A FOUNDATION FOR HISTORY 71We have now seen the ways in which Chachnama describes geog-
raphy as lived in, with plantations, cities, and various peoples and
communities. How can we read Chachnama's description of Sind then?
Having shown that the text's claims of translation or genre cannot be
taken at face value, we can place Chachnama in a lived and fully ar-
ticulated geography that connects Sind to Gujarat and to Oman. There
is a social world that surrounds Chachnama and, contra Cousens, it is
not an empty landscape. This region-largely absent from con-
temporary scholarship that focuses on Delhi-is built on networks of
mobility, settlement, and trade. This social world extends from the
shores of Oman and Yemen to the port cities of Diu, Surat, Daybul,
and Uch to the desert forts that link Multan to Surat.
I want to turn, at the end, to another near-contemporary text from
the same locale as Chachnama: '.Abdur-Rahman's Samdesarasaka,
which was composed in Prakrit, near Jaislamer, sometime in the late
twelfth century.^53 The poem is written to emulate and subvert Kali-
dasa's Meghasandesa-the account of a journey of a cloud bearing a
message from a husband to his wife. Where Kalidasa's cloud travels
from Ramagiri in the south to Alaka in the HimaJayas, 'Abdur-
Rahman's traveler is asked to take a message from Multan to Cambay.
Where Kalidasa gives the perspective of the male yaksha pining for his
female lover, Rahman highlights the female virahini left at home while
the husband makes a living far away. Where Kalidasa's text is imbued
with sacral geography, Rahman reveals mercantile geography along the
path anchored by Uch and the long strings of Cholistani forts. Rahman,
who claims descent from western mleccha lands, begins his poem with
a hamd (praise of God) that gestures to a Qur'anic verse:
He who has created all this: the oceans, earth, mountains, trees
and heavenly bodies-may He, 0 wise ones, bless you
Bow down, 0 men of culture, to that Creator to whom men, semi-
gods, and gods, as also the sun and the moon pay obeisance.^54
To see \jch from the perspective of an inhabitant of this world, we
need to read Rahman's description of Multan (Mulasthana) and its
environs:
If in the company of clever persons we take a stroll in the city, sweet
melodies of Prakrit songs greet our ears. At places the Vedas are