Sur (tribe)

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Sur, are a historical Pashtun tribe from among the Lodi [1] living primarily in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan. The founder of the Sur Empire in India, Sher Shah Sur, belonged to the Sur tribe. They ruled the Sur Empire from 1540 until they were removed from power in 1555 after the Battle of Sirhind by Humayun and the Persian army, who re-established the Mughal Empire. [2]

Contents

Mythical Origin

They have been described by some as being of descendance from Arab general Khalid ibn al-Walid. [3]

History

Map of the Sur Empire at its height under the reign of Sher Shah Suri The Sur Empire at its height.png
Map of the Sur Empire at its height under the reign of Sher Shah Suri

The Suri tribe of the Afghans inhabited the mountains of Ghor east of Furrah and their principal cities were Ghore, Feruzi and Bamian. [4]

It was at the time of this bounty of Sultán Bahlol, that the grandfather of Sher Sháh, by name Ibráhím Khán Súr, [note 1] with his son Hasan Khán, the father of Sher Sháh, came to Hindu-stán from Afghánistán, from a place which is called in the Afghán tongue "Shargarí,"* but in the Multán tongue "Rohrí." It is a ridge, a spur of the Sulaimán Mountains, about six or seven kos in length, situated on the banks of the Gumal. They entered into the service of Muhabbat Khán Súr, Dáúd Sáhú-khail, to whom Sultán Bahlol had given in jágír the parganas of Hariána and Bahkála, etc., in the Panjáb, and they settled in the pargana of Bajwára. [5]

Abbas Khan Sarwani, 1580

See also

Notes

  1. The Súr represent themselves as descendants of Muhammad Súr, one of the princes of the house of the Ghorian, who left his native country, and married a daughter of one of the Afghán chiefs of Roh.

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References

  1. Kissling, H. J.; Spuler, Bertold; Barbour, N.; Trimingham, J. S.; Braun, H.; Hartel, H. (1997-08-01). The Last Great Muslim Empires. BRILL. ISBN   978-90-04-02104-4.
  2. Lee, Jonathan (2019). Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present. Reaktion Books. p. 57. ISBN   978-1-78914-010-1.
  3. Blackburn, Richard (2005). Journey to the Sublime Porte: The Arabic Memoir of a Sharifian Agent's Diplomatic Mission to the Ottoman Imperial Court in the Era of Suleyman the Magnificent; the Relevant Text from Quṭb al-Dīn al-Nahrawālī's al-Fawā'id al-sanīyah fī al-riḥlah al-Madanīyah wa al-Rūmīyah. Beirut: Orient-Institut. ISBN   3-89913-441-9.
  4. Gazetteer of the world or dictionary of geographical knowledge. Vol. 5. London: A Fullerton and Company. p. 61.
  5. Abbas Khan Sarwani (1580). "Táríkh-i Sher Sháhí; or, Tuhfat-i Akbar Sháhí, of 'Abbás Khán Sarwání. CHAPTER I. Account of the reign of Sher Sháh Súr". Packard Humanities Institute . Retrieved 2010-09-04.