Kirka Sharif (Shrine of the Cloak), which contains a cloak believed to have been worn by the Islamic prophetMuhammad. Afghans often call him Ahmad Shāh Bābā, "Ahmad Shah the Father".[16][17][18]
It is disputed among historians whether Durrani was born in Herat or in Multan, present-day Pakistan. Contemporary historians tend toward Herat in poetic accounts of his life.
چو از عبر احسان پرواردیگار Since through the Creator's cloud of beneficience محمد زمان خان شده مایه دار Muhammad Zaman Khan had become bountiful زمین مرده کوه و دشت هرات The lifeless mountains and plains of Herat دیگر تازه جان شد زی آب حیات Were again restored through the water of life
In June 1729, the Abdali forces under Zulfiqar had surrendered to Nader Shah Afshar, the rising new ruler of Persia. They soon began a rebellion and took over Herat as well as Mashad. In July 1730, he defeated Ibrahim Khan, a military commander and brother of Nader Shah. This prompted Nader Shah to retake Mashad and also intervene in the power struggle of Harat. By July 1731, Zulfiqar returned to his capital Farah where he had been serving as the governor since 1726. A year later Nadir's brother Ibrahim Khan took control of Farah. During this time Zulfiqar and the young Durrani fled to Kandahar where they took refuge with the Ghiljis. They were later made political prisoners by Hussain Hotak, the Ghilji ruler of the Kandahar region.[21]
Nader Shah had been enlisting the Abdalis in his army since around 1729. After
Mazandaran while Durrani remained working as Nader Shah's personal attendant. The Ghiljis, who are originally from the territories east of the Kandahar region, were expelled from Kandahar in order to resettle the Abdalis along with some Qizilbash and other Persians.[22]
Durrani proved himself in Nader Shah's service and was promoted from a personal attendant (yasāwal) to command the Abdali Regiment, a cavalry of four thousand soldiers and officers. The Abdali Regiment was part of Nader Shah's military during his invasion of the Mughal Empire in 1738.[23]
Popular history has it that the Shah could see the talent in his young commander. Later on, according to Pashtun legend, it is said that in Delhi Nader Shah summoned Durrani, and said, "Come forward Ahmad Abdali. Remember Ahmad Khan Abdali, that after me the Kingship will pass on to you.[24] Nader Shah recruited him because of his "impressive personality and valour" also because of his "loyalty to the Persian monarch".[25]
Nader Shah's rule abruptly ended in June 1747 when he was assassinated by his own guards. The guards involved in the assassination did so secretly so as to prevent the Abdalis from coming to their King's rescue. Durrani was told the Shah had been killed by one of his wives. Despite the danger of being attacked, the Abdali contingent led by Durrani rushed either to save the Shah or to confirm what happened. Upon reaching the Shah's tent, they were only to see his body and severed head. Having served him so loyally, the Abdalis wept at having failed their leader,[26] and headed back to Kandahar. Before the retreat to Kandahar, he had "removed" the royal seal from Nader Shah's finger and the Koh-i-Noor diamond tied "around the arm of his deceased master". On their way back to Kandahar, the Abdalis had "unanimously accepted" Durrani as their new leader. Hence he "assumed the insignia of royalty" as the "sovereign ruler of Afghanistan".[27]
At the time of Nadir's death, he commanded a contingent of Abdali Pashtuns. Realizing that his life was in jeopardy if he stayed among the Persians who had murdered Nader Shah, he decided to leave the Persian camp, and with his 4,000 troops he proceeded to Qandahar. Along the way and by sheer luck, they managed to capture a caravan with booty from India. He and his troops were rich; moreover, they were experienced fighters. In short, they formed a formidable force of young Pashtun soldiers who were loyal to their high-ranking leader.[28]
One of Durrani's first acts as chief was to adopt the epithet Shāh Durr-i-Durrān, "King, Pearl of Pearls."[9]
Although Ahmad Shah appointed his fellow Durrani (Abdali) clansmen for most senior military posts, his army was otherwise ethnically diverse with soldiers also from various other ethnic and tribal groups, including non-Durrani Pashtun tribes like the Ghilji and Yusufzai, and non-Pashtun groups such as Qizilbash, Hazaras, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Baloch.[22] He began his military conquest by capturing Qalati Ghilji from its governor Ashraf Tokhi and installed his own governor in Ghazni. He then wrestled Kabul and Peshawar from Mughal-appointed governor Nasir Khan, and conquered the area up to the Indus River. On 15 July 1747, Ahmad Shah appointed Muhammad Hashim Afridi as chief of the Afridi of Peshawar.[12][27] Ahmad Shah conquered Herat in 1750, Balkh and Badakhshan in 1751, and Kashmir in 1752.[29]
He also made two campaigns into Khorasan (1750–51 and
Nishapur again and after a 7-day siege the city fell on June 24, 1755, and was utterly destroyed.[30]
Indian invasions
See also:
Indian Campaign of Ahmad Shah Durrani
Invasions of Durrani with considerable political shifts within Punjab and Hindustan regions
Early invasions
The Bala Hissar fort in Peshawar was one of the royal residences of Ahmad Shah.
