‘REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1882-83.’ [‎30v] (69/498)

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BOMBAY ADMINISTRATION REPORT.
[ 1882 - 83 .
the capture of Multan and TTchh, Sind was conquered by Mahmud’s vazir, Abdur Razai.
Six years later in 1032, Ibn Sumar, governor of Multan, laid the foundation of the Sumra
dynasty in Sind, at first apparently as a titular vassal of the Ghaznivid monarchy. X n
1051, if not earlier, the Sumra kings made themselves independent, and spread their
possessions as far as Nasarpur, twenty-six miles south-east of Hala. Under Khafif, who
made Tatta his capital, the dynasty attained its greatest power, and his authority was ac
knowledged from Cutch to Nasarpur. The Sumra dynasty, which began in 1032, ended in
1351, when their last king, Urrah Mehl, was killed by the Sama tribe who belonged to the
Yadav Rajputs, and became Muhammadans not earlier than 1391. The Samas placed Jam
Unar, one of their own body, on the throne of Sind. Under the Sama dynasty, which
included fifteen kings and lasted from 1351 to 1521, Firoz Tughlak of Delhi invaded Sind
in 1372, and compelled the ruling prince, Jam Babuniya, to tender a nominal allegiance.
In 1520, Jam Firoz, the last Sama king, was defeated, and his capital Tatta was sacked by
Shah Beg Arghun, who marched from Kandahar. Under a subsequent agreement the Jam
retained all Sind between Sukkur and Tatta, while the Shah took the region north of Lakhi
in Shikarpur. The Samas soon after repudiated this agreement, and a battle fought in 1521
at Talti, about eight miles north-east of Sehwan, resulted in their utter defeat and the secure
establishment of the Arghun power. Shah Beg died in 1522. During the reign of his son
and successor, Mirza Shah Husain, who finally drove Jam Firoz from Tatta to Cutch and
at length to Gujarat, the Moghal Emperor Humayun, being defeated by the Afghan Sher
Shah, fled to Sind, and twice, in 1539 and in 1542, attempted without success to conquer the
province. On the death of Shah Husain without issue in 1554, the Arghun dynasty came to
an end, having lasted from 1521 to 1554. The Arghun dynasty was followed by a short-lived
line of Tarkhan rulers, of which little is known except that they ceased to rule in 1592. In
that year the Moghal Emperor Akbar defeated Mirza Jani Beg, ruler of Tatta, and brought
Sind under the Subah of Multan. About 1603, after along conflict with the Mahars, a race
of Hindu origin, the Daudputras, or descendants of Daud Khan, whose home was Khanpur
eight miles south-east of Shikarpur, succeeded in establishing their supremacy over Upper
Sind, and soon after founded the town of Shikarpur. Towards the end of the seventeenth
century the Kalhoras, a race closely allied to the Daudputras, rose to power in the Lower
Indus valley. The Kalhoras trace their descent to Muhammad of Kambatha who lived in
1204. About 1558 the family rose into notice through the sanctity of one A'dam Shah, the
chief of a large sect of mendicants in Chanduka. The fakirs descended from this family
long lived a life of warfare against the Moghal lieutenants, until in 1658 under Nazir
Muhammad Kalhora they successfully opposed the imperial troops and organized themselves
into a regular government. About 1701 Yar Muhammad Kalhora, with the help of the
Sirai or Talpur tribe, seized Shikarpur, where he fixed his court, and obtained from the
Emperor Aurangzeb a grant of the Dera districts together with the title of Khuda Yar
Khan.
Under the Kalhora dynasty, which lasted from 1701 to 1783, seven kings ruled over
Sind with a bieak of anarchy for two years between 1775 and 1777. Of these, Yar M^uham-
mad probably reigned from 1701 to 1719, Nur Muhammad from 1719 to 1754, Muhammad
Murad from 1754 to 1757, Ghulam Shah from 1757 to 1772, Sarfaraz Khan from 1772 to
1775, and, after two years’ anarchy, Ghulam Nabi Khan from 1777 to 1782, and Abdul Nabi
Khan from 1782 to 1783. Of these seven kings Nur Muhammad (1719-1754) was the most
important. During his reign the Talpur tribe of Baluchis, the last native rulers of Sind,
came to notice in the person of Mir Bahram, an able oflicer of the Kalhora king. Under
Kur Muhammad, along with other provinces west of the Indus, Tatta and Shikarpur were
ceded to Nadir Shah in 1/39 by the Emperor Muhammad Shah. Under Nadir Shah,
Nur Muhammad was compelled to pay a yearly tribute of £20,000 (Rs. 2,00,000) and in
return was given the high-sounding title of Shah Kuli Khan. In 1748, on the death
oi JNadir Shah, bind became tributary to Ahmad Shah Durani of Kandahar, who conferred
on JN ur Muhammad the new title of Shah Nawaz Khan. The chief events which marked
the reigns of the other kings were that Muhammad Murad founded the town of Muradabad
(1/54-1/57) and Ghulam Shah the city of Haidarabad in 1768 on the ancient site of Neran-
kot. During the early part of GhuMm Shah’s reign, in 1758, the British East India Com
pany established a factory An East India Company trading post. at Tatta; but during the reign of Sarfaraz Khan the Company’s
operations were discouraged, and the factory An East India Company trading post. was eventually withdrawn in 1775 In 1783
Abdul Nabi Khan, the last prince of the Kalhora dynasty, was defeated by Mir Fateh Ali of
the Jaipur tribe, and compelled to flee to Jodhpur, where his descendants still hold distin
guished rank On ascending the throne of Sind in 1783, Mir Fateh Ali Khan obtained a
grant from Shah Zaman of Kandahar for the government of Sind by the Talpurs, The
history of Sind under the Talpur Mirs is rendered very complicated by the numerous branches
into which the ruling house split. Fateh Ah Khan’s nephew, Mir Sohrab Khan, settled
mdependentiy with hm adherents at Rohn, and his son, Mir Tharo Khan, at Shahbandar.
The Talpurs thus fell into three distinct branches; the Haidarabad or Shahdadpur family
ruling m Central Sind; the Mirpur or Mamkani house, descendants of Mir Tharo, ruling
at Mirpur; and the Sohrabani line derived from Mir Sohrab, ruling at Khairpir. To
increase the complication Fateh All, head of the Haidarabad Mirs, associated with himself
hJ," ?r er A 18 / ee ^r^b-tWS’ Ghulam Ali, Karam Ali, and Murad Ah.
kS ^^ ™ recove ^ ^ 1792 from the governor of
i°o 0f the four brothers who ruled
jointly at Haidarabad, Mir Fateh Ah died m 1801, leaving one son, Sobhdar; Ghulam Ali in