A Book of Conquest The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia

24 FRONTIER WITH THE HOUSE OF GOLD

List of sacral sites of Uch Sharif. (Photo© Manan Ahmed Asif.)

honorific Jahangasht is "one who goes around the world"), brought

back sacral objects-the handprint of 'Ali, the footprint of the Prophet-

that are embedded in various locations in Uch. These were the sort of

details to which my hosts directed my attention. I gathered these lists,

along with hand-drawn maps of Uch, tracing out the pathways con-

necting the sites. I spent my days threading through the graves, the

mounds, and the shrines. At return each night, I would tick off the sites

I had visited.

The stories surrounding these sacral objects suggest an intercon-

nected social world that stretched from this dusty town to metropo-