SODFIA, a Ilajput clan, scattered over the Indian desert. The Sumaicha is a Muhammadan pro selyte from the Sodha. Sir H. Elliot says that amongst this ttibe the Wairsi was the chief elan, and a cognate clan was called Waisa. The Sodha or Soda tribe is au offshoot of the Pramara, and for many centuries has been an occupant of the desert tracts of iVestern India, into which they have been driven forward front the banks of the Indus by more powerful arrivals. The Sodha at one time held possession of Amerkot, from which they were expelled by the Talpur dynasty of Sind. The representative of the Sodha family retait,s the title of rana. He resides at Chor, a few !piles N.E. of Amerkot, but shorn of all power, and hard pressed for the means of. subsistence. The Sodha Grassia are Rajputs of the Sodha tribe, whose women are rained for their beauty, and are much sought for by surrounding Mt-Main madans and Rajputs. They sell their female children to the Muliammadans. A Sodha father reckons his wealth by his number of daughters. Sodha Ilajpnts occupy Parker, engage in cultiva tion. The Sodha who has retained the name of Hindu has so far discarded Brahman t achings, that he will drink from the Ra1110 vessel and smoke out of the same hookah with a MusaIman, laying aside only tho tttbe that touches the mouth. With his poverty, the Sodha lost his reputation for courage, retaining only the limit of being a dexterous thief, and joining the hordes of Scoria and Kossa who prowled front Daodputra to Gujerat. III A.0. 1820, the arms of the So.lha were the sword and the shield, with a long knife in the girdle, which served either rota stiletto or a carver for his meat ; few had matchlocks, brit the primit ive sling was a general weapon of offence, and they tt ere very expert in its use. Thule dress partakes of the Matti and Muhammadan costume, hut the turband is peculiar to themselves. The Sodlia is to be found scattered over the desert ; but there aro offsets of his tribe, now more numerous than the present stock, of which the Suntaielta is the most conspicuous, whether of those who aro still Hindu, or who have become converts to Islam.
On leaving the confluence of the I'anj:tb rivers, Alexander sailed down the Indus to the realm of the Sogdi, •SoOsi, Where, according to Anhui, he built another city.' Diodorns, describing the same y eople, says : Continuing his descent of the river, lie received the submission of the Sodm and Massame, nations on opposite banks of the stream, and founded another Alexandria, in • which he placed 10,000 inhabitants.' From these accounts, General Cunningham considers that the Sogdi of Arrian and the Sodrm of Diodorus are the same people, although the former h we been identified with the Sodha Rajpitts by Tod and 3P.Murdo, the latter with the now servile Sudras by Mr. Vaux. The Sodha occupy the south-eastern district of Sind, about Amerkot, but, according to W.Murdo, they once held large possessions on tho banks of the Indus, to the northward of Alore. Abul Paz' states that the country from Bhakar to Amerkot was peopled by the Sodha and Jhareja in the time of Akbar ; and General Cunningham believes that the Massa= of Dio lorus are the Musarnei of Ptolemy, whose natne still exists in the district of Muzailta, to the west of the Indus below Mithankot. Ile identities the Sogite or Sodrre with the people of Seorai, which WM captnred by Husain Shah Argrhun on his way from Illiakar to Multan. In his time, A.D. 1523, it is described as ' the strongest fort in that country.' In this very position, that is about 8 miles to the north-enst of Sabzalkot, the old maps insert a village named Sirwahi. which may possibly represent the Seorai of Sindian history. It is 96 miles in a direct line below Uchlt, and 85 miles above Alore, .or very nearly midway between therm—Toll's Rajas than, p. 12 ; Cunningham's p. 253 ; Elliot's Italia, pp. 531, 532.