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 Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Sources

The only contemporary literary source remains the ''Diwan-i Farruhi'', written by one Abul-Hasan Ali in Persian — it described Mahmud of Ghazni's invasion (1025 AD) of Mansura, erstwhile capital of Sindh. Contemporary coinage from Sindh is scarce and of poor quality with offset flans; though some of them can be read to contain the name of

Al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥākim ( ar, أبو الحسن علي ابن الحاكم; 20 June 1005 – 13 June 1036), better known with his regnal name al-Ẓāhir li-iʿzāz Dīn Allāh ( ar, الظاهر لإعزاز دين الله, ...

and Al-Mustansir Billah — the Fatimid Caliphs from 1021 until 1094 —, then, they lack in the name of the issuer and cannot evidence the dynasty.

Establishment

Ali describes the flight and eventual death by drowning of Hafif (var. Khafif), then-ruler of Sindh, during the faceoff with Mahmud but does not specify whether he was the last Habbarid or first Soomra. Later chroniclers like

Ali ibn al-Athir Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian a ...

(c. late 12th c.) and Ibn Khaldun (c. late 14th c.) attributed the fall of Habbarids to Mahmud of Ghazni, lending credence to the argument of Hafif being the last Habbarid. The Soomras appear to have established themselves as a regional power in this power vacuum.

Territory

The

Ghurids The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; fa, دودمان غوریان, translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from the ...

and Ghaznavids continued to rule parts of Sindh, across the eleventh and early twelfth century, alongside Soomrus. The precise delineations are not yet known but Sommrus were probably centered in lower Sindh.

History

Ahmad Hasan Dani Ahmad Hassan Dani (Urdu: احمد حسن دانی) FRAS, SI, HI (20 June 1920 – 26 January 2009) was a Pakistani archaeologist, historian, and linguist. He was among the foremost authorities on Central Asian and South Asian archaeology ...

as well as

Annemarie Schimmel Annemarie Schimmel (7 April 1922 – 26 January 2003) was an influential German Orientalist and scholar who wrote extensively on Islam, especially Sufism. She was a professor at Harvard University from 1967 to 1992. Early life and education ...

note the early history of Soomras to be sketchy; they have been retrospectively claimed to be Parmar Rajputs but without proof. Some of them were adherents of

Isma'ilism Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-S ...

— Arab travelers hold them to be " Qarmatians" and correspondence with the Fatimid caliph, Al-Mustansir Billah have been located. One of their kings Shimuddin Chamisar had submitted to

Iltutmish Shams ud-Din Iltutmish ( fa, شمس الدین ایلتتمش; died 30 April 1236, ) was the third of the Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid Empire, Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sove ...

, the

Sultan of Delhi The following list of Indian monarchs is one of several lists of incumbents. It includes those said to have ruled a portion of the Indian subcontinent, including Sri Lanka. The earliest Indian rulers are known from epigraphical sources fou ...

, and was allowed to continue on as a vassal.

Notes

References

{{Authority control History of Sindh Medieval India Hindu dynasties Dynasties of India Sindh Empires and kingdoms of India