A local dynasty
The Soomras emerged in lower Sindh after Mahmud of Ghazni's campaigns and ruled from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. They were of local origin — the tradition connects them with the Parmar Rajputs — and their conversion to Islam and subsequent rule marks the point at which Muslim government in Sindh ceased to be a matter of Arab or Turkish incomers.
Their religious affiliation is debated; several sources associate the early Soomras with Ismaili Shiism, which had a strong presence in Multan and lower Sindh in this period.
Tradition
Much of what is remembered of the Soomras comes through Sindhi folk literature rather than chronicles. The romance of Umar Marui — in which a village girl abducted by the Soomra ruler Umar refuses him and pines for her home — is one of the great Sindhi love tales, retold by Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai in the eighteenth century and still sung.
The dynasty was displaced by the Sammas in the middle of the fourteenth century.
Further reading
- Asher, Catherine B. India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2006
- Jackson, Peter. The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press, 1999
- Richards, John F. The Mughal Empire. Cambridge University Press, 1993
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
- Eaton, Richard M. The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier. University of California Press, 1993
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.