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Sindhi Sammat

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The Sammat (Sindhi: سنڌي سماٽ; sammāṭ, samāṭr, sammāṭh) is the indigenous community of Sindhi people consisting of old native tribes, they are a large community in Sindhi Muslims.[1][2] Hindu Sammats are also extant.[3]

Sammat refers to Sindhis with indigenous origins.[4][5] The Sammat tribes have existed in the region since ancient times.[6] The Sammats are considered to be a traditionally privileged group in the Sindhi society.[7] Sammat rulers were praised by Bhittai, a popular 18th century poet of the Sindhi language.[3] In contemporary Sindh, the Sammat castes are regarded as second in rank to Sayeds and other castes of Arab descent.[8]

The man who worked hard to revive Sammat as Chairman Sammat Tanzeem, was Late, Bahawal Khan Unar, who dedicated much part of his life to the cause he was committed to from early 80s to late 90s, since he passed away in 1998 and after his death things went again on a longe pause till today.[citation needed][clarification needed]

Subgroups of Sammats

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Sindhi Jats

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Further information: Sindhi Jats and Zutt
A gold dinar minted in Egypt, displays the names of the Caliph and Zutt Emir Ubaydallah ibn al-Sari

Originally from the lower Indus Valley, many Sindhi Jats would migrate to lower Iraq between the 5th and 11th centuries, where they formed the Zuṭṭ (Arabic: الزُّطِّ) community.[9][10][11] In the 8th century, the Arab conquerors noted several agglomerations of Jats and Meds found across Lower and Central Sindh.[12] Another migration into Punjab took place between the 11th and 16th centuries, where many Sindhi Jats settled in cultivatable land and gradually took up farming.[13][14][15]

Some Sindhi Jats, along with other Sindhi groups such as the Jadgals[16] and Jamotes,[17] are still found in modern Balochistan, such as in the Kacchi Plains, Las Bela, and Makran.[18] They are also known as the Jats of Balochistan.[19]

Soomros

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Further information: Soomro and Soomro dynasty

The Soomros are a native tribe[20][21] which historically founded the Soomro Sultanate (1026-1351), thus re-establishing native rule in Sindh after the Arab conquests.[22] Members of the Soomro tribe were among the first in Sindh to convert to Islam from Hinduism, but they initially practiced a syncretic version, maintaining several Hindu customs and traditions.[23]

Sammas

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Further information: Samma (tribe) and Samma dynasty

The Sammas have their origin in Sindh. Initially, Samma communities were confined to Brahmanabad and its neighboring regions.[24] They would later overthrow the Soomros and establish the Samma Sultanate (1351-1524).[25] The Sultanate kept close ties with the Sultanate of Gujarat,[26] and offshoots of the Sammas (Jadejas and Chudasamas) would establish themselves in that area.[27][28]

The Sandhai Muslims are also connected to the Sammas.[29]

Kalhoras

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Further information: Kalhora and Kalhora dynasty

The Kalhoras are a native Sammat group.[30][31] They were Ashrafized over time, claiming an Arab "Abbasi" origin, however this claim has been refuted by others.[32] The Kalhoras established a noble dynasty, serving as governors of Sindh and parts of Kutch.[33]

The Daudpotras are an offshoot of the Kalhoras.

Daudpotras

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Noor Mahal palace, constructed in 1872 by Sadeq Mohammad Khan IV
Further information: Daudpotra and Bahawalpur state

