmūd of Ghazni may possibly have been a Sūmra prince. In the sacred books of the Druses we find an epistle addressed in the year 433 A.H. (1032 A.D.) to the 'Unitarians of Multan and Hindūstān in general, and to Shaikh ibn Sūmar Rājā Bal in particular.'¹ The Sūmras probably continued to acknowledge the suzerainty of Maḥmūd and his son Ma'sūd, but became virtually free from all control in the reign of 'Abd ur-Rashīd (*c.* 1052 A.D.). After a period of virtual independence they had probably again to bow before Mu'izz ud-Dīn Muḥammad Sām when he conquered Multan and Uchch in 570 A.H. (A.D. 1175) and undertook his disastrous march against Anhilwāra in A.H. 574 (A.D. 1178). The *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī* informs us that Mu'izz ud-Dīn Ghūrī conquered Daibul and the coast regions in its neighbourhood in A.H. 578 (A.D. 1182).² Nāṣir ud-Dīn Qabācha, who was appointed governor of Upper Sind in 1205 A.D., possibly also held some sort of a loose hegemony over them. After his defeat and death in A.D.