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Later Mughals v2.c19: Chapter XIII

Later Mughals v2.c19

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Chapter XIII

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NADIR SHAH IN DIHLI: HIS RETURN.

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[ By the Editor ]

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SEC. 117.—STATE OF DIHLI CITY AFTER THE EMPEROR'S DEFEAT.

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The people of Dihli had been as careless of the outer world as the imperial Court. They had not at first realized the character of the Persian menace, nor the genius of the upstart shepherd-brigand who was approaching their country. Confidence in the wardens of the marches produced a false sense of security, which was heightened by the magnificent display of the assembled forces of the three highest nobles sent from the capital on 2nd December 1738. When, on 19th January 1739, the secretary Anandram reached Dihli a day after the Emperor's departure to join the army, he found that every one, great and small, in the city had set his heart on accompanying the expedition. Some looked upon it as an opportunity for seeing the Panjab, others thought that a victory would be gained near the city and that they would return home very soon.

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Then came the truth with startling suddenness. Early on the 15th February, news arrived at Dihli that two days earlier the enemy's forces had triumphed, the two largest divisions of the imperial army with their generals had been killed or captured, and the Emperor's camp invested. The population of Dihli was cosmopolitan and included a large miscellaneous body ever ready to engage in violence and plunder. The Gujars or pastoral brigands lived in the close vicinity of the city and might be expected to raid its rich bazars whenever they heard that the imperial authority was paralysed or temporarily weakened. [Imad. 66.]

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But Haji Fulad Khan, the police prefect of Dihli, was a wise and energetic man. He kept the city safe by watching the streets day and night, and promptly pounced upon every creator of mischief. In the meantime the highways leading from the city were totally closed by robbers; life and property became insecure outside the walls. Private individuals like Anandram who lived beyond the fortified town hired armed retainers to guard their houses, barricaded the ends of their streets, and laid in stores of powder and shot for the defence of their homes and families. Twelve days passed in this kind of anxious watch, when on 27th February Saadat Khan arrived with 4,000 troopers and the lawless people were overawed. [Anandram, 38-41.]

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The day after he had secured the Emperor's person Nadir Shah despatched to Dihli Saadat Khan as the Emperor's representative and Tahmasp Khan Jalair as his own plenipotentiary agent, with 4000 cavalry to take possession of the city and palace for the victor and make arrangements for keeping order, so that no part of the imperial property might be plundered or secreted during the change of masters and the necessary preparations might be made for receiving Nadir in the palace. The two nobles reached Dihli on 27th February. They brought two letters from Muhammad Shah and Nadir to Lutf-ullah Khan the governor of the city. The Emperor ordered him to hand over to Tahmasp the keys of the palaces and imperial treasuries and stores and to guard the Princes carefully. Nadir's letter praised Lutf-ullah for his honesty and devotion to his master and confirmed him in the government of Dihli on his own behalf.

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Lutf-ullah Khan had talked of digging trenches round Dihli and making a defence. Therefore, Saadat Khan halted one march outside the city and wrote to Lutf-ullah advising him to make a peaceful surrender. Resistance was hopeless, and the governor yielded up the city to the agent of Persia. [Shakir.]

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When the news of the occupation of Dihli reached the camp outside Karnal the two kings set out on 1st March. Muhammad Shah rode an arrow's flight behind Nadir, as courtesy required. The Emperor was accompanied* by only 1000 horse and his Wazir by 10,000. The rest of the imperial army had dispersed to their homes immediately after the order of 25th February.

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∗ Harcharan. Chronicle. But Hanway (ii. 373) gives a different description of Nadir's march to Dihli with 350,000 men forming a column 12 miles long and 3 miles broad.

Sec. 118.—Nadir Shah and the Emperor Enter Dihli Palace.

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The royal party arrived near the Shalimar garden north of Dihli on 7th March. Saadat Khan had advanced from the city a day earlier to welcome Nadir. On the 7th Luft-ullah went to the garden to wait on his master, who presented him to Nadir. The Persian king expressed great pleasure at Lutfullah’s ready obedience, and taking off a costly coat from his own person invested the Khan with it with his own hands. [Shakir.] Nadir and his army halted in the garden on the 8th, while Muhammad Shah went into the city to prepare the palace for receiving his august guest.

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The fallen descendant of Babar and Akbar rode into his capital on a portable throne (*takht-i-rawan*) in silence and humility; no band played, and no banners were carried before him. [Chronicle.] A few nobles accompanied him,—Ishaq Khan, Bahroz Khan and Jawid Khan.

