it is generally believed that the soomra period is an obscure period in sindh history. its beginning is mysterious and is accidently certain in 1333 a.a [7]
, mir tahir muhammad nisyani, in his tarikh tahiri (1621ad) asserts that soomras were originally hindus. [8] they converted to islam (by choise) but remained hindu in their customs, dress and even in their names. , amrah soomro was the first to accept islam. tarikh waqa`i rajisthan corroborates this viewpoint and confirms that soomras were originally “parmar rajputs”. they are mentioned as qarmati, by hamdani abbas in his article published in darul ma`arif, cairo. however, according to a local researcher, maulai shedai, soomras were parmar rajputs.
they established themselves in that region but failed to extend their authority over upper upper sindh and multan. ). they substituted the arab habari government of al-mansurah (875 – 1025 ad) after the episode of sultan mahmud ghaznavi’s sack of al-mansurah and unsuccessful hold over sindh. according to the tarikh-i- masumi the soomra’s during the reign of sultan mahmud of ghazni,s son mas’ud can be found as he tried to place a man of their tribe on the throne. the total reign period of sumra’s is told as 143 ( lunar) years ( a.d 1300- 1439) in tarikh-i-tahiri , but as far as other authorities is concerned it was 500 or even 550 years. [9]
it is generally assumed that the sumra’s were muslims from the later rulers of sumra’s [10]. ibn-e-batuta who arrived in sindh in 1333 a.d during the reign of muhammad bin tughlaq states about the soomra’s that
“ they do not eat with anybody nor can anyone look towards them when they are eating; nor do they marry among people other than their own, and no one marries in their fold”[11]
mahmud bagarha when first invaded sindh came to know that soomra’s were muslims who had little knowledge of islam. they were living in sindh with hindus but not likely hindus used to live. mas’ud soomra after mahmud of ghazni, consolidated his position by marrying the daughter of powerful chieftain’s named sad who was succeeded by bhungar. bhungar ruled for 15 years after bhungars death his son duda extended his rule up to nasrpur and died in 1092. after the death of duda his minor son singhar succeeded. singhar reigned for 15 years and conquered a part of cutch as he has no son then his wife hamun took charge of the government. however, the internal strife occurred during hamun’s reign that one pithu a descendant of ‘duda’ established himself as a king. according to jagaducharita of sarvananda the pithadeva of para ( the peninsula on the north-east side of runn of cutch which is called parkar) destroyed the cutch and reached “bhadresvara” and after destroying the rampart of the city he returned to para [12]. bhuler identified this pithadeva with sumra’s chief pithu. pithu was succeeded by one khaira who was later succeeded by one khafif or hafif. they rule for about 33 years and people seem to be happy and content. during this reign ‘smma’s first appeared or mentioned. khafif was succeeded by pithu;s son ‘umar’ who was later succeeded by his son duda ii who ruled for 14 years who later succeeded by hamir duda who was a last king of sumra’s dynasty overthrown by samma’s in 752/1351-2.[13]
the decline of soomra’s and the rise of samma’s can be image from the letter written from ain-ul-mulk-mahru ,the governor of multan in the early years of feroz tughlaq to the governor of gujrat in which the establishment of samma’s strength and the usurps of the sumra’s is narrated.
in soomra rule the population of the society consisted of four classes: 1). ashrafs meains upper class, 2). muwali, means workers, 3).zimis, means non- muslims, and slaves. zimis were divided in four classes, such as barahman, khatri, vaisha and shudhra. in spite of division, we find that there was religious tolerance in the society. islam, bhudism and hinduism survived side by side. hindus and muslims were equally disciples and followers of same saints such as qalandar shahbaz, udero lal etc.
it was during the reign of soomra rulers of sindh of 12th, 13th century a.d, that sufi mystics came to sindh from persia. soomras by then had got rid of ismaili shias and had become sunny muslims. then the arrival of the renowned sufi saint mohammad usman marvandi lal shahbaz qalandar in sindh from multan in 1273 a.d during the reign of soomra king tai bin dodo (1272-73 to 1295-96), finally made sindh a stronghold of sufism.[14].even so, the magic of sufism attracted them a lot and it pacified their behavior towards mystic sufi saints. the soomra rulers patronized the sufi movement by giving out lands, jagirs to sufis to maintain khankahs and dargahs(shrines).
even though the impact of sufism was gradual, the people of sindh, muslims , hindus and other casts of and religions, found it convenient to adapt it as they found an spiritual solace in its principles.
in arabic “suf” means wool. during the 8th century a.d., some muslims mystics were seen wearing white woolen robe but in the 9th century a.d, this white woolen robe became common among the muslim mystics, hence they were called sufis. sindh became the place of peace, tranquility, tolerance and religious security, bringing hindus and muslims closer to each other by the doctrines of sufism.
in soomra rule a few events took place those throw light on hindu-muslim relations. however, they were not because of religious differences in any case. but, obviously seems to be reason and cause of worries for hindu segment of society.
1).the famous romance of moomal and rano mendhro took place during the reign of king hamir soomro, who ruled over sindh from 1400-1439/40 a.d. moomal was hindu and rano was a muslim. both were beloved to each other. but, rano doubted moomal , her character and integrity and it cost life of moomal. she put herself on fire. this tragic event occurred not because of religious differences, but, due to misunderstanding. it speaks about the liberal society of sindh in which religion was no more sources of hindrances in love and romance. [15]
2). another event , that took place in soomra rule was kidnapping of hindu girl marvi by ruler umar. in the year 1355-56 a.d., umar soomro-ii became the king of sindh. the capital of his empire was umarkot in the thar desert of sindh. he, on the indication and instigation of phog, kidnapped marvi by force. marvi was brought to his castle and umar asked her to marry with him. but, she kept telling king umer soomro, “o! umer i belong to my parents, my betrothed khet sen and my people and will not disgrace myself by accepting your fineries”. for so many days ,the ruler did his best but, all in vain. hence, she was made free and allowed to go to malir.
this event reflects sorrows and longings of hindu community of sindh, beside greatness of sindh ruler who surrendered before a young girl and honored her accordingly.
