IIO A DEMON WITH RUBY EYESof the ruler, as represented by Chach, and the sacral power of the priest,
as represented by the (invisible to others) demon with ruby eyes, simi-
larly rests on mutually understanding religious difference within a
shared conceptual universe. Chach recognizes the spiritual land po-
litical power of the Buddhist priest. For Chach, the reason for compro-
mise is both an understanding of religious efficacy in political life as
well as a grasp of religious-political intersections of power. In recog-
nizing the Buddhist temple and fearing the Buddhist demon, the
Brahmin Chach agrees to a political understanding of difference. In rec-
ognizing the political power of Chach and asking him for material
aid, the Buddhist priest also agrees to this understanding of sacral
difference.
Within the political theory of Chachnama, this account is an ar-
gument for mutual comprehension of difference. The communities are
made commensurable through the way Chach recognizes the sacral
power of the demon with ruby eyes and allows the Buddhist priest to
maintain his social status. The priest, in turn, recognizes Chach's re-
cently acquired political power. The ruby eyes signify an agreement
between sacral and political power. They narratively mark a process
of translation across sacral and political regimes. Chachnama is
drawing upon a long genealogy of representations of Indic deities in
Muslim sources. Chachnama takes this potent symbolic representa-
tion of Hindu presence and deploys it narratively as a site of transla-
tion between Hindu and Muslim political and sacral powers.
Let us examine a textual genealogy of this archetype in Muslim
writings on India to demonstrate the concept in Chachnama. An idol
with ruby eyes first makes an appearance in Baladhuri's ninth-century
conquest text, marking a frontier and an encounter of difference. Balad-
huri narrates it in his description of the Muslim campaign in the re-
gion of Dawar (in Oruzgan province in central Afghanistan, north of
Kandahar) in 634-635 CE:
When ['Abd Shams) reached the land of Dawar, he surrounded [the
people] in the mountain of Zur. They appealed for peace. He had with
him 8,000 Muslims, and each of them received 4,000 dirhams [for
tribute]. Ibn Samrah entered the Zurand temple and saw an idol of
gold with ruby eyes ('ainah yaqutan). He cut off the hand of the idol
and took out the rubies. Then he called out to the caretaker: "Keep