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Next morning, Friday the 9th of March, the conqueror entered Dihli riding a grey charger. His troops lined the road from the limits of the Shalimar garden to the gate of the fort-palace of Dihli. The Emperor welcomed his conqueror, spread the richest carpets cloth of gold and other rare stuffs on the ground for him to set his foot upon (*pa-andazi*). Nadir Shah occupied Shah Jahan’s own palace-chambers near the Diwan-i-khas, while Muhammad Shah lodged near the *deorhi* of the Asad Burj. [Anandram.] On this day the Emperor acted as the host and placed dinner before Nadir. The Persian army encamped, some round the fort, some on the bank of the Jamuna near the city, and some were quartered in houses throughout the city. [Ali Hazin, *Jahankusha* 355.]

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Saadat Khan had been in attendance on Nadir the whole of this day. At night he was severely reprimanded by the Persian king for his failure to raise the promised ransom and was threatened with personal chastisement if he did not carry out his word soon. It was too much for him. He retired to his own house and took poison.

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The feast of Id-uz-zuha fell on Saturday 10th March. In the morning the name and titles of Nadir were proclaimed as sovereign from the pulpits of the Jama Masjid and other places of prayer. [Siyar, i. 98.] In the afternoon Nadir went on a return visit to Muhammad Shah’s chambers and proceeded to his real business, the exaction of ransom. A little scene was now played in order to throw a veil of outward decency over the pre-arranged act of spoliation. We can easily detect the truth in reading between the lines of the following diplomatic narrative of the Persian king’s secretary [Jahankusha, 355] :—

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“Nadir Shah graciously remarked that the throne of Hindustan would be left to Muhammad Shah, in the terms of the agreement made on the first day, and that the Emperor would enjoy the support and friendship of the Persian monarch, because both were of the same Turkoman stock.

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“Muhammad Shah bowed low in gratitude and gave profuse thanks to the victor for his generosity. He had received no small favour ;—it was the gift of a crown added to the gift of life. As a mark of his gratitude he laid before Nadir Shah the accumulated treasures stores and rare possessions of the rulers of Dihli as presents to Nadir and offerings for his health (nisar). But the gracious sovereign of Persia refused to take any of these things, though the piled-up wealth of all the other kings of the world did not amount to a tenth part of a tenth part of this immense hoard. At last he yielded to the importunity of Muhammad Shah and appointed trusty officers to take delivery of the money and other property.”

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SEC. 119.—DIHLI POPULACE RISE AGAINST THE PERSIANS.

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While this peaceful meeting was being held in the palace, a scene of the opposite character opened in the city. Nadir’s soldiers and camp-followers, mostly Turks, Kurds and Mongols, were wandering carelessly through the streets and bazars of Dihli as their king was in possession of the city. Suddenly, about four o’clock in the evening (Saturday, 10th March), some idle talkers and mischief-makers started the rumour that Nadir Shah had been treacherously shot dead at the instigation of Muhammad Shah, by a Qalmaq woman-guard of the palace when he was returning from his visit to the Emperor.* [Anandram 44, Siyar i. 98.] As all had heard that Nadir would go to the Emperor's quarters that day, the story found ready belief. None cared to verify the news by a visit to the palace, though its gate was open and people were passing in and out of it on business. [Ali Hazin.] The rumour spread like wild-fire, and soon afterwards the hooligans and low people of the city armed themselves and began to attack the Persian soldiers and followers who were strolling through the streets alone or in groups of two and three. Their small number, their ignorance of the local language, and their unfamiliarity with by-ways of the city put them at a disadvantage and they were slain. The rumour of the murder of their chief took the heart out of the Persians and they could not make any organized stand. The rising spread with the success of the rioters and the weak defence of the Persians. All night the murderous attack raged; it slackened after 3 o'clock next morning (no doubt owing to the exhaustion of the fighters), but revived with new energy at daybreak, which was the 13th bright lunar day of Falgun or the commencement of the Holi festival, when the lower classes of Hindus are particularly excited and often intoxicated. [Chronicle and Raj. vi. 131.]

