Sur (Pashtun tribe)

Sur (Pashto: سور, literally the color "red"), also known as Suri, Zur and Zuri (Pashto: زوري), are a historical Pashtun tribe living primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[1] They supposedly trace their descent to the Ghorids, a dynasty originating from Mandesh in the Ghor region of modern-day central Afghanistan.[2] The founder of the Suri Empire in India, Sher Shah Suri, belonged to the Sur tribe. They ruled the Suri Empire from 1540 until they were removed from power in 1555 after the Battle of Sirhind by Humayun and the Persian army, who re-established the Mughal Empire.

Today, the Sur are part of the Pashtun tribal system, and identify with the Lodi Bettani confederacy. The Sur are also related to the Ghilji, another Bettani tribal confederacy but it is also believed that Suri is the sub-tribe of Kakar Pashtun.

It was at the time of this bounty of Sultán Bahlol, that the grandfather of Sher Sháh, by name Ibráhím Khán Súr,[note 1] with his son Hasan Khán, the father of Sher Sháh, came to Hindu-stán from Afghánistán, from a place which is called in the Afghán tongue "Shargarí,"* but in the Multán tongue "Rohrí." It is a ridge, a spur of the Sulaimán Mountains, about six or seven kos in length, situated on the banks of the Gumal. They entered into the service of Muhabbat Khán Súr, Dáúd Sáhú-khail, to whom Sultán Bahlol had given in jágír the parganas of Hariána and Bahkála, etc., in the Panjáb, and they settled in the pargana of Bajwára.[3]

— Abbas Khan Sarwani, 1580