14 INTRODUCTION
This account takes up the first third of Chachnama and has three
overarching themes: the basis of legitimacy for the ruler, the good
counsel of the advisor, and the need to create a justly governed polity.
'Ali Kufi then introduces the second portion of his text under the
heading "A History from the Righteously Guided Caliphs to Walid." It
begins with the time of 'Umar (r. 634-644 CE) and describes the Muslim
campaigns to Hind and Sind. Short accounts of governors dispatched
to various fronts in Makran, Zabulistan, and Qandahar are followed
by descriptions of rebellious Muslim groups fleeing to the frontier.^30
Kufi details the 'Alawi revolts and the amassing of troops in Sind who
were conspiring against the state in Damascus. To counter these groups
and to assert political control over the region, the governor of Iraq,
Hajjaj bin Yusuf, dispatches the young commander Muhammad bin
Qasim to Sind in 7n CE. Qasim begins by capturing the fort of Arm-
abil in Makran and then lays siege to the port city of Daybul. After the
conquest of Daybul, he takes the forts of Nerun. The battle with Raja
Dahar occurs by the banks of the river Indus. After Dahar's defeat,
Qasim proceeds to Aror, Brahmanabad, and finally Multan. The nar-
rative concludes with the description of the death of Qasim, which
comes at the orders of the caliph in Baghdad after the daughters of
Dahar accuse Qasim of sexual violence against them. Chachnama ends
with a short dedication and a prayer from Kufi.
In this portion of Chachnama, Qasim's campaign is a deliberate
shadowing of the campaigns that Chach undertook to the "four quar-
ters" of Sind. The major themes remain go·od counsel, good governance,
and the need for a coherent political theory for a polity. Hence, the text
contains speeches detailing policy and taxation, private conversations
between commanders, dreams and prophecies, more than forty epis-
tles between various protagonfsts, and statements on political theory
and governance that include descriptions of appointments of non-
Muslims to administrative and ceremonial pdsitions. All of this is
interspersed in the methodical military march of Chach and Qasim
through the cities of medieval Sind.
This is Chachnama-a tale, a history, a romance, a lesson-set in
the late seventh and early eighth centuries. It is the tale of Chach and
Qasim, two young men who strive to establish an ethical polity in Sind
but whose work is undone by the greed and lust of others. Kufi tells us