FOLDS upon folds of Time undulate across red-tinged earth covered with coarse, gnarled bushels, until the eye can see no further; the sun seems to dissolve behind it.

In abject desolation, spread across acres on either side of a narrow, dark and hidden road unfolds an ancient land. In its first life, around the seventh or eighth century, it was Brahminabad, now Mansura. Created by the Indus, this was the centre of trade and economic prosperity, and remnants of its heyday come alive each time an excavator touches these eerie grounds.

At present, it is dotted with many mounds and depressions, which explorers record as signposts of roads, homes, drainage systems and buildings. In a far corner is a shell of a temple dome, a high eroding tower, a semblance of a plinth ascribed to the Grand Mosque. By the roadside stands a long, covered passage-like ruin with a string of arched openings on either side. All relics are in red brick and records say that the site is situated on an old basin of the Indus.

Perhaps the earliest excavator came here in the 1800s — Bellasis was said to be the collector of Hyderabad, who recorded his fascination with the prehistoric venue in Discoveries at Brahminabad. His conclusions match the present-day folklore in Mansura’s neighbouring settlements where village elders say that this “Sheher Gharq” was either engulfed by an earthquake of epic ferocity or that the wrath of God fell upon the kafirs as the skies opened up with fire in approximately 1020 AD. “…terrible convulsion of nature, which probably at the same time completely changed the course of the Indus. On no other supposition can a ruin be accounted for that was at once so sudden and so complete. Skeletons were found in every house that was opened and in the streets, some crouched together in corners … others crushed flat by a falling weight ... you also see several buildings, such as mosques and temples, whose walls were too strong for the human hand to overthrow.…” writes Bellasis.

He had also come upon precious carved figurines, valuables that pointed to Buddhist rituals and engravings in Arabic, Sanskrit and Devanagri script.

As is apparent from this debris of history, the architecture of defence comprising forts and heavy boundaries was a constant in Brahminabad’s journey to Mansura. But its identity is at its most compromised today — hardly anyone knows it by its historic names; they call it Dalur, the fiefdom of King Dalura.

Some four decades later, celebrated researcher, Henry Cousens followed Bellasis’ trail and stated in Brahmanabad-Mansura in Scinde, Archaeological Survey of India: annual report 1903-04 that “the most interesting of deserted city sites in Western India is usually known as Brahmanabad in Scinde.”

Cousens supported many of his predecessor’s discoveries but differed on the cause of Brahminabad’s destruction, saying that Arabs, most likely Abbasids, invaded the city and founded their capital of Mansura on its wreckage.

Unsurprisingly, the area’s archaeological evaluation in 1986 erased Mansura’s roots in Brahminabad as a cradle of coexistence where Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism and Islam flourished and left imprints that have survived centuries of abandonment. It declared that Mansura was founded “on virgin soil” and not on the Hindu terrain of Brahminabad. However, this particular assessment did give it an elaborate and definitive blueprint — it recorded commercial and industrial sectors, opulent residences, fortifications, the Grand Mosque, the state assembly, gateways, the Dar el Imarah, and much more.

Meanwhile, eminent anthropologist Dr Zulfikar Kalhoro has a novel take on a land that has lived many lives. “There are countless undiscovered pockets and very little has been said about the tribal communities such as the camel breeding Jats and the Mohanas, called Meds at the time, who were water lords and of their impact on Brahminabad’s affluence. Also, Shiva worship was most common as the idol is the lord of the east.” Kalhoro maintains that Zoroastrian and Jain relics have yet to be unearthed.

As the night falls, the silver of the stars douses Mansura in another hue. And being a witness to one of the globe’s most precious and antiquated cache left to perish in isolation, becomes overwhelming.

Nevertheless, preserving Mansura’s truth is a double-edged sword — on one level, it merits immortality and on another, it runs the danger of being slain by historians.

As scholars propose that it be studied under “Islamic archaeology”, a masked bid to renounce this region’s secular past and a direct assault on the ideals of pluralism and tolerance, perhaps it is best for Brahminabad’s Mansura to stay buried in the equaliser called Nature.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2015

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