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Among the authorities Harcharan-das alone says that the citizens rose in tumult when they were driven to desperation by the violent attacks of the Persian soldiers on their property and women. This statement goes against the probabilities of the case, because the time was only one day after Nadir’s arrival, when the amount of the ransom and the manner of levying it were still being discussed, and Nadir was not the man to allow a premature fleecing of the citizens or relax the discipline of his army in a foreign town. All other writers represent the Indian mob as the aggressors. The higher classes and all good men held aloof; but they took no active step to pacify or control the hooligans, because the old Government agency for maintaining order had been dissolved, the gentry were too much divided by caste creed race and profession to combine and organize a voluntary police at a moment’s notice, and their centralized autocratic Government had not developed their powers of initiative and self-help by giving them any opportunity of corporate action and municipal self-government.

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∗ This was a familiar stage-device of the story-tellers of Dihli. The captive Shah Jahan was said to have formed a similar plot against Aurangzeb in Agra fort. Details of the alleged murder of Nadir Shah varied in the popular mouth. The following rumour reached Aurangabad, as we find in a Mahratti news-letter [Raj. vi. No. 134] :—"Nadir Shah breaking his oath faithlessly imprisoned the Emperor and his nobles, though the Pathans who had joined him urged him not to do it. At the time of Nadir's entrance into Dihli there was a rising of the Pathans round him. Qasim Khan Pathan and his brother, who were waving peacock feather fans over Nadir and his Wazir on their howdas, slew both of them with their daggers at the gate."

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Hanway heard what seems to me to have been the most probable account of the origin of the riot, namely that Tahmasp Khan sent several Persian mounted military police (nasaqchi) to the granaries of the Paharganj ward ordering them to be opened and the price of corn fixed; that the corn-dealers not being satisfied with the rate, a mob assembled; Sayyid Niaz Khan and several other persons of distinction put themselves at their head and slew the Persian horsemen, and then the report was spread that Nadir had been murdered, which increased the tumult. [ii. 375.]

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According to Ali Hazin, seven thousand Persians were slain that night. But Abdul Karim gives the more probable figure of 3,000.*

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When early in the night the first reports of the attacks on his soldiers were brought to Nadir, he refused to credit them and censured the complainants by saying that the wretches in his army had brought this false charge against the citizens in the hope of getting from him an order to plunder and slay them and thus satisfy their wicked greed. But the reports persisted and gradually became more alarming. He now sent out a sergeant to find out the true facts. The man, on leaving the fort-gate, was killed by the mob. A second agent suffered the same fate. Then the Persian king ordered a thousand musketeers to enter the streets and disperse the mob. But by this time the disturbance had spread over too large an area for these few men to succeed in quelling it.

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∗ Ali Hazin says that some of the Indian nobles who had begged from Nadir Qizilbash guards for their mansions gave them up to the mob to be slain and even killed them with their own hands. But Abdul Karim tells the more probable tale that these guards were preserved and their presence saved those houses from the vengeance of Nadir’s soldiery in the next day’s massacre and even the poor householders in their neighbourhood escaped sack by appealing to them.

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On learning this, Nadir ordered that his soldiers should remain collected in their respective posts for the rest of the night, without spreading out or sallying forth to punish the Indians. They were not even to fight unless their posts were attacked. The gates of the wards of the city were watched by strong Persian pickets, and the rioting bands were isolated in their respective quarters and prevented from combining or marching elsewhere. [Jahankusha 357, Harcharan, Bayan 46-47, Ali Hazin 298-299, Anandram 44.]

Sec. 120.—Nadir's Massacre at Dihli.

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At sunrise on Sunday 11th March, the tumult broke out afresh. Nadir dressed himself in armour, mounted his horse and girt around by spearmen carrying daggers also, rode to the Golden Mosque of Roshan-ud-daulah in the middle of Chandni Chawk, opposite the Police Station and close to the Jewel Market. There he ascertained from which wards and classes of men the crimes of the night before had proceeded, and then unsheathed his sword as a signal for the general massacre of the people of those wards.

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His soldiers had so long held their hands back from retaliation solely in obedience to his command. They now hastened with drawn swords to wreak vengeance. Within the doomed areas, the houses were looted, all the men killed without regard for age and all the women dragged into slavery.*

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∗ Hanway (ii. 376)—Many refugees from the neighbouring country, joined by jewellers, money-changers, and rich shopkeepers, headed by the Court physician, took arms in desperation, assembled in a body, and fought

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The destroyers set fire to many houses and several of their victims, both dead and wounded, Hindus and Muhammadans, were indiscriminately burnt together. [*Jahankusha* 357-358.]

