II8 A DEMON WITH RUBY EYES
does focus heavily on is making subjects of non-Muslim populations
who remain non-Muslim. Notably in this episode of conversion,
Chachnama remarks on the law of the land and what that law allows
a subject to do. It does not remark on the sacral domination on a par-
ticular faith. Like its treatment of political accommodation of diverse
communities, Chachnama portrays conversion as a political transla-
tion between regimes of power.
The appointment of Hindu nobility and advisors to key positions
in the Muslim army demonstrates that for Chachnama's political
theory, the religion of individual subjects is of little or no importance.
When Qasim appoints Kiksa, the minister of the fallen Dahar, to the
position of the chief treasurer for the Muslim army, he gives him full
power to create pacts and alliances. Qasim recognizes Kiksa as '^1 a wise
man of Hind" (hakim-i Hind) when he approaches Qasim with the cou-
plet, "advice should come only from the experienced, the intelligent, the
ones with foresight / those for whom there is a distinction between the
inner and the outer."^27 Qasim calls him an "advisor who brings good
fortune" (mubarak mushir). There is no sign that Kiksa's advice is tied
to his conversion for this important post in the Muslim army-a clear
indication that the sectarian difference does not cause any particular
anxiety for the text and its milieu. Chachnama recognizes numerous
other Brahmin or Buddhist advisors and allies who are incorporated in
the task of conquest or governance. In essence then, Chachnama ar-
ticulates the importance of a political will that foregrounds an ethics
of difference where governance (the rulers' relationship with the mer-
cantile, agrarian, and artisanal community) and public good (the main-
tenance of temples in the city) are paramount.
Chachnama first uses Buddhist-Hindu religious difference and
political accommodation as the model for its political theory of differ-
ence. Chachnama presents a past in which the Brahmin Chach and the
Buddhist polities and priests are intertwined. Buddhist-Brahmin en-
counters in Chachnama provide a model for how a Muslim polity
should encounter other faiths. In the Chach cycle, there are three
models of conquest of Buddhist sites: when Chach captures the fort of
Sika, he kills the five thousand warriors in the city, enslaves the popu-
lation, and appoints a foreign governor over them; when Chach engages
the fort in Sistan, the king surrenders and asks for a treaty, so Chach