TheSammat (Sindhi:سنڌي سماٽ;sammāṭ,samāṭr,sammāṭh) is the indigenous community ofSindhi people consisting of old nativetribes, they are a large community ofSindhi 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 theSindhi society.[7] Sammat rulers were praised byShah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a popular 18th-century poet of theSindhi language.[3] In contemporarySindh, the Sammat castes are regarded as second in rank toSayeds 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 died in 1998 and after his death things went again on a longe pause till today.[citation needed][clarification needed]
Originally from the lowerIndus Valley, many Sindhi Jats would migrate tolower Iraq between the 5th and 11th centuries, where they formed theZuṭṭ (Arabic:الزُّطِّ) community.[9][10][11] In the 8th century, theArab conquerors noted several agglomerations of Jats andMeds found across Lower and Central Sindh.[12] Another migration intoPunjab took place between the 11th and 16th centuries, where many Sindhi Jats settled in cultivatable land and gradually took up farming.[13][14][15]
The Soomros are a native tribe[20][21] which historically founded theSoomro Sultanate (1026-1351), thus re-establishing native rule in Sindh after theArab conquests.[22] Members of the Soomro tribe were among the first inSindh to convert toIslam fromHinduism, but they initially practiced asyncretic version, maintaining several Hindu customs and traditions.[23]
The Sammas have their origin in Sindh. Initially, Samma communities were confined toBrahmanabad and its neighboring regions.[24] They would later overthrow the Soomros and establish theSamma Sultanate (1351-1524).[25] The Sultanate kept close ties with theSultanate of Gujarat,[26] and offshoots of the Sammas (Jadejas andChudasamas) would establish themselves in that area.[27][28]
The Kalhoras are a native Sammat group.[30][31] They wereAshrafized over time, claiming anArab "Abbasi" origin, however this claim has been refuted by others.[32] The Kalhoras established anoble dynasty, serving as governors of Sindh and parts ofKutch.[33]
^Jones, Allen Keith (2003).Politics in Sindh, 1907 - 1940: Muslim identity and the demand for Pakistan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 4.ISBN9780195795936.The vast majority of the Sindhi Muslim population—roughly 70 per cent—comprised of Pukka Sindhis, persons belonging to the Jat, Sammat....
^Weekes, Richard V. (1984).Muslims Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey; Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (Second ed.). Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. p. 685.ISBN0-313-23392-6.Sammat to refer to those Sindhis with indigenous origins
^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.
^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.ISBN9780195773873.
^Ansari, Sarah F. D. (1992).Sufi saints and state power: the pirs of Sind, 1843–1947. Cambridge University Press. p.ISBN978-0-521-40530-0. 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)"
^Grewal, J. S. (1998),The Sikhs of the Punjab, Cambridge University Press, p. 5,ISBN978-0-521-63764-0, 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)"
^Illustrated Weekly of Pakistan. Pakistan Herald Publications. 1964. p. 30.Jadgals who migrated from Sind via Bela to Panjgur.
^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.
^Dani, Ahmad Hasan (2007).History of Pakistan: Pakistan through ages. Sang-e Meel Publications.ISBN978-969-35-2020-0.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.
^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). Retrieved2022-07-27."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."
^"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 ).
^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.ISBN978-0-391-04125-7. Retrieved2022-08-02.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.
^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..
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