Umra
- For village of this name see Umra Hansi
Umra (उमरा) (Umara) clan is found in Afghanistan.[1] Ormur stands for Umra in Afghanistan.[2]
Origin
Umra is one of Thirty-Five branches of the Pramaras. [3]
History
H. W. Bellew [4] writes that Ormur is said to have been the son of Amaruddin and to have been named after the place of his birth. Probably Ormur stands for Umra. Pramara, the name being applied to a part of the Umra Sumra clan of Pramara Rajput, who in the reign of the Emperor Akbar 1680-90 A.D. — created considerable disturbances on the Peshawar frontier by their activity in spreading the heretical doctrines of the Roshanya sect — " the Enlightened." Akhund Darveza, the celebrated divine of Swat, a contemporary and active opponent of Baizid, the founder of this sect in these parts, whom he contemptuously calls Pir Tarik, " Guide to Darkness," has written an account of this sect and their doings in this Tazkira or "Memoirs." The Roshdnya, or "Illuminated," adopted the doctrines of metempsychosis, free love, and community of goods, and are reckoned a branch of the Isma'ili Mulahida, better known in Europe as " the Assassins." They are called Ormur by the
[Page-170]: Patthans (in Pukhto, or= "fire " and mur= "extingnislied "), just as a similar sect amongst the Persians was called Chirogh-kush— " Lights out," on account of their nocturnal assemblies, when the extinguishing of the lights was the signal for their deeds of darkness to commence. The original sect of the " Ormur " is said to have been at Kiniguram, where the sect occupied all that district of the Suleman range which is now inhabited by the Mahsud Vaziri. On the suppression of the sect by Akbar's lieutenant at Kabul, the Ormur became dispersed, and for the most part disappeared ; but the name is still borne by scattered communities of their descendants. Sardar Hyat Khan, C.S.L, of Wah in Panjab, in his Hayati Afghani, says there are three or four hundred families of Ormur in their old homes at Kaniguram, of the sectionsKhekani, Bekani, Khuram Jani, Mulatani, and Jirani. Of these the last named is a well-known tribe of mercantile Rajput, and the first is a corrupt form of Kaikan for Kaikaya or Kakar. There are also some Ormur amongst the Baraki in Logar of Kabul, and a small colony of them in the Ormur village of the Peshawar district. They are an inoffensive, industrious people, mostly engaged in agriculture and trade.
Distribution
James Tod[5] writes that Umra clan is found in Sindh.
Notable persons
References
- ↑ An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan By H. W. Bellew, The Oriental University Institute, Woking, 1891, p.169,185
- ↑ An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan By H. W. Bellew, The Oriental University Institute, Woking, 1891, p.169
- ↑ James Todd, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Volume I,: Chapter 7 Catalogue of the Thirty Six Royal Races,pp.111
- ↑ An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan By H. W. Bellew, The Oriental University Institute, Woking, 1891, p.169,170
- ↑ James Todd Annals/Sketch of the Indian Desert, Vol. III,p. 1293
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