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The slaughter began about 9 o'clock in the morning and raged unchecked till about 2 P.M. Then Muhammad Shah in utter humility sent his highest nobles, the Nizam and the Wazir, to beg the victor to abate his anger and pardon his erring subjects. [*Jahan* 359.] Nadir listened to the prayer, because he took no pleasure in wanton bloodshed, and had only ordered the massacre as a measure of self-defence in imaginary fear of a universal rising of the Indian population. [*Harcharan.*]

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The *kotwal* was commanded to go through the city with the heralds of the Persian army, proclaiming to the men to cease their work of slaughter. They immediately obeyed.

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Anandram (who was present in the Wakilpura suburb throughout Nadir's stay in Dihli) says that the houses in the Chandni Chawk, the Fruit-market Square, the Dariba Bazar and the region round the Jama Masjid were sacked. Harcharandas, too, speaks of only 2 or 3 *mahallas* near the Fort and the grain dealers' *mahalla* (Paharganj) which was at a distance from it, suffering havoc. Abdul Karim defines the portion of the city subjected to massacre and plunder, as extending from the fort-gate westwards to the old Id-gah, northwards to the wood market, southwards to outside the Dihli gate in the city-wall. In addition to this area, "in Paharganj where the rising had started, many men were arrested on the suspicion of having caused the tumult and they were brought and beheaded on the bank of the Jamuna." [*Bayan.*]

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The number of persons slain was found, on a subsequent investigation by the *kotwal*, to be 8,000 according to my MS. of Abdul Karim's memoirs, but the copy of the same work used by Sir H. Elliot's translator, Lt. Prichard, reads 20,000. The Persian State Secretary has 30,000; and the Mahratti newsletters (based on distant hearsay) give the number of the

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bravely for some time; but being so little accustomed to the use of arms, only died sword in hand.

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victims as 50,000 in one place and 3 or 4 lakhs in another. Harcharan-das has one lakh; Hanway adds ten thousand to this last figure, and says that 10,000 more committed suicide by throwing themselves into wells. [ii. 376.] All these are popular exaggerations due to distant bazar rumours. Considering the small area affected and the short duration of the havoc, 20,000 is the most probable number of those put to the sword.

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We are told by more than one authority that many respectable Indian householders slew their own wives and daughters to save them from dishonour by the Qizilbash soldiery and then rushed on the enemy's swords or cut their own throats. Many women drowned themselves in the wells of their houses to escape a shame worse than death. But many more were outraged and dragged away as captives, though according to the Persian State Secretary Nadir afterwards ordered them to be restored to their families. [Hanway, Jahan 359; Rajwade vi. Nos. 133 and 167.]

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During the night of the rising two Indian nobles named Sayyid Niaz Khan (the son-in-law of the Wazir) and Shah Nawaz Khan, with Rai Bhan, had attacked the elephant stables of Nadir, killed his superintendent of mahuts and taken away the elephants. They had afterwards shut themselves up in a fort outside the city and resisted capture. Azim-ullah Khan and Fulad Khan were now sent by the Emperor to arrest them. They were produced before Nadir with 470 of their armed followers and were put to death by his order. [Jahan 359.] Abdul Karim, however, holds them innocent of participation in the night's riot, but says that they had merely shot down a number of Qizilbash assailants in the defence of their property and family honour during the massacre. All other authorities represent these two nobles as aggressors. Hanway heard a different version of this incident. According to him [ii. 377], before the massacre of Dihli a party of the Persian forces had been sent to seize the cannon at the palace of an Indian lord. These had been treacherously set upon and murdered by a body of Tartar Mongols [of Mughalpura]. Nadir sent a large detachment who fell upon these people and slaughtered nearly 6000 of them. The Persians brought away the ordnance together with 300 persons of the chief rank among them, who were beheaded and their bodies thrown away on the sand bank (reti) of the Jamuna.

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For some days after the massacre the streets of the doomed quarters of Dihli became impassable from the stench of the corpses filling the houses, wells and roadside, none venturing to approach them in fear. At last the *kotwal* took Nadir's permission and had the bodies collected on the roads and other open spaces and burnt them. [Anandram 50, Ali Hazin 300.]

