Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 3 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of IndiaTod, James
History
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 3 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of India
Tod, James
Rajasthan (India) -- History; Rajput (Indic people) -- History
The difficulty of establishing the identity of these tribes from the
cacography of both the Greek and Persian writers, is well exemplified in
another portion of Ferishta, treating of the same race, called by him
_Soomuna_, and _Samma_ by Abu-l Fazl. “The tribe of Sahna appears to be
of obscure origin, and originally to have occupied the tract lying
between Bekher and Tatta in Sinde, and pretend to trace their origin
from Jemshid.” We can pardon his spelling for his exact location of the
tribe, which, whether written Soomuna, Sehna, or Seemeh, is the Summa or
Samma tribe of the great Yadu race, whose capital was Summa-ka-kot, or
Sammanagari, converted into Minnagara, and its princes into Sambas, by
the Greeks.[8.2.24] Thus the Sodhas appear to have ruled at Aror and
Bakhar, or Upper Sind, and the Sammas in the lower,[8.2.25] when
Alexander passed through this region. The Jarejas and Jams of Navanagar
in Saurashtra claim descent from the Sammas, hence called elsewhere by
Abu-l Fazl “the Sind-Samma dynasty”; but having been, from their
amalgamation with the ‘faithful,’ put out of the pale of Hinduism, they
desired to conceal their Samma-Yadu descent, which they abandoned for
Jamshid, and Samma was converted into Jam.[8.2.26]
We may, therefore, assume that a prince of the Sodha tribe held that
division of the great Puar sovereignty, of which Aror, or the insular
Bakhar, was the capital, when Alexander passed down the Indus: nor is it
improbable that the army, styled Persian by Abu-l Fazl, which invaded
Aror, and slew Raja Siharas, was a Graeco-Bactrian army led by
Apollodotus, or Menander, who traversed this region, “ruled by
Sigertides” (_qu._ Raja Siharas?) even to “the country of the Σῶρα,” or
Saurashtra,[8.2.27] where, according to their historian, their medals
were existent when he wrote in the second century.[8.2.28] The histories
so largely quoted give us decided proof that Dahir, and his son [313]
Raesa, the victims of the first Islamite invasion led by Kasim, were of
the same lineage as Raja Siharas; and the Bhatti annals prove to
demonstration, that at this, the very period of their settling in the
desert, the Sodha tribe was paramount (see p. 1185); which,
together with the strong analogies in names of places and princes,
affords a very reasonable ground for the conclusion we have come to,
that the Sodha tribe of Puar race was in possession of Upper Sind, when
the Macedonian passed down the stream; and that, amidst all the
vicissitudes of fortune, it has continued (contesting possession with
its ancient Yadu antagonist, the Samma) to maintain some portion of its
ancient sovereignty unto these days. Of this portion we shall now
instruct the reader, after hazarding a passing remark on the almost
miraculous tenacity which has preserved this race in its desert abode
during a period of at least two thousand two hundred years,[8.2.29]
bidding defiance to foreign foes, whether Greek, Bactrian, or
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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