Mansura

Mansura was the historic capital of the Arab empire in Sindh. The city is usually known as Brahmanabad and locally as Dalo Raja-ji-Nagri in Sindh, situated about 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Shahdadpur railway station, and 43 miles (69 km) north-east of Hyderabad. The ruins are dated back to 7th century. This region was excavated by the Pakistani Government, and a large number of old coins, artifacts, ancient jewelry, and other historical objects were found.

For the casual visitor, Mansura or Brahmanabad has little to offer besides the foundation of a mosque and the last remaining portion of a Hindu temple. Other than that, whatever the archaeologists may reveal later is covered up to protect this precious site from deterioration and plunder.

Mansura was originally called Brahmanabad after its Brahman founder, who later played a decisive role in building Baghdad in modern day Iraq. Mansura holds an important position in Muslim history as the first to be built by Arabs according to the principles of town-planning. Seventeen years later, lessons learned in Mansura were applied in Baghdad where there were once numerous Sindhi inspired buildings and monuments.

History
Mansura's history began under the Umayyad Caliphs when Muslim Arabs attempted to conquer the frontier kingdoms of India, Kabul, Zabul, and Sindh. In the early 8th Century, with the Kingdom of Sindh convulsed by internal strife, the Arabs seized their chance and renewed their attacks. Thereafter it was captured by Muhammad bin Qasim. Qasim's successors attempted to expand from Sindh into the Punjab and other regions. Al-Masudi has also described the foundation of the city to Governor Mansur bin Jamhur, the last Umayyad Governor of Sindh.

According to historians, Brahmanabad was a beautiful town with vast orchards of mangoes and groves of date palms. Today the ruins of Brahmanabad are spread over an area 4 miles (6.4 km) in circumference near the modern city of Shahdadpur. The most significant ruin found in Mansura is the large courtyard of a Jamia Masjid (mosque), while the remains of temples destroyed by the Muslims were re-used to build mosques, leaving no remains other than a small temple structure called a deri (or deval) in Indian languages, which may have been related to the practice of sati.