HISTORIANS OF SIND.
Conquest of Debal.
Muhammad, son of Kásim, left Armáíl, accompanied by Jahm, the son of Zahru-l Ju’fí, and arrived at Debal on Friday, where ships brought to him a supply of men, arms, and warlike machines. He dug an entrenchment which he defended with spearmen, and unfurlfed his standards; each body of warriors was arrayed under its own banner, and he fixed the manjaník, which was called “the bride,” and required five hundred men to work it. There was at Debal a lofty temple (budd) surmounted by a long pole, and on the pole was fixed a red flag, which when the breeze blew was unfurled over the city. The budd is a high steeple, below which the idol or idols are deposited, as in this instance. The Indians give in general the name of budd to anything connected with their worship or which forms the object of their veneration. So, an idol is called budd.
In the correspondence which ensued, Muhammad informed Hajjáj of what he had done, and solicited advice respecting the future. Letters were written every three days. One day a reply was received to this effect:—“Fix the manjaník and shorten its foot, and place it on the east; you will then call the manjaník-master, and tell him to aim at the flagstaff, of which you have given a description.” So he brought down the flagstaff, and it was broken; at which the infidels were sore afflicted. The idolaters advanced to the combat, but were put to flight; ladders were then brought and the Musulmáns escaladed the wall. The first who gained the summit was a man of Kúfa, of the tribe of Murád. The town was thus taken by assault, and the carnage endured for three days. The governor of the town, appointed by Dáhir, fled, and the priests of the temple were massacred. Muhammad marked out a place for the Musulmáns to dwell in, built a mosque, and left four thousand Musulmáns to garrison the place.
Muhammad, son of Yahya, says that Mansúr, the son of Hátim, the grammarian, a freeman of the family of Khálid, son of Assaid, relates that he had seen the pole broken into fragments which had been placed on the steeple of the temple. ’Ambissa son of Ishak Az Zabbí, the governor of Sind, in the Khalífat of Mu’tasim billah,
