THE HALF SMILE 135vides a range of women who hold political power ( "he would not be
able to hide from me"). The people are convinced by this and surrender
to Qasim after declaring that they are now under his protection.
After Qasim enters Aror and encounters the idol in the temple, he
announces hastily that those who had fought the invasion-even if
now supplicant-will be killed. Upon hearing this, Queen Ladi inter-
jects that Qasim's command is unwise: " 'The inhabitants of this city
are builders and traders. They keep this city alive and green. 'It is
through their labor that the treasury and the granary are full. If you
kill them, you will be killing your own wealth.' Muhammad Qasim
answered, 'This is the order of Queen Ladi,' and he granted peace to
them all."^12
Thus Queen Ladi, who was abused and accused of disloyalty by the
people of Aror, is the instrument of their salvation. Qasim, who is the
conquering commander, does not hesitate to listen to the deposed
queen or to issue a command in her name. What Queen Ladi is em-
phasizing to Qasim is that the safety and continuing livelihood of the
people of Aror are the foundation of his political rule. To further ce-
ment this argument in Chachama, Qasim takes Queen Ladi as his own
wife. Like Chach's marriage to the wife 'Of the previous king, Qasim's
marriage to Ladi cements the bond of history to the political, showing
that new regimes build upon existing structures of power. Like Sohnan
Devi, Ladi speaks to and for the people of Sind and manages the tran-
sition of power without violence or bloodshed. Ladi provides Qasim
with the techniques of rule that he needs to found a polity in Sind.
It is after Qasim's marriage to Ladi that Chachnama describes the
legal status of non-Muslims in the new polity. Qasim takes Ladi's ad-
vice to build the foundation for a diverse population. He enacts a poll·
tax on non-Muslims: the purest weight of silver for the nobility, a lesser
weight for the lesser elite, and so on. He declares his subjects free to
practice the religion of their choice, and he makes appointments to
bureaucratic and administrative posts without any question of conver-
sion. He m11kes a register of the traders, artisans, and farmers and ap-
points them a relief fund because the war has hurt them the most. He
takes Dahar's nobles as his advisors and appoints Brahmins to key po-'
sitions, telling them that he has full confidence in their abilities.
These basic acts of statecraft and integration of political regimes mirror