Samma
JātiJats, Rajput
Religions Islam
LanguagesGujarati, Sindhi, Punjabi,
Country Pakistan,  India
RegionRajasthan, Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat
EthnicitySindhi
Feudal titleJam

Samma (Sindhi: سمان) is a community and a tribe that has origins in Sindh.[1] The Samma are spread across Pakistan and North-West India, being most concentrated in Sindh, but are also found throughout the Punjab region as well as parts of Balochistan, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. The Sandhai Muslims are Samma who converted to Islam. Offshoots of the main branch of Samma include the Jadejas and Chudasamas of India.

Territorial influence of the Samma tribe in late 13th century, highlighted in red.

Origins

According to the genealogy in Tuhfatu-L Kiram, the Sammas originated from Rama, the son of Dashrath.[2]

The Samma's history, along with other tribes in the region, is intertwined with the Jats, either as a subdivision of it or a group at par with the Jats.[3] They faced restrictions similar to that of Jats.[4][5] But Samma communities were confined to Brahmanabad and its neighbouring regions.[3] As per writer Sarah F.D. Ansari, both Sammas and Sumras were local Rajput tribes whose chiefs had converted to Islam and were followers of Suhrawardi Sufi saints with their base at Uch and Multan.[6] Firishta mentions two groups of zamindars in Sindh, namely Sumra and Samma.[7] Jadeja and Chudasama clans which are the offshoot branches of the main Samma tribe are also mainly recognized as Rajputs.

History

Ala al-Din Khilji (1296–1316) mounted a number of campaigns in the region, battling the Sumra princes whose cycle of capitulation and 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 elites and local power struggles. Against the Sumras, Khilji 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.[8] They established the Samma dynasty which ruled over sindh from 1336 to 1524 and at its peak included parts of Punjab, Gujarat, and Balochistan regions along with entire region of Sindh.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ahmed, Manan (2008). The many histories of Muhammad b. Qasim: Narrating the Muslim conquest of Sindh. The University of Chicago. pp. 99–102, 171–173.
  2. ↑ Elliot, Henry Miers (29 October 2021). The History of India: As told by its own Historians: Vol. I. BoD – Books on Demand. pp. 337, 338. ISBN 978-3-7525-2368-3.
  3. 1 2 Wink, A. (2002). Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Early medieval India and the expansion of Islam 7th-11th centuries. Vol. 1. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 158-159. ISBN 978-0-391-04125-7. Retrieved 2 August 2022. Samma, Sahtah, Chand(Channa)....which appear, at least in the Muslim sources, to be subdivisions of the Jats or to be put on a par with the Jats. Some of these tribes were dominating others, but they all, as a matter of course, suffered certain discriminatory measures (cf. infra) under both the Rai and Brahman dynasties and the Arabs. The territories of the Lohana, Lakha and Samma are also described as separate jurisdictions under the governor of Brahmanabad in the pre-Muslim era. Whatever may be the original distinction between Samma and Jat - the two tribes from which the majority of Sindis descend - , in later times it became completely blurred and the same people may be classed as Samma and Jat. The Samma residential area however was probably restricted to Brahmanabad and its immediate neighbourhood.
  4. ↑ Asif, M.A. (2016). A Book of Conquest: The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia. Harvard University Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-674-66011-3. Retrieved 2 August 2022. Masumi goes on to trace the early history of the Samma people of Sind and to place them in the role of the Jat of Chachnama-a lower caste needing to be monitored.
  5. ↑ Ahmed, Manan (2008). The many histories of Muhammad b. Qasim: Narrating the Muslim conquest of Sindh. The University of Chicago. p. 173. This episode, given on the authority of Chachnama, is purely a construct of Ma'sum but it demonstrates, once again, the malleability of pasts, in service of the present. Chachnama, and the history of Muhammad b. Qasim, is recast as the ur-text of Sindhi history by Ma'sumi. Ma'sümi goes on to trace the early history of the Sammã as well, placing them in the role of the Jats of Chachnama and referred to as the "lowest caste."
  6. ↑ Ansari, Sarah F. D. (31 January 1992). Sufi Saints and State Power: The Pirs of Sind, 1843-1947. Cambridge University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-521-40530-0. One of the most well-known all-India examples of Suhrawardi intervention in political affairs concerned Sind. Between 1058 and 1520, control of the province was effectively delegated by the Delhi Sultanates first to the Soomros and later to the Sammas. Both were local Rajput tribes converted to Islam whose chiefs were disciples of Suhrawardi saints at Uch and Multan.
  7. ↑ Sindh: Land of Hope and Glory. Har-Anand Publications. 2002. p. 112. ISBN 9788124108468. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Ahmed, Manan (2008). The many histories of Muhammad b. Qasim: Narrating the Muslim conquest of Sindh - page - 99. The University of Chicago.

Further reading


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