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After the massacre Nadir ordered the granaries to be sealed up and guards set over them. He also set several parties of cavalry to invest the city and prevent ingress and egress. The city was in a state of siege; the roads were entirely closed. A famine broke out among the survivors of the massacre. Those who tried to leave Dihli and go to the neighbouring villages in quest of food, were intercepted by the cavalry patrols, deprived of their noses and ears, and driven back into the city. After some days a lamenting deputation waited on the Persian king and he at last permitted them to go to Faridabad to buy provisions. [Hanway, ii. 377-378; Rajwade, vi. No. 133.]

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But even the villages were no safer. The Persians marauded for 30 or 40 miles round the capital, plundering the villages, laying the fields waste and killing the inhabitants who resisted. After the battle of Karnal a body of Persians had been sent to raid Thanesar, which they plundered, slaying many. During the Shah's advance to Dihli early in March, Panipat, Sonepat and other towns lying on the way were sacked. [Hanway, ii. 384, 372-373.]

Sec. 121.—Exaction of Ransom from Dihli.

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Nadir spent two months in Dihli, secure in the occupation of the capital and engaged in the collection of the huge indemnity. On 26th March his younger son Mirza Nasr-ullah was married to an imperial Princess, a daughter of Dawar Bakhsh,[*] the grandson of Murad and great grandson of Shah Jahan. For one week before the ceremony, rejoicings on a grand scale continued day and night. The bank of the Jamuna opposite the Diwan-i-khas was illuminated with lamps every night, while combats of elephants, oxen, tigers and deer were held in the day.

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∗ Dawar Bakhsh's mother was a daughter of Aurangzeb.

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The conqueror allowed himself some relaxation after his arduous campaigns. Dances and songs were performed before him. One Indian dancing-girl named Nur Bai so highly fascinated him by her musical powers and ode in honour of him that he ordered her to be paid Rs. 4000 and taken to Persia in his train. It was with the greatest difficulty that she could save herself from this last mark of his favour. [Bayan 56.]

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The total indemnity secured by Nadir Shah at Dihli is estimated by his Secretary at nearly 15 *krors* of Rupees in cash, besides a vast amount in jewels, clothing furniture and other things from the imperial store-houses. The above figure includes whatever was taken from the nobles far and near and the imperial treasuries. [Jahan 361.] The grand total from all sources is raised to 70 *krors* by Frazer, according to the following estimate, which is clearly an exaggeration, as the State Secretary's figures are of the highest authority :

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| Gold and silver plate and cash ... | ... | 30 krors |
| Jewels ... ... ... | ... | 25 ,, |
| The Peacock Throne and nine other thrones, | | |
| also several weapons and utensils all | | |
| garnished with precious stones ... | ... | 9 ,, |
| Rich manufactures ... ... | ... | 2 ,, |
| Cannon, stores, furniture ... | ... | 4 ,, |
| Total ... ... | ... | 70 krors |

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In addition to these, 300 elephants, 10,000 horses and the same number of camels were taken away. [Hanway, 383, 389.] Anandram, who was attached to the Indian Wazir, however, gives—sixty lakhs of Rupees and some thousand gold coins, nearly one *kror* of Rupees' worth of gold-ware, nearly 50 *kror* worth of jewels, most of them unrivalled in the world ; the above included the Peacock Throne. [Anandram 51.]

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The Emperor had to surrender all his crown-jewels, including the famous diamond Koh-i-nur and the Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan which had cost 2 krors of Rupees. In the public treasuries were found three krors of Rupees, but in the inner vaults, which had been shut during many reigns, a much larger amount was discovered. [Hanway, 383.] Abdul Karim says that the personal property of the Begams of Dihli was not robbed. This statement cannot be accepted, though it is a fact that no torture was applied to these ladies or their servants for their jewels.

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While the Emperor and the nobles were being squeezed of their wealth, the general public did not escape. A contribution of one-half of their property was fixed on all the well-to-do citizens who had escaped the massacre and sack, and a total of two krors* was ordered to be raised from this source. [Shakir and Anandram.] Anandram, who was assessed five lakhs and had a Persian military guard placed at his door to enforce payment, describes the method of extortion thus:—

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"Accountants were appointed to levy the indemnity from the inhabitants, under the guidance of Tahmasp Khan Jalair. But in order to save the citizens from utter ruin, nobles of both the Governments were directed to supervise the assessment of the ransom in the law-court in the presence of the public. Footmen (*piadas*) of the *kotwal* and *nasaqchis* (military police of Persia) were sent to take a census of the houses and prepare lists of the property in each and enforce the appearance of the citizens, so that the sum to be contributed by each individual might be in accordance with his means. Helpless people, high and low, rich and poor, were compelled day after day to attend at the law-court where they were kept from dawn to sunset and often till one *prahar* of night......Without ascertaining the truth, the calumnies of Mir Waris and Khwaja Rahmat-ullah were believed......The lists were prepared. The contribution of the capital totalled two krors of Rupees. The Shah appointed

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∗ Hanway, 383, says "About the middle of April four kror was extorted from the merchants and common people." But Anandram is a better authority.

