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Frontier with the House of Gold
IN MARCH 2ou, I went to Uch-a dusty, small town in southern
Punjab from which the river Indus changed its course many hundreds
of years ago. This was my third visit to the town; previously in 2004
and 2006 I had worked in the private collections of two local families,
examining a manuscript of the Chachnama. Each morning, I asked for
a list of sacral sites that I should visit that day, and each morning my
hosts, the Bukhari family, gave me a different list. My explorations in-
cluded the shrines of Safi al Din Gourzani (d. roo7), Jalaluddin Jaha-
nian Jahangasht (d. 1383), and Jalaluddin Surkh Bukhari (d. 1291); the
tombs of Baha'al-Halim (built 1378) and Bibi Javindi (built 1493); and
the mosque associated with Muhammad bin Qasim. Along with lists
came instructions to pay special attention to the trees-the one that
was planted by Muhammad bin Qasim and under which a series of em-
inent Sufis had meditated; the one ·behind the tomb of Bibi Javindi to
which childless women could pray for a boon; the one which covered
the graves that lined the way to the shrine of Surkh Bukhari and whose
shade would help rid a person of sins.
It was ~ggested that I follow the contours of the wall that runs
along Uch Bukhari and Uch Gilani, dissecting the bazaar and the me-
dieval city. At Jahanian Jahangasht's tomb, I was told to visit the wall on
which he had sat and traveled to different parts of the world, including
Egypt, Mecca, and Medina.^1 From his travels, Jahaniyan Jahan Gasht (the
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