Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/30

 8 ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND wish." Some authors say that when Mohammad ar- rived on the frontiers, he wrote to complain of the scarcity of vinegar, and this was the reason which induced Hajjaj to send cotton soaked in vinegar. Mohammad ibn Kasim then went to Mekran and remained there some time. He then went to Kannaz- bur and took it, and then to Annail, which he also took. After this he left Armail, accompanied by Jahm, and arrived at Daibul on Fri- day, where ships brought him a supply of men, arms, and engines of war. He dug an entrenchment, which he defended with spear- men, and unfurled his ban- ners; each body of war- riors was arrayed under its own banner, and he fixed the manjanik, a catapult or ballista, which was called " the bride " and required five hundred men to work it. There was at Daibul a lofty temple 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 temple is a high steeple, below which the idol or idols are deposited, as in this instance. The Indians give the general name of ~budd (temple) to anything connected with their worship or which forms the object of their veneration, so that an idol itself is called ~budd. In the correspondence which ensued, Mohammad informed Hajjaj of what he had done, and solicited THE MANJANIK, A CATAPULT OR BALLISTA From Egerton's Indian Armour.