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the Nizam, the Wazir, Azim-ullah Khan, Sarbuland Khan and Murtaza Khan to collect the money. The entire city was divided into five sections, and lists of the different mahallas with the names of their inhabitants and the amount to be levied from each were given to these five nobles." [Anandram, 53.]

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After every citizen had been assessed his exact contribution, pressure was put upon them to pay the amount. Delay or objection only led to insult and torture. The floors of the houses were dug up in search of buried treasure. [Rajwade vi. 133.] Anandram writes in his autobiography: "In the two mahallas where the collection was entrusted to the Nizam and the Wazir, the people were treated humanely, as the Wazir paid a great part of the money from his own chests. But in the other three mahallas, especially in that assigned to Sarbuland Khan (i.e., Anandram's own!) the sufferings of the people knew no bounds......Whole families were ruined. Many took poison and others stabbed themselves to death." [Anandram 54.]

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It is said that the Wazir Qamar-ud-din Khan was exposed in the sun and thus made to pay one kror of Rupees plus jewels and elephants. His diwan Majlis Rai was assessed a large sum and delivered to Sarbuland Khan to be tortured. His ear was cut off in open darbar, and retiring home in the depth of disgrace he committed suicide on 8th April. The Court agent of the governor of Bengal was beaten, and he took poison with his entire family. As Hanway says, "No barbarities were left unpractised. The tax imposed was strictly exacted. What numbers destroyed themselves with their own hands........." [Hanway, ii. 382, Frazer 199, T-i-Mdi, Tilok Das.]

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All this time Nadir lived at Dihli as king. Coins were issued and the public prayer read in his name as sovereign, and the title of *Shahan Shah* ('king of kings') which the Mughal Emperors had borne was taken away from them and applied to him only. The governors of the provinces of India had to proclaim him as their suzerain and in some instances mint his coins in the provincial mints. Muhammad Shah lived in Dihli like a prisoner of state and his nobles in the same helpless and degraded condition.

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The entire population of Persia shared their king's prosperity. The revenue of that kingdom was remitted for three years. The chiefs of the army were lavishly rewarded; the common soldiers received 18 months' pay together, one-third of which was their due arrears, one-third an advance, and the remaining one-third a bounty. [Bayan 53.] The camp-followers received Rs. 60 per head as salary and Rs. 100 as bounty. [Jahan. 361.]

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At Dihli Nadir Shah talked of making a pilgrimage to the tomb of Shaikh Muin-ud-din Chishti at Ajmer. This journey was really intended for the spoliation of the Rajput States, because Ajmer is in the heart of Rajputana. At the report of his intended movement, Sawai Jai Singh in alarm sent his family and those of his nobles to the mountain-fastness of Udaipur and remained alone at his capital ready to flee away at the first notice. Baji Rao the Peshwa, then at Burhanpur, began to form plans for holding the line of the Chambal to prevent a Persian invasion of the Dakhin. [Rajwade vi. 133; Brahmendra S. C. 42.]

Sec. 122.—Nadir's Departure from Dihli.

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Nearly two months having been thus passed at Dihli and the contribution collected, Nadir Shah held a grand Court on Tuesday, 1st May, to which he summoned the Emperor and his nobility. These nobles, about a hundred in number, were presented with robes of honour, jewelled swords and daggers, horses and other gifts. With his own hands he placed the crown of Hindustan on the head of Muhammad Shah and tied a jewelled sword round his waist.

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The Emperor bowed low in gratitude and said, "As the generosity of the Shahan Shah has made me a second time master of a crown and a throne and exalted me among the crowned heads of the world, I beg to offer as my tribute the provinces of my Empire west of the river Indus, from Kashmir to Sindh, and in addition the subah of Tattha and the ports subordinate to it." Thus, the trans-Indus provinces and Afghanistan were finally lost to the heirs of Babar. A considerable territory east of the Indus had also been seized by Nadir by right of victory over the local subahdars before the battle of Karnal, and his right to their revenue was not disputed, though they continued to be governed by Muhammad Shah's officers. The governor of Lahor now signed an agreement to send Nadir 20 lakhs of Rupees a year on this account, to remove the reason for any Persian garrison being left east of the Indus.

