Lower Sindh: the Sumras

Who rules

Name

Not pinned. Late Sindhi lists name Bhungar (Bhoongar) II as reigning 1195-1226; they are unreliable.

Title

Chief (rana) of the Sumras

Since

not pinned

Family

Sumra (Soomro)

Confidence

low

Wikipedia 'Soomra dynasty' (table from late Sindhi traditions); Juzjani for Mu'izz al-Din's march to Daybul (578 AH, 1182).

Overlord

The Ghurid sultan Mu'izz al-Din claims lower Sindh since his march to Daybul and the sea coast in 578 AH (1182); how far the Sumras pay tribute or name him in the khutba in 1200 is not pinned.

The realm that morning

Lower Sindh is drawn as Sumra ground, a Ghurid tributary. Upper Sindh with Bhakkar is drawn as Ghurid, under the governor of Uch; Sehwan (Siwistan) between them is drawn as Sumra ground but may have been held for the Ghurids (not pinned).

Wealth

The Indus floodplain's grain and cotton, the delta's rice, the port of Daybul and the Indian Ocean trade (much of it now passing to the Gulf ports and Gujarat), cattle and camels.

Threats

• Ghurid governors upstream (Qabacha will hold Sehwan and Daybul in the 1210s and 1220s).
• Silting and shifting of the Indus channels.

Ruler

Not pinned (see holder).

Great families

The Sumra clans; the Samma, later their rivals; the merchants of Daybul.

Castles and towns

Daybul, the old port of Sindh; Mansura, the old Arab capital, in decline; Nirun; the Sumra seats in the delta (Tharri and Muhammad Tur in later tradition; not pinned for 1200).

Mints tolls and markets

Daybul's port and the river trade of the Indus; mint not pinned.

Treaties and wars

Ghurid overlordship since 1182 (claimed). No war recorded for 1199-1200.

Relations with neighbours

The Ghurid governors of Uch and Multan upstream; Makran to the west (see far); the Rajput lands of the Thar to the east (outside).

Religious communities

Muslims, some of them Ismailis; Hindus, the majority in the countryside; Buddhists survive in places (not pinned).

The host

Clan levies and river boats. No numbers.

Where the sources disagree

• The brief's 'Daybul: the Ghurids took it about 1182' is supported by Juzjani's account of 578 AH; whether Daybul is held by a Ghurid officer or a Sumra tributary on 1 January 1200 is not pinned. In 1223 a Sumra chief, Chanesar, rules Daybul and flees from Jalal al-Din Mingburnu (Juvaini, Nasawi).

Evidence: No contemporary source names the Sumra ruler of 1200; the lists are late and contradictory.

On the map: The Sumra extent in 1200 is a reasoned guess; the Indus ran in different channels then.

Primary sources for this realm

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