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Jám Nizámuddín II (Urdu) سلطان جام نظام الدين ثاني : was the most famous Sultan of the Samma Dynasty, which ruled in Sindh and parts of Punjab and Balochistan (region) from 1351-1551 C.E. He was known by the nick-name of Jám Nindó. His capital was at Thatta in modern Pakistan.

The Samma Sultanate reached the height of its power during the reign of Jam Nizamuddin II, who is still recalled as a hero, and his rule as a golden age.

His grave is located at Makli near Thatta. The tomb is a stone structure with fine ornamental carving similar to 15th century Gujrat style. After his death, his dilettante son Jám Ferózudin lost the Sultanate in 1525 C.E. to the invading army of Shah Beg Arghun , who had been thrown out of Kandahar by Babur.

History

Jám Nizámuddín bin Bábínah was elected to the throne of the Sultanate by the joint counsels of all the wise and pious men of Thatta, as well as of the military people on the 25th of Rabi' al-awwal, 866 (A. D. 1461), after the death of Jam Sanjar.

Shortly after his accession, he went with a large force to Bhakkar, where he spent about a year, during which time he extirpated the freebooters and robbers who annoyed the people in that part of the country. He filled the fort of Bakhar with provisions and then left the place in charge of his house-born slave Dilshád, returning to the capital.

For a period of forty-eight years he reigned at Tatta with absolute power. In his kingdom, men of piety and learning, and the Fakirs, spent their time in happiness, and the Sepoys and Ryuts were in comfortable circumstances. Travellers could pass throughout Sind with no harm to their person or property. The people followed strict Muslim rules. The congregations of both great and small assembled in the Mosques: no one was willing to say his prayers alone. The rise of Thatta as an important commercial and cultural center was directly related to his patronage and policies. Its civilization contributed significantly to the evolution of the prevailing architectural style that can be classified as Sindhi-Islamic.

In the last part of Jám Nindó’s reign, after 1490 CE, a Mughul army under Shah Beg Arghun came from Kandahar and fell upon many villages of Chundooha and Sideejuh, invading the town of Ágrí, Ohándukah, Sibi Sindichah and Kót Máchián. Jám Nindó sent a large army under his Vazier Darya Khan, which, arriving at the village known by the name of Duruh-i-Kureeb, also known as Joolow Geer or Halúkhar near Sibi, defeated the Mughuls in a pitched battle. Sháh Beg Arghun’s brother Abú Muhammad Mirzá was killed in the battle, and the Mughuls fled back to Kandahár, never to return during the reign of Jám Nizámuddín. Some time after this, Jám Nizámuddín died after a splendid reign of 48 years.

Character

It is said that at the commencement of his manhood he sought after knowledge, spending much of his time in the college and cloister. His disposition was modest and happy. He was celebrated for his good, affectionate temper. He was a very obliging man and an industrious person. He was very regular in his prayers and was very religious and practiced great abstinence. In his days mosques were always full at the time of prayers.

He visited his stables regularly every week and passed his hand over the forehead of his horses and said "O lucky beings, I do not wish to ride you in order to fight with others, unless to go against Kafirs. On all the four sides of us we have Mussalman rulers. May God never give us any cause other than in accordance with the religious law, to go elsewhere, or others to come here, lest innocent blood of Mussalmans be shed and I be ashamed in the august presence of God."

Jám Nizámuddín and Sultan Hoosain Lungah of Multan were contemporary friends. They were always sending presents to each other.

Jám Nizámuddín was fond of the company of learned men, with whom he took pleasure in discussing literary subjects. There is a story that a learned man of Shíráz, Jaláluddín Muhammad Roomi had come from Persia to Sind and had sent his two worthy pupils Mír Shamsuddín and Mír Muín to Thattá to arrange for his sojourn there. Jám Nizámuddín, learning the intention of the Persian savant, ordered good houses to be fitted up for his reception and sent his two pupils with a large sum of money for expenses of the journey, ordering them to bring the learned man. But before their arrival their master had died. Mír Shamsuddín and Mír Muín therefore came back to Thattá and took up their abode at the place.

Tomb of Jám Nizamuddin

Cousens wrote in The Antiquities of Sind:

His tomb is in the necropolis on Makli Hill. It is square in plan but the dome was never constructed, work stopped when the walls reached the springing line. On the exterior of the building there are twelve bands of decoration running around the building from top to bottom comprising diamonds, lotuses, Quranic inscriptions and geometric patterns. There are two unusual features: the mihrab in the interior and the corresponding balcony on the exterior. This type of balcony recalls those in Gujarat therefore it is possible that craftsmen from Gujarat were responsible for this tomb. This is a close view of a section of the wall, showing the richly carved balcony and the bands of decorative carving along the wall.

Lagecy

The British East India Company had earlier described Thatta as ``a great citie as large as London. It now had more than 50,000 houses, of which many were made of stone and mortar with vast verandahs, sometimes three or four storeys high. The textiles of Sindh were ``the flower of the whole produce of the East. The international commerce of Thatta ``gave Sindh a place among the nations. The city had 400 schools and 4000 boats. The Sindhis sipped the cups that cheered and sweetly inebriated.

See also

• Samma (tribe)
• Samma Dynasty

References

1. "Dawn: The necropolis of Sindh by Omar Mukhtar Khan". Retrieved 2009 03 12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
2. "Grave Tales". The Hindu. 2004-04-11. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
3. The environments that led to the rise and fall of the Kalhoras

This article includes content derived from "History of Sind - translated from Persian books" by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg (1853–1929), published in Karachi in 1902 and now in the public domain.

• مکلی کے شہرِ خموشاں میں جام نندو کا مقبرہ

External references

• Islamic culture‎ - Page 429, by Islamic Culture Board
• A History of India Under the Two First Sovereigns of the House of Taimur, by William Erskine
• The History and culture of the Indian people‎ - Page 224, by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bhāratīya Itihāsa Samiti
• The Ṭabaqāt-i-Akbarī of K̲h̲wājah Nizāmuddīn Ahmad: a history of India, by Niẓām al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Muqīm, Brajendranath De, Baini Prashad
• Bibliotheca Indica‎ - Page 778, by Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Asiatic Society (Calcutta, India)
• Searchlights on Baloches and Balochistan‎, by Mir Khuda Bakhsh Marri
• The Delhi Sultanate‎, by Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi, Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Asoke Kumar Majumdar, A. D. Pusalker
• Babar‎, by Radhey Shyam
• Indo-Arab relations: an English rendering of Arab oʾ Hind ke taʾllugat‎, by Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, Sayyid Sulaimān Nadvī, M. Salahuddin
• The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, by Henry Miers Elliot, John Dowson
• Muslim Kingship in India‎, by Nagendra Kumar Singh
• The Indus Delta country: a memoir, chiefly on its ancient geography and history‎, by Malcolm Robert Haig
• The Samma kingdom of Sindh: historical studies, by G̲h̲ulāmu Muḥammadu Lākho, University of Sind. Institute of Sindology
• Imperial Gazetteer of India, by William Wilson Hunter, James Sutherland Cotton, Richard Burn, William Stevenson Meyer, Great Britain. India Office, John George Bartholomew

• 15th-century people
• History of Pakistan
• History of Sindh
• Samma tribes
• Sindhi people