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At this darbar of 1st May, Nadir Shah urged all the nobles and officers of India to obey and please their Emperor. He also gave them and their master much valuable advice on the art of government, and decreed that henceforth farmans should again issue on Muhammad Shah's behalf, and the khutba and coins should bear his name and title. Khutba and coinage in Nadir's name, after having been current in India for two months, were now discontinued. [Jahan. 362.] On this day the Persian conqueror sent off four farmans of his own to Nasir Jang, Nasir-ud-daulah, Rajah Sahu and Baji Rao, urging them to respect the settlement he had made and to obey Muhammad Shah in future. [Jahankusha 361-362, Rajwade vi. 167, Ali Hazin 301, Bayan 57, Anandram 80-83.]

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Then, laden with the plundered wealth of India and the accumulated treasures of eight generations of Emperors, he set out on his return home. From India he carried away 130 accountants familiar with the finances of the Mughal Empire, 300 masons, 200 blacksmiths, 200 carpenters and 100 stone-cutters, to build a city like Dihli in Persia. Some goldsmiths and boat-builders were also forced to accompany him. These artisans were supplied with horses and other necessary articles and promised a large pay and permission to return to India after three years. But a considerable number of them contrived to escape before he reached Lahor. [Hanway, ii. 389.]

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On 5th May 1739 he left Dihli after a stay of 57 days. Making a short halt in the Shalimar garden outside the city, he marched by way of Narela to Sonepat, where he overtook his army. The peasants rose in his rear and plundered stragglers and the hindmost part of his baggage train. It is said that he lost 1,000 transport animals (camels, horses and mules)

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before reaching Thanesar. In anger he ordered massacres here and at some other towns on the way. [Hanway, 391.]

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From Sarhind he swerved aside to the right and proceeded along the foot of the Himalayas, crossing the upper courses of the five rivers of the Panjab which were bridged for him. This he did in order to avoid the blistering heat of summer. On 25th May he reached the Chinab at Akhnur, 42 miles north-east of Wazirabad.* By that time the river had been swollen by heavy rainfall in the hills. When only half the Persian army had crossed over, the bridge of boats broke from the strength of the current and 2,000 Persians were drowned. A long halt had to be made, while a search was made far and near for boats. The other half of the army was ferried over slowly in boats and rafts at Kaluwal. After thus losing 40 days, Nadir himself crossed the river last on 3rd July and resumed his march.

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By this time the heat had become intolerable even along the foot of the hills. Zakariya Khan, the subahdar of Lahor and Multan, had accompanied Nadir up to this point. He was now dismissed to his seat of government with many gifts and a recommendation for promotion addressed to his master. Nadir Shah had been pleased with his devotion and ability, and asked him to name any favour that he liked. The Khan very nobly begged for the release of the Indian captives taken away from Dihli by the Persian army. These were now set free by Nadir's order. [M. U. ii. 106.] Then, by way of Hasan Abdal and the Khaibar Pass the Persians returned to Kabul. [Jahankusha 363-365, Anandram 83-98.]

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His return march through the Panjab was molested by the Sikhs and Jats who rose in his rear and plundered a portion of his baggage. The immense booty that he carried away from India did not remain long in the royal treasury of Persia. Eight years after this invasion Nadir Shah was assassinated, and in the troubled times that ensued his hoarded treasures were plundered and dispersed.*

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∗ I here follow Anandram. Mirza Mahdi's words are, "He encamped on the bank of the river Chinab known as Wazirabad." This may mean that the Chinab was known as the river of Wazirabad and not that the Persians crossed at the town of Wazirabad.

Sec. 123.—State of India After Nadir's Departure.

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Nadir Shah's occupation of Dihli and massacre of its people carried men's memories 340 years back to a similar calamity at the hands of Timur. But there was a great difference between the results of these two foreign invasions. Timur left the State of Dihli as he had found it, impoverished no doubt, but without any dismemberment. Nadir Shah, on the other hand, annexed the trans-Indus provinces and the whole of Afghanistan, and thus planted a strong foreign power constantly impinging on our western frontier. Timur's destructive work and the threat of further invasion from his country ended with his life. But the Abdali and his dynasty continued Nadir's work in India as the heir to his Empire. With the Khaibar Pass and the Peshawar district in foreign hands, the Panjab became a starting point for fresh expeditions against Dihli.

