A Book of Conquest The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia

THE HALF SMILE Chach's appointment of Buddhist advisors. Chachnama's presentation of ethics for a ruler and his diverse subjects ...

THE HALF SMILE 137 presented to the caliph, who through a translator inquires about the eldest one so that he can take her to hi ...

138 THE HALF SMILE On hearing the caliph, the eldest daughter gives a half-smile, un- veils herself, and speaks. This is the lon ...

THE HALF SMILE 139 own commander and "awash in sorrow, he bit the back of his hand." The caliph is left speechless. Dahar's daug ...

THE HALF SMILE center of power, follows none of these imperatives. He appears in Chachnama only in this episode, and he is a pri ...

THE HALF SMILE 141 as a commander, and he enacts his just rules under the guidance of Ladi. The corruption at the center of Musl ...

142 THE HALF SMILE The people from his party, frightened, ran back to the queen and informed her that Dahar was fighting a lion. ...

THE HALF SMILE 143 embodiments of political theory, they are placed in a constellation of characters such as the women and the p ...

144 THE HALF SMILE Juzjani also documents an ethics of virtue, righteousness, and jus- tice in his depiction of deposed Hindu ki ...

THE HALF SMILE 145 military support. He launches into a description of the character of the people of Sind, and to explain the l ...

THE HALF SMILE memory of Sind's past. Their stories are recited to explicate the nation- hood of Sind and to argue against imper ...

THE HALF SMILE 147 ality or an account of resistance to the state. In these invocations, there is always the mention of a gestur ...

THE HALF SMILE the Emperor ordered her to be buried alive. She was accordingly placed in an upright position at the appointed pl ...

THE HALF SMILE 149 In this chapter, I have shown that the putative conquest narrative, read instead as political theory, can off ...

6. A Conquest of Pasts A SHORT DRIVE outside of Uch, at the edges of the Cholistan desert, are seven extraordinarily long graves ...

A CONQUEST OF PASTS r5r Graves of the Prophet's Companions. (Photo © Manan Ahmed Asif.) Other stories indicated that Muhammad ha ...

152 A CONQUEST OF PASTS in 712 AD. Colonial officers and historians explicated Muslim ori- gins as a narrative of conquest, posi ...

A CONQUEST OF PASTS 153 the past by stages [genealogically and then yearly), from the creation of Adam to the present political ...

154 A CONQUEST OF PASTS Abu'l-Fazl had no reason to mention or utilize Chachnama because his purpose was to narrate from the per ...

A CONQUEST OF PASTS 155 the caliph is not as licentious, and the two daughters of Dahar are not immured but are dragged from the ...