Ancestral village of Sher Shah Sur in Pakhtunkhwa

Sher Shah's father name was Hasan and they belonged to the Shera Khel sept of the Sur tribe [1]. Their tribe was located in the present-day Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Sher Shah’s grandfather, Ibrahim Khan, was a horse-dealer in his homeland. He migrated to India with his son Hasan during the early years of Sultan Bahlul’s reign and took up a career as a soldier. [2]

According to Abbas Sarwani, who a compiled a 16th century biography of Sher Shah Sur, Sher Shah's family originated from a village in Afghanistan (Pakhtunkhwa) which was known as Zhaghri in Afghani (Pashto) and Rohri in Multani (Seraiki) [3]. The Dera Ismail Khan district is a region where both Seraiki and Pashto are spoken in close proximity. K.R. Qanungo, author of a renowned book on Sher Shah, incorrectly identified Zhaghri, or Rohri, as Surgurgai near Ab-i Istadeh in the Ghazni province of Afghanistan, where Seraiki is not spoken [4]. Abbas Sarwani provides further information about the village's location, stating that Zhaghri, or Rohri, is situated on a ridge extending six or seven kuroh along the Gomal River, originating from the Sulaiman Mountains. [5]. According to the survey of Suleiman mountains published under the Direction of Brigadier E.O.Wheeler (Surveyor General of India) in 1941 [6], Rohri is a village, situated on an offshoot of the Suleiman mountains which is roughly 15 miles long, that is the six or seven kuroh of Abbas Sarwani. This branch of Suleiman mountains is known locally as "Mian Nur” ridge. The river Gomal runs close by Rohri village. According to Aminullah Khan Gandapur, village Rohri is located 11 miles northwest of Kulachi town in the Kulachi Tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan. [7]

In the mid-sixteenth century, the Sur tribe in Pakhtunkhwa was attacked and defeated by the neighboring Lohani tribes. It is likely that the fall of the Sur dynasty in India in 1555 encouraged the Lohanis to attack and displace the Surs. Many Surs were killed, and the survivors fled to India. Subsequently, Khan Zaman Katti Khel, the chief of the Lohanis, awarded the former lands of the Surs to the Gandapur tribe in the late sixteenth century. This was done with the intention of using the Gandapur's power against his Marwat enemies. Today, the village of Rohri is inhabited by the Gandapur tribe of Pashtuns. [8].

References

1- “Akbar nama”, English translation by H.Beveridge, p-326
2- Ibid.
3- “The History of India, as told by its own Historians”, Vol-4, p-308
4- “Sher Shah and his times”, K.R.Qanungo, p-05
5- “The History of India, as told by its own Historians”, Vol-4, p-308
6- "Transition of power from the early Mughals to Sher Shah Suri", by Hussain Khan, pp.80-81
7- "Tarikh-i-Sarzameen-i-Gomal", by Aminullah Khan Gandapur, p-39
8- "Afghanistan and Its Inhabitants: Translated from the HAYAT-I-AFGHANI of Muhammad Hayat Khan, p-286

Portrait of of Sher Shah Sur. Water colour painting. Date of Creation: 1900-1949

Rohri marked with red arrow in the map