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Not only were Afghanistan and the modern N. W. Frontier Province ceded as the result of Nadir's invasion, but the Panjab too was soon afterwards lost. Throughout the second half of the 18th century, Ahmad Shah Abdali and his descendants who ruled over Kabul and Lahor, constantly threatened the peace of Dihli and even the eastern provinces of the Mughal Empire. Their least movements, their slightest public utterances were reported to Dihli and Lakhnau and sent a thrill of fear through these Indian Courts and caused anxiety and precautionary diversion of forces to their English protectors, Hastings and Wellesley. The hardy and trained warriors of Central Asia and Afghanistan could have captured Dihli by a few days' dash from Lahor.

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∗ The Peacock Throne consisted of a gold-plated frame capable of being taken to pieces, richly jewelled panels fitting into its eight sides and detachable pillars steps and roof. It used to be put together and placed in the darbar hall only at the anniversary of the royal coronation, but at other times it was stowed away in loose parts. When these parts were looted they were naturally dispersed to different quarters. The genuine Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan no longer exists anywhere in the world; but a modern and cheap imitation of it, made by the later kings of Persia, is still preserved at Teheran.

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The Panjab, as the defensive barrier of India proper on the west, passed out of the hands of the ruler of Dihli even before the Abdali annexed it. Before the coming of Nadir, this province had attained to much peace and prosperity as the result of Farrukh-siyar's successful extinction of the Sikh guru Banda and his followers, and later on the vigorous campaigns of Zakariya Khan against predatory local chiefs and rebels. He had also added to the wealth and beauty of the cities, as Anandram enthusiastically describes. But Nadir's invasion undid all this. The country was first sacked by the Persian soldiers under orders and then by the lawless natives. Everywhere robbery and murder took place ; gangs of robbers closed the roads to trade and peaceful traffic ; every one fought every one else. Utter desolation and disorder seized the province. The Sikhs began to assert themselves in ever-increasing strength, until, half-a-century later, they gained possession of the entire province. From the end of Muhammad Shah's reign they became an ever-present thorn in the side of the Empire. In the second half of the 18th century they used to make almost annual raids eastwards to the environs of Dihli, plundering, burning, massacring and destroying all traces of cultivation and habitation with ferocious cruelty. Sarhind, Saharanpur, Meerut, Shahdera and even Hardwar suffered from their ravages. Peace, prosperity and industry disappeared from the region north and west of the Mughal capital.

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After Nadir's return, the Mahrattas established themselves in the southern and western provinces of the Empire in absolute security. The Dihli sovereign had no force, no general left to offer them the least resistance. Emboldened by the helplessness of the central Government, Mahratta bands began to penetrate repeatedly to Orissa, south-eastern Bihar and Bengal. The local governor was helpless against their hordes and the Emperor could think of no other means of meeting this danger than by begging the Puna Mahrattas to drive the Nagpur Mahrattas out of Bengal.

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We are told by the Indian historians that after the departure of Nadir, the Emperor called his ministers together and devoted himself to re-establishing the administration and restoring the finances. But we know from history that he did not succeed, and that during the ten years that he reigned after Nadir's invasion, the Government grew weaker and weaker and matters drifted as before.

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Indeed, there was no reason why there should be a restoration of the imperial power and prestige, while the character of the Emperor and his nobles continued to be as bad as before. The Nizam was the only able and honest adviser left; but he was now an old man of 82 or 83, and in anticipation of his approaching death rebellion had broken out among his sons. His domestic troubles and anxieties drew him to the Dakhin and kept him busy there till his death. Thus the Emperor could not profit by the Nizam's wisdom and experience, even if he were inclined to follow his counsels—which was not the case.

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The governors of Oudh and the Dakhin had no help but to declare their independence—in practice, if not in name,—as the subahdar of Bengal had already done. The struggle for the wazirship at the capital—i.e., for the post of keeper of the puppet Emperor,—continued more bitterly than before; the factions among the nobility quarrelled and intrigued as hard as ever, and finally after the death of Muhammad Shah (1748) they came to blows in the streets and pitched battles on the plains outside Dihli, and the great anarchy, which is only another name for the history of the Mughal Empire in its last days, began, destined to be ended only by the foreign conquest of the imperial capital half a century later.

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