Arghun dynasty

The Arghun dynasty was a Mongol line that claimed descent from Hulagu, a claim which Raverty refused to accept. It came to prominence towards the end of the fifteenth century, when Sultan Husayn Bayqara of Herat appointed Dhu 'l-Nun Beg Arghun governor of Kandahar. He soon began to act independently and resisted every attempt of the ruler of Herat to coerce him. By 884/1479 he had occupied the highlands of Pishin, Shal and Mastung, now in Baluchistan. ¹

In 890/1485 his sons Shah Beg and Muhammad Muqim Khan came down the Bolan Pass and briefly took Sibi from Jam Nanda, the Samma ruler of Sind. In 902/1497 Dhu 'l-Nun gave his daughter in marriage to Badi' al-Zaman, a rebel son of Husayn Bayqara. He was killed at the battle of Maruchak in 913/1507, during the invasion of Khurasan by Shaybani Khan. His eldest son Shah Beg had to acknowledge Shaybani's overlordship to keep his position. After the Uzbek leader was defeated and killed at Marw in 1510, Shah Beg was threatened by Babur, who had established himself at Kabul, and by Shah Isma'il Safavi, who had annexed Herat. ¹

In 926/1520 Shah Beg entered Sind, defeated the army of Jam Firuz and sacked Thatta. A treaty gave upper Sind to Shah Beg and left lower Sind to the Sammas, but the Sammas repudiated it and were defeated again. Shah Beg then dethroned Jam Firuz and founded the Arghun dynasty of Sind. ²

After Kandahar was lost to Babur in 928/1522, Shah Beg made Bakhar on the Indus his capital. He died in 930/1524, and his son Shah Husayn had the khutba read in Babur's name, probably by arrangement with him. In 1528 Multan capitulated after a long siege, and its rulers later accepted the suzerainty of the Mughal emperor. Humayun, expelled from northern India by Sher Shah Sur, sought refuge in Sind in 947/1540, but the Arghun ruler refused to help him; Humayun later passed through Sind in 950/1543. Shah Husayn's character degenerated, his nobles deserted him, and they elected in his place Mirza Muhammad Isa Tarkhan of the elder branch of the Arghun clan. Shah Husayn died childless in 1556, and with him the Arghun line ended. ²

The Tarkhan dynasty lasted from 1556 to 1591. Muhammad Isa Tarkhan came to terms with a rival claimant, Sultan Mahmud Gokaldash: Isa kept lower Sind with his capital at Thatta, and Mahmud kept upper Sind with his capital at Bakhar. In 982/1573 Akbar annexed upper Sind. Isa Khan died in 1567 and was succeeded by his son Muhammad Baqi, who committed suicide in 1585. Under the next ruler, Dhani Beg, Akbar sent 'Abd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan in 1591 to annex lower Sind; Dhani Beg was defeated, and he died of delirium tremens in 1599. ²