The Daudpotras were a prominent tribe in lower Sindh, closely related to the Kalhoras.[34] The Daudpotras would migrate northwards, and be granted jagirs by the Nawab of Multan and Sheikh of Uch, laying the foundations for the Bahawalpur state.[35][36][37] The state would become a princely state of the British Raj, and would later be the first state to accede to the Dominion of Pakistan.[38]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Jones, Allen Keith (2003). Politics in Sindh, 1907 - 1940: Muslim identity and the demand for Pakistan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 9780195795936. The vast majority of the Sindhi Muslim population—roughly 70 per cent—comprised of Pukka Sindhis, persons belonging to the Jat, Sammat....
  2. ^ Shah, Nafisa (31 December 2022). "Introduction. Honour Violence, Law and Power in Upper Sindh". Honour and Violence: Gender, Power and Law in Southern Pakistan. Berghahn Books: 16. doi:10.1515/9781785330827-006. ISBN 978-1-78533-082-7.
  3. ^ a b Hussain 2022, p. 476.
  4. ^ Weekes, Richard V. (1984). Muslims Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey; Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (Second ed.). Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. p. 685. ISBN 0-313-23392-6. Sammat to refer to those Sindhis with indigenous origins
  5. ^ Abdulla, Ahmed (1973). The Historical Background of Pakistan and Its People. Tanzeem Publishers. p. 96. Among others are the Bhuttos, Bhattis, Lakha, Sahetas, Lohanas, Mohano, Dahars, Indhar, Chachar, Dhareja, Rathors, Dakhan, Langah etc. The Mohano tribe is spread over Makran, Sind and southern Punjab. They are also identified with the "Mallah' of the Punjab and both have in common a sub-section called Manjari. All these old Sindhi tribes are known under the common nomenclature of Sammat.
  6. ^ Talbot, Ian (1990). Provincial politics and the Pakistan movement: the growth of the Muslim League in North-West and North-East India 1937 - 47 (2. impr ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780195773873.
  7. ^ Hussain 2022, p. 469.
  8. ^ Hussain 2022, p. 487.
  9. ^ Wink, André (2002). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries. BRILL. ISBN 978-0-391-04173-8. "Sind, in point of fact, while vaguely defined territorially, overlaps rather well with what is currently Pakistan. It definitely did extend beyond the present province of Sind and Makran; the whole of Baluchistan was included, a part of the Panjab, and the North-West Frontier Province."
  10. ^ Wink, André (2002). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries. BRILL. ISBN 978-0-391-04173-8. Pg. 48, 157.
  11. ^ Maclean, Derryl N. (1984). Religion and Society in Arab Sind. McGill University. ISBN 978-0-315-20821-6. Pg. 45.
  12. ^ Mayaram, Shail (2003), Against history, against state: counterperspectives from the margins, Columbia University Press, p. 19, ISBN 978-0-231-12730-1
  13. ^ Ansari, Sarah F. D. (1992). Sufi saints and state power: the pirs of Sind, 1843–1947. Cambridge University Press. p. ISBN 978-0-521-40530-0. Quote: "Between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, groups of nomadic pastoralists known as Jats, having worked their way northwards from Sind, settled in the Panjab as peasant agriculturalists and, largely on account of the introduction of the Persian wheel, transformed much of western Panjab into a rich producer of food crops. (page 27)"
  14. ^ Grewal, J. S. (1998), The Sikhs of the Punjab, Cambridge University Press, p. 5, ISBN 978-0-521-63764-0, retrieved 12 November 2011 Quote: "... the most numerous of the agricultural tribes (in the Punjab) were the Jats. They had come from Sindh and Rajasthan along the river valleys, moving up, displacing the Gujjars and the Rajputs to occupy culturable lands. (page 5)"
  15. ^ Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006-03-16). India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7.
  16. ^ Illustrated Weekly of Pakistan. Pakistan Herald Publications. 1964. p. 30. Jadgals who migrated from Sind via Bela to Panjgur.
  17. ^ 1998 District Census Report of Malir. Population Census Organisation, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 1999. p. 11. Among Sindhis the tribes are Syed, Jokhia, Khaskheli , Palari , Bareja , Bhabra , Dhars , Sirhindi , Jamot and Mohanas.
