126 A DEMON WITH RUBY EYES
The Jats are thus cast as a nomadic population that must be either
eradicated or policed under both Chach's reign and the polity of Qasim.
Jats are invoked in the Qasim cycle when they continue to resist Qa-
sim's armies even after the fall of a fort or even after making pMitical
alliances. In dealing with the nomadic Jats, Qasim asks his new advi-
sors about existing laws governing them in Sind: "What was the matter
of the Jats with Chach and Dahar?" The ministers Siaker and Maka
reply with a legal history that goes back to Chach:
During the rule of Chach, the Jats of Lohana (that is, those who lived
in the area of Lakha and Samma) were prohibited from wearing soft
clothes, from covering their heads, and from wearing a rough, black
sheet on their torso. When they exited their homes, they were accom-
panied by dogs. By this, they could be identified from afar .... They
are barbaric, prone to rebellion and thievery on the roads. They were
the same even in Daybul, raiding along with others. They are also
responsible for bringing cooking wood to the kitchens of the kings.
Said Muhammad bin Qasim: "How offensive (makruh) are these
people! They are like the jungle dwellers in the lands of Persia (Fars)
and Makran (Kuhpaia) who have the same ways." Hence, Muhammad
bin Qasim kept on them their existing laws, just as Amir al-Mominin
'Umar bin Khattab had insisted that the nomadic inhabitants of Syria
host any traveler and give them food for a night, and if the traveler
were sick, for three nights.^40
The Jats are described as nomadic, undisciplined subjects who re-
fuse to submit to any political order. To aadress the Jat problem,
Chachnama layers three levels of history: the precedence of Chach's
laws, Muhammad bin Qasim's continued legal sanction of the Jats, and
finally the earliest Muslim political leaders' dealings with nomadic
peoples. In invoking the past of Chach, Qasim is assisted by the legal
knowledge of local ministers. When Qasim reaffirms this rule, he
makes comparisons to other political spaces that disciplined nomadic
peoples. Note, however, that never does Chachnama suggest dealing
with a recalcitrant population through conversion.
The cases of political accommodation and the legal disciplining of
unruly subjects illustrate how Chachnama constitutes a robust theory
of managing difference. This theory is based on alliance and law. In
this theory, no community is under duress to convert to Islam. Their