Peshawar served as a convenient point for Ahmad Shah for his military conquests in Hindustan. From 1748 to 1767, he invaded Hindustan eight times. He first crossed the Indus River in 1748, the year after his ascension – his forces sacked and absorbed
Shah Rukh. The city fell to the Afghans in 1750, after almost a year of siege and bloody conflict; the Afghan forces then pushed on into present-day Iran, capturing Nishapur and Mashhad in 1751.[31] Following the recapture of Mashhad in 1754, Ahmad Shah visited the eighth Imam's sepulchre and ordered repairs to be made.[31] Ahmad Shah then pardoned Shah Rukh and reconstituted Khorasan, but a tributary of the Durrani Empire. This marked the westernmost border of the Afghan Empire as set by the Pul-i-Abrisham, on the Mashhad-Tehran road.[32]
Third battle of Panipat
Main article:
Battle of Panipat (1761)
Gold coin of Ahmad Shah Durrani, minted in Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi), dated 1760/1
Northern India
.
The Mughal power in northern India had been declining since the reign of
Raghunathrao. He succeeded in ousting Timur Shah and his court from India and brought northwest of India up to Peshawar under Maratha rule.[34]
Thus, upon his return to Kandahar in 1757, Durrani chose to return to India and confront the Maratha forces to regain northwestern part of the subcontinent.
In 1761, Durrani set out on his campaign to win back lost territories. The early skirmishes ended in victory for the Afghans against the Maratha garrisons in northwest India. By 1759, Durrani and his army had reached Lahore and were poised to confront the Marathas. By 1760, the Maratha groups had coalesced into a big enough army under the command of
Third battle of Panipat was fought between Durrani's Afghan forces and the Maratha forces in January 1761, and resulted in a decisive Durrani victory.[35]
Central Asia
The Afaqi brothers died in Badakhshan and the ruler Sultan Shah delivered their bodies to the Qing. Ahmad Shah Durrani accused Sultan Shah of having caused the Afaqi brothers to die.[36]
Durrani dispatched troops to Kokand after rumours that the Qing dynasty planned to launch an expedition to Samarkand, but the alleged expedition never happened and Ahmad Shah subsequently withdrew his forces when his attempt at an anti-Qing alliance among Central Asian states failed.[37] Durrani then sent envoys to Beijing to discuss the situation regarding the Afaqi Khojas.[38]
wore.Son and Successor to Ahmad Shah, Timur Shah Durrani
According to some sources, Ahmad Shah may have suffered a wound on his nose during a horse-riding accident in Kabul in 1768, or he may have suffered an injury due to a flying brick striking his nose when the Harimandir Sahib was destroyed with gunpowder,[39][40][41] Other sources state that he suffered from what Afghan sources described as a "gangrenous ulcer", which may attribute to numerous illnesses, such as Leprosy, Syphilis, or a tumor.[42]
