"Debal (identified with the ruins of Banbhore) was the first city to be stormed by Qasim. The ninth century Muslim historian, Al-Baladhuri, who wrote the most comprehensive account of early Islamic intrusions into India, recorded that a section of the population was killed in a massacre that lasted three days. The dead included two guardians of the famous Shiva temple. Qasim then marked out a quarter of the town for the Muhammadan garrison, built a mosque, and left behind four thousand men. The mosque at Debal was the first to be constructed in the Indian subcontinent (Wink 1990; 203). Excavations at the site in 1958-1965 revealed a Shiva linga fixed on a yonipitha, besides one lying on the floor. Several other lingas had been re-used in the lowest tread of steps leading to the entrance of the mosque. The excavations exposed four building phases. The first was the original temple that had been in use till it was smashed in 712. A century later, Anbisa bin Ishaq, the new governor of Sindh, pulled down the upper portion of the temple and converted the lower part into a prison. Several blocks of the temple were used for restoring other structures in the city. The city’s buildings were repaired after an earthquake in 854 cr. In 906, the edifice was converted into a mosque, which survived till the city turned into a ruin in the thirteenth century."