Sámúí deserves notice from the attempt which has been made to establish it as the celebrated Minnagara of the ancient geographers. It was the capital of the Jáms of the Samma dynasty, and, according to the Tuhfatu-l Kirám, it was founded by Jám Pániya,* under the Makalí hills, about three miles north-west of Thatta.
Subsequently, the fort of Tughlikábád was built by Jám Taghúr
or Tughlik, on the site of the older Kalá-kot, about two miles south
of Thatta; but that, as well as its predecessor, was left unfinished
by its founder (p. 272). By a strange vicissitude, the name of
Tughlikábád is now comparatively forgotten, and that of Kalá-kot
erroneously called Kalán-kot (the great fort), though for a time
superseded, has restored the just claims of Rájá Kalá, and still
attracts the attention of the traveller. Lt. Burton calls it Kallián-
The ruins of Sámúí, Samúiya, or Samma-nagar, “the city of the
Sammas,” are to be traced near Thatta; and, under the wrong and
deceptive spelling of Sa-minagar, have induced Col. Tod, Sir A.
Burnes, and many who have too readily followed them—including
even Ritter, who considers the question settled “incontestably,”—
to recognise in that name the more ancient and more famous Minna-