Erstwhile name of this city was
Brahmanabad, which was renamed as Mansura by the Arab Conquerors. The Umayyad governor of Sind, Al-Hakam, founded a city called al-Mahfuza later called
Brahminabad. Historical sources state that he found there were "no places in Sind where Muslims were safe", which indicates there were unrest and rebellions before his arrival. His deputy Al-Thaqafi founded Al-Masura "opposite Al-Mahfuza". Historian Blankship believes that the former was a base for the
Yamani troops of the Caliphate and the latter was for the Mudari troops. By the time of
Al-Baladhuri, the old Brahamanabad was in ruins, and the new city itself was referred to by the name Brahmanabad. The city was further developed by
Khalid ibn Barmak (705–782), a member of the
Iranian Barmakids family, during the
Abbasid Caliphate. The city 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. 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 ibn Qasim, nephew of
al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the governor of
Iraq and
Khurasan with the army. Qasim's successors attempted to expand from Sindh into the
Punjab and other regions.
Al-Masudi ascribed the foundation of the city to Governor Mansur ibn Jamhur, the last Umayyad
governor of Sindh. Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, who belonged to the Banu Habar tribe, the clan of Banu Asad, was the first governor of al-Mansura. Under the Caliphate of
al-Mansur, Khalid was appointed governor of Fars and, after helping obtain Prince
Isa ibn Musa's renunciation of his succession to the caliphate in 765, became governor of
Tabaristan. Around the same time, his son
Yahya ibn Khalid, was appointed governor of
Adharbayjan. According to historians, Mansura was a beautiful town with vast orchards of mangoes and groves of date palms. Today the ruins of Mansura are spread over an area in circumference near the modern city of
Shahdadpur. The most significant ruin found in Mansura is the large courtyard of a
Jamia Masjid (mosque). == Buddhist stupa ==