  18. ^ Nicolini, Beatrice (2004-01-01). Makran, Oman, and Zanzibar: Three-Terminal Cultural Corridor in the Western Indian Ocean, 1799-1856. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-13780-6.
  19. ^ "Oman's Diverse Society: Northern Oman" (PDF). JE Peterson.
  20. ^ Dani, Ahmad Hasan (2007). History of Pakistan: Pakistan through ages. Sang-e Meel Publications. ISBN 978-969-35-2020-0. But as many kings of the dynasty bore local names, it is almost certain that the Soomras were of local origin. Sometimes they are connected with Paramara Rajputs, but of this there is no definite proof.
  21. ^ Panhwar, M.H.; Soomra National Council (Pakistan) (2003). An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of Sindh: 1011-1351 AD. Soomra National Council, Pakistan. p. 26 (on pdf). Retrieved 2022-07-27. "Presence of Soomras in Kutch, Gujarat and Rajasthan in small numbers does not make them Rajputs either… All British period historians given in the table at end of this chapter have called Soomras as Rajputs under influence of Todd's writings. Actually they were local converted to Ismailism."
  22. ^ "The Arab Conquest". International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics. 36 (1): 91. 2007. The Soomras are believed to be Parmar Rajputs found even today in Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Kutch and Sindh. The Cambridge History of India refers to the Soomras as "a Rajput dynasty the later members of which accepted Islam" (p. 54 ).
  23. ^ Siddiqui, Habibullah. "The Soomras of Sindh: their origin, main characteristics and rule – an overview (general survey) (1025 – 1351 AD)" (PDF). Literary Conference on Soomra Period in Sindh.
  24. ^ 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 2022-08-02. 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.
  25. ^ Rapson, Edward James; Haig, Sir Wolseley; Burn, Sir Richard; Dodwell, Henry (1965). The Cambridge History of India: Turks and Afghans, edited by W. Haig. Chand. p. 518.
  26. ^ Anjali H. Desai (2007). India Guide Gujarat. India Guide Publications. pp. 311–. ISBN 978-0-9789517-0-2.
  27. ^ Anjali H. Desai (2007). India Guide Gujarat. India Guide Publications. pp. 311–. ISBN 978-0-9789517-0-2.
  28. ^ Sheikh, Samira (2009). "Pastoralism, Trade, and Settlement in Saurashtra and Kachchh". Forging a region: sultans, traders, and pilgrims in Gujarat, 1200-1500. Oxford University Press. pp. 101–128. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198060192.003.0004. ISBN 9780198060192.
  29. ^ Singh, K. S. (1996). Communities, Segments, Synonyms, Surnames and Titles. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 1747. ISBN 978-0-19-563357-3.
  30. ^ Hussain, Ghulam (February 2020). "'Dalits are in India, not in Pakistan': Exploring the Discursive Bases of the Denial of Dalitness under the Ashrafia Hegemony". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 55 (1): 17–43. doi:10.1177/0021909619863455. ISSN 0021-9096.
  31. ^ Pakistan's Sindh Province (PDF). Congressional Research Service. p. 3.
  32. ^ Ali Shah, Syed Shakir; Mallah, Prof Dr Qasid Hussain. "Kalhora Period Architecture in Sindh". Quarterly Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society. LXVII (3): 26. ..But the author of Kalhora Dour-e-Hakoomat refutes it and argues that Kalhoras originally belong to Sindh and their centre was at Bakhar..
  33. ^ "Sindhi Adabi Board Online Library (Stories)". Sindhi Adabi Board.
  34. ^ Bazmee Ansari, A.S (2012). "Dāwūdpōtrās". Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online. Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_1762.
  35. ^ Naeem, Anila (5 April 2017). "Shikarpoor Historic Town. Introduction, Background and Development". Urban Traditions and Historic Environments in Sindh. Amsterdam University Press. pp. 28–29. doi:10.1515/9789048531257-005. ISBN 9789048531257.
  36. ^ Khlaid, Samia (1 June 2017). "WOMEN OF BAHAWALPUR STATE DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: A SOCIO-ECONOMIC STUDY". Pakistan Journal of Women's Studies: Alam-e-Niswan. 24 (1): 2.
  37. ^ Khan, A.Z (2012). "S̲h̲ikārpūr". Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English). Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_6940.
  38. ^ Long, Roger D.; Singh, Gurharpal; Samad, Yunas; Talbot, Ian (2015-10-08). State and Nation-Building in Pakistan: Beyond Islam and Security. Routledge. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-317-44820-4.

Bibliography

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