Samma are a very large and important indigenous tribe of
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
. The Samma are spread across
Pakistan and
North- West India being most concentrated in Sindh , their origin but are also found throughout the
Punjab region as well as parts of
Balochistan,
Gujarat and
Rajasthan,samma are Distributed in sindh and
Sandhai Muslims The Sandhi Muslims are a community found in the state of Gujarat in India. Sandhi Muslims belong to a Samma tribe from Sindh. They are one of a number of communities of pastoral nomads found in the Banni region of Kutch.''People of India: Gujarat V ...
are family members of
Samma Dynasty. Offshoots of the main branch include the
migrant Jadejas and
Chudasamas of
India.
History
As per the Historian
Andre Wink, in the Muslim sources of that time period the Samma's history along with other tribes in that region was intertwined to the Jats either as a subdivision of it or a group at par with the Jats. But the areas of Sammas were confined to Brahmanabad and its neighbouring regions.
Ma’sumi also talked about the early history of Sammas and other tribes who had to face restrictions similar to that of Jats.
Historian Sarah F.D Ansari says that both Sammas and Sumras were local
Rajput tribes whose chiefs had converted to Islam and were followers of
Suhrawardi Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
saints who had their base at
Uch and
Multan.
Firishta mentioned two groups of
zamindars in Sindh namely
Sumra
The Soomra (or Soomro) dynasty (, '' lit.'' the family/dynasty of the Soomras) was a late medieval dynasty of Sindh, and at times adjacent regions, located in what is now Pakistan.
Sources
The only contemporary literary source remains the ' ...
and Samma.
'
Ala al-Din Khilji (1296-1316) mounted a number of campaigns in the region battling the Sumra princes whose cycle of capitulation/rebellion could be charted exactly to the perceived military stress on the metropole. Yet, the Delhi Sultans and their governor rarely resorted to invading Sumra held territories - relying, instead, on alliances with tribal elite and local power struggles. Against the Sumras, Khiljl advanced the cause of the tribe of Samma. The conflict guaranteed a rolling supply of princes and tribal chiefs wanting alliances with the center. The tussle for dominance between the Sumras and the Samma lasted until the reign of Firuz Shah Tughluq (1351- 1388), when the Jam emirs of Samma were finally able to end Sumra dominance, taking over lower Sindh.
References
Further reading
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People from Sindh
People from Punjab, Pakistan
{{Pakistan-ethno-stub
People from Balochistan, Pakistan