Lee writes: "Ahmad Shah gained poor health as a result of all his campaigns. Despite all attempts to treat it, a wound in his nose remained. The ulcer in his later years began eating into his brain".[43] Following the advice of his physicians, he spent part of the summer in the cooler climate of the Margha plain in the Toba Achakzai range during the last few years of his life. He died of his illness on 4 June 1772 (2 Rabi' al-Awwal 1186) in Maruf, Toba Achakzai, east of Kandahar. Some other sources state that he died on 16 October 1772.[44][45]
Ahmad Shah was buried in the city of Kandahar adjacent to the
a large mausoleum
was built. It has been described in the following way:
Under the shimmering turquoise dome that dominates the sand-blown city of Kandahar lies the body of Ahmad Shah Abdali, the young Kandahari warrior who in 1747 became the region's first Durrani king. The mausoleum is covered in deep blue and white tiles behind a small grove of trees, one of which is said to cure toothache, and is a place of pilgrimage. In front of it is a small mosque with a marble vault containing one of the holiest relics in the Islamic World, a kherqa, the Sacred Cloak of Mohammed that was given to Ahmad Shah by
Bokhara. The Sacred Cloak is kept locked away, taken out only at times of great crisis but the mausoleum is open and there is a constant line of men leaving their sandals at the door and shuffling through to marvel at the surprisingly long marble tomb and touch the glass case containing Ahmad Shah's brass helmet. Before leaving they bend to kiss a length of pink velvet said to be from his robe. It bears the unmistakable scent of jasmine.[46]
In his tomb his epitaph is written:
The King of high rank, Ahmad Shah Durrani,
Was equal to
Kisra
in managing the affairs of his government.
In his time, from the awe of his glory and greatness,
The lioness nourished the stag with her milk.
From all sides in the ear of his enemies there arrived
A thousand reproofs from the tongue of his dagger.
The date of his departure for the house of mortality
Was the year of the Hijra 1186 (1772 A.D.)[47]
Durrani's victory over the Marathas influenced the history of the subcontinent and, in particular, the policies of the
Battle of Panipat.[citation needed] The acknowledgment of Durrani's military accomplishments is reflected in an intelligence report made by Company officials on the Battle of Panipat, which referred to Ahmad Shah as the 'King of Kings'.[48] This fear led in 1798 to a Company envoy being sent to the Persian court in part to instigate the Persians in their claims on Herat to forestall a possible Afghan invasion of India that might have halted Company expansion.[48]Mountstuart Elphinstone
wrote of Ahmad Shah:
His military courage and activity are spoken of with admiration, both by his own subjects and the nations with whom he was engaged, either in wars or alliances. He seems to have been naturally disposed to mildness and clemency and though it is impossible to acquire sovereign power and perhaps, in Asia, to maintain it, without crimes; yet the memory of no eastern prince is stained with fewer acts of cruelty and injustice.
