The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.261

v4.c20.261

In the morning Nādir Shāh mounted and rode through the city to ascertain the result of the tumult. About nine hundred Persians had been slain and their corpses were yet lying about the streets. He returned to the beautiful "golden mosque" which had been built not long before, and here the inhabitants of the neighbouring houses threw stones at him from their roofs and one fired a musket, missing him but killing a Persian officer by his side. The sight of the bodies of his men had enraged him and at this last outrage his wrath flamed forth, and he ordered a general massacre of the guilty inhabitants. Two of Muhammad Shāh's officers were sent by Nādir Shāh to seize those who had taken the elephant stables, and the guilty leaders and their four hundred and seventy men were brought before Nādir and put to the sword. The work of blood continued from eight in the morning until the evening, and the tale of the slain was 30,000.² In the evening Nizām-ul-Mulk and Qamar-ud-dīn Khān appeared before Nādir Shāh with a message from Muhammad Shāh, who begged that the remnant of his guilty people might be spared. Nādir Shāh issued orders that the slaying and plundering should cease and to the credit of his discipline¹ his excited soldiery at once stayed their hands. The flames were extinguished, but a great part of the city was in ruins and the stench of the dead was soon intolerable. The corpses were piled in stacks and burnt, whether Hindus or Muslims, with the timber of the ruined houses. All captives, to the number of 50,000, were set free.