174
926–99/1520–91
Multan and Sind
1. The line of Dhu ‘1-Nūn Beg
|
c. 880/c. 1475 |
Dhu ‘1-Nūn Beg Arghūn, governor of Kandahar and northeastern Baluchistan for the Tīmūrids |
|
⊘ (913/1507 |
Shāh Beg b. Dhi ‘1-Nūn, governor in Kandahar for the Shïbānids) |
|
926/1520 |
Shāh Beg, now as ruler in Upper Sind and then the whole province |
|
930–61/1524–54 |
Shāh Ḥusayn b. Shāh Beg, d. 963/1556 |
2. The line of Muḥammad ‘Īsā Tarkhān
|
961/1554 |
Muḥammad ‘Īsā Tarkhān b. ‘Abd al-‘Alī, in Lower Sind (Maḥmūd Gokaltāsh, in Upper Sind until 982/1574) |
|
975/1567 |
Muḥammad Bāqī b. Muḥammad Īsā |
|
993–9/1585–91 |
Jānī Beg b. Muḥammad Bāqī, d. 1008/1599 |
|
999/1591 |
Mughal conquest of Lower Sind |
Sind and the Indus valley as far up as Multan had been invaded and settled by the Arabs at the beginning of the eighth century (see above, no. 160). But even after the Ghaznawids and Ghūrids had extended over much of north-western India, Sind remained a comparatively isolated region, cut off from the major trends and events affecting Muslim India. In the eleventh century, Sind fell under the control of the Rājput tribe of the Sumerās. Their power was challenged in the early fourteenth century by the rival tribe of Sammās who, unlike the Sumerās, became firm Muslims and who emerged triumphant in the later part of the century. With the collapse of the Tughluqids (see above, no. 160, 3) and the shrinkage of the Delhi Sultans’ authority, the ruling Jāms of the Sammās were able to dominate Sind from their capital T́hat́t́ā in Lower Sind until the early sixteenth century.
The Arghūns were a Turkish or Turco-Mongol tribe prominent under the Il Khānids and then the Tīmūrids. Dhu ‘1-Nūn Beg Arghūn was appointed governor over what were later the eastern and southern parts of Afghanistan by the sultan in Herat, Ḥusayn b. Mansūr b. Bay qara (see above, no. 144, 2), and speedily became in effect independent there. The rise in the eastern Iranian world of powerful states like those of the Shïbānids and the Safawids made the Arghūn ’s base of Kandahar increasingly untenable, so Shāh Beg and his son continued Dhu ‘1-Nūn Beg’s process of expansion southwards, conquering Multan and eventually defeating the last Sammā Jam and taking over the whole of Sind. After 961/1554, the Tarkhāns, a senior branch of the Arghūns, took over, but Akbar first annexed Upper Sind and then, finally, Lower Sind, so that Sind became incorporated into the province of Multan in the Mughal empire.
EI2 ‘Arghūn’ (C. Collin Davies), ‘Hind. IV. History’ (J. Burton-Page), ‘Sind. 1. History’ (T. W. Haig and C. E. Bosworth).
R. C. Majumdar et al. (eds), The History and Culture of the Indian People. VI. The Delhi Sultanat, ch. 10 F, G.
M. Habib and K. A. Nizami (eds), A Comprehensive History of India. V. The Delhi Sultanat (A.D. 1206–1526), ch. 18.