Pashto poetry, kept in the British Library, has notations and provenance information that suggest he was not Pashtun.[50]
For his son Sulaiman, a Shia who served as the governor of Qandahar, Ahmad Shah is said to have ordered a Pashto language textbook.[50] He is not known to have spoken Pashto, and his tenacious literary bond with Pashto was not upheld by his successors.[50]Abdur Rahman Khan, who paid for a Pashto translation of the minutes of his meeting with British colonial official Lord Dufferin in 1885, was the next state ruler to leave a record of his interaction with Pashto more than a century later.[50]
Poetry
Durrani wrote a collection of odes in his native Pashto. He was also the author of several poems in Persian. One of his most famous Pashto poems was Love of a Nation:[51][52][53]
ستا د عشق له وينو ډک سول ځيګرونه By blood, we are immersed in love of you ستا په لاره کښې بايلي زلمي سرونه The youth lose their heads for your sake تا ته راسمه زړګی زما فارغ سي I come to you and my heart finds rest بې له تا مې اندېښنې د زړه مارونه Away from you, grief clings to my heart like a snake که هر څو مې د دنيا ملکونه ډېر سي Whatever countries I conquer in the world, زما به هېر نه سي دا ستا ښکلي باغونه I will never forget your beautiful gardens د ډیلي تخت هېرومه چې را ياد کړم I forget the throne of Delhi when I remember, زما د ښکلي پښتونخوا د غرو سرونه The mountain tops of my beautiful Pashtunkhwa د فريد او د حميد دور به بيا سي The eras of Farid [Sher Shah Suri] and Hamid [Lodi] will return, چې زه وکاندم پر هر لوري تاختونه When I launch attacks on all sides که تمامه دنيا يو خوا ته بل خوا يې If I must choose between the world and you, زما خوښ دي ستا خالي تش ډګرونه I shall not hesitate to claim your barren deserts as my own
Personal life
During
Asaf Jah I saw him. He was "an expert in physiognomy" and predicted that Ahmad Shah was "destined to become a king". When Nader Shah learned of it, he "purportedly clipped" his ears with his dagger and made the remark "When you become a king, this will remind you of me". According to other sources, Nader Shah did not believe in it and asked him to be kind to his descendants "on the attaintment of royalty".[25]
In 'Panipat' 1988 novel written by Vishwas Patil about Third Battle of Panipat (1761) Ahamed Shah Abdali appears as a notorious invading Afgani Shah. Patil later wrote a stage play on his this novel titled Ranagan (transl. Battlefield).[54]
Bollywood war drama Panipat film, Ahmad Shah Abdali appears as the primary antagonist who invaded Maratha Empire, and is portrayed by Sanjay Dutt
.
See also
List of monarchs of Afghanistan
References
^Khān, Tahmās (1967). Tahmas Nama, the Autobiography of a Slave. Popular Prakashan. p. 7. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023. When Ahmad Shah had, on the death of Nadir Shah declared his independence at Quandahar (June 1747)...
^ abNejatie, Sajjad (2017). The Pearl of Pearls: The Abdālī-Durrānī Confederacy and Its Transformation under Aḥmad Shāh, Durr-i Durrān (PhD). University of Toronto. p. 293. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2019. The fact that numerous sources composed in the ruler's lifetime consistently connect him in his youth to Herat justifies the stance of Ghubār and others that Aḥmad Shāh was, in fact, born in the Herat region, around the time his father passed away and when the Abdālī leadership still exercised authority over the province.
^ abNejatie, Sajjad (2017). The Pearl of Pearls: The Abdālī-Durrānī Confederacy and Its Transformation under Aḥmad Shāh, Durr-i Durrān (PhD). University of Toronto. p. 293. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2019. According to the Taẕkira of Anand Ram "Mukhliṣ," He issued a royal edict on 15 July 1747, appointing Muḥammad Hāshim Afrīdī as chief of the Afrīdī of the Peshawar region. This appears to affirm that his accession took place no later than mid-July.
^"Ahmad Shah Abdali". Abdullah Qazi. Afghanistan Online. Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2010. Afghans refer to him as Ahmad Shah Baba (Ahmad Shah, the father).
^"Advance". Advance. 27. Punjab, India: Public Relations Department, Government of Punjab. 1978. ...as the Golden Temple was being destroyed a brick slipped and hit the nose of Ahmed Shah Abdali causing a wound on it
. Desecration of AmritsarTemple: To further punish the Sikhs he attacked them at Amritsar on the eve of the Baisakhi festival, i.e. April 10, 1762, when thousands of them had gathered for a bath in the holy tank. They of course dispersed at his approach, and he took occasion to blow up their sacred temple with gunpowder. The bungas or rest-houses meant for pilgrims were destroyed, and the tank after being desecrated with the blood of cows was filled up with refuse and debris. As the buildings were being blown up, a flying brick-bat is said to have struck the Shah on his nose and inflicted a wound from which he never recovered.
ISBN 978-1-63557-076-2. Few possessors of the Koh-i-Noor have led happy lives, and while Ahmad Shah rarely lost a battle, he was eventually defeated by a foe more intractable than any