Daybul

Who holds it

Name

Not pinned (a Sumra chief or a Ghurid officer)

Title

Port of lower Sindh

Since

Ghurid overlordship since 578 AH (1182)

Confidence

low

Lord in 1200

Not pinned. Mu'izz al-Din marched to Daybul in 578 AH (1182) and brought the coast under his sway (Juzjani); in 1223 a Sumra chief, Chanesar, held it and fled before Jalal al-Din Mingburnu. In 1200 it is most likely under Sumra rule as a Ghurid tributary.

How things stand that morning

Drawn as Sumra ground under Ghurid overlordship.

Communities

Muslims (some Ismailis), Hindus, foreign merchants.

Walls and castle

Town walls and a fort.

Trade and crafts

Sea trade with Kish, Hormuz, Oman and the Indian coast; the delta's rice and cotton.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: One dated Ghurid campaign and a later Sumra ruler.

Primary sources for Sindh (Sumras)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
• The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
• The Book of Roger (the Pleasure of Him who Longs to Cross the Horizons), Muhammad al-Idrisi (completed 1154 at Palermo). The nearest Arabic geography in time to 1200 for the Indian Ocean. Read online
• The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: the Muhammadan Period, vol. 2, Various (Ibn al-Athir, Hasan Nizami, Awfi, Juzjani and others), edited by H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (the sources date from the 1190s to the 14th century; the collection was published in 1869). A one-volume anthology of the Arabic and Persian accounts of the Ghurid conquest. Read online