A DEMON WITH RUBY EYES II3
Biruni's chief concern is to mark Qaramita transgression-they
are the ones who abandoned the policy of accommodation, they are
the ones who destroyed the ruby-eyed idol and the temple, and they
are the ones who built a palace on the temple's space. He is arguing
that the Qaramita Shi'a are the truest danger for Islam and that
Mahmud rescues the Muslim past and Indic present from them.
Mahmud "relieves" the city from that heresy, he rebuilds the mosque
of Muhammad bin Qasim, but he leaves the other temple as a ruin.
It is clear that the idol with ruby eyes is narratively important in
the representation of difference between Hindu and Muslim commu-
nities in Sind's frontier. In Baladhuri, the motif was employed to show
the lack of power in Hindu faith. In the Arab geographer accounts, it
represented the wealth and prosperity of Indic polities and the political
alliances between Muslim rulers and Hindu subjects. In Biruni, it dem-
onstrated Muslim sectarian conflict and its repercussions for Hindu
subjects.
In Chachnama, the first encounter with an idol occurs when Qasim
is attempting to take the fort of Aror and faces staunch resistance from
the people-echoing Chach's conquest.of Brahmanabad. After a long
siege, the city surrenders and opens the gates to the fort only after
Qasim promises the people's safety. Chachnama narrates:
Then, as Muhammad bin Qasim entered the fort, he heard that all
the inhabitants were gathered at the temple of Naubahar (nava-vihar),
praying. Muhammad bin Qasim asked, "Whose home is this, that
everyone is attending it and praying there?" They replied, "This is
the temple Naubahar." Then he entered it and saw a figure (surati)
sitting on a horse. On its hands were bracelets of gold and rubies. Mu-
hammad bin Qasim reached out and with his hand took the bracelet
from the idol. Then he called the caretaker priest and said, "Is this
your idol?" He replied, "Yes. But he had two bracelets and now has
only one." Muhammad bin Qasim said, "Why does your god not
know that his bracelet is gone?" The priest bowed his head, and Mu-
hammad bin Qasim smiled and returned the bracelet.,,^16
The violence done to the idol in Baladhuri does not recur in this
episode, yet the account of Qasim clearly recasts that narrative with
important emendations. Chachnama remarks on the significance of
the temple's sacrality, thus arguing for the relationship between sacral