 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
| Samma | |
|---|---|
| Jāti | Rajput andJat |
| Religions |  Islam |
| Languages | Sindhi,Gujarati,Saraiki, |
| Country |  Pakistan, India |
| Region | Sindh,Gujarat,Rajasthan,Punjab. |
| Ethnicity | Sindhi |
| Feudal title | Jam |
Sammā (Sindhi:سما) is a tribe that has origins inSindh, Pakistan. The Samma are spread acrossPakistan and North-WestIndia. TheSandhai Muslims are Samma who converted toIslam. Offshoots of the main branch of Samma include theJadejas andChudasamas ofIndia.
There are different versions about the origin of the Sammas. Some link up their ancestry with Akrama bin Abul Jehal. According to some other historians, Sammas came toSindh withMuhammad bin Qasim. The Sammas are also said to be the descendants of Sam bin Umar bin Hashim bin Abi Lehab. Some derive their lineage from the Iranian KingJamshed.[1] According to the genealogy in Tuhfatu-L Kiram, the Sammas originated fromRama, the son ofDashrath.[2]
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.[3] They faced restrictions similar to that of Jats.[4][5] But Samma communities were confined toBrahmanabad and its neighbouring regions.[3] According to historianSarah Ansari, both Sammas and Sumras were localRajput tribes whose chiefs converted to Islam and were followers ofSuhrawardiSufi saints with their base atUch andMultan.[6]Firishta mentions two groups ofzamindars in Sindh, namelySumra and Samma.[7][need quotation to verify]
Jadeja and Chudasama clans which are the offshoot branches of the main Samma tribe are also mainly recognized asRajputs.[citation needed]
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 themetropole. Yet, theDelhi 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 ofFiruz 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 the entire region of Sindh.
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.
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.
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 "highest caste."
One of the most well-known all-India examples ofSuhrawardi intervention in political affairs concerned Sind. Between 1058 and 1520, control of the province was effectively delegated by theDelhi Sultanates first to theSoomros and later to theSammas. Both were local Rajput tribes converted to Islam whose chiefs were disciples of Suhrawardi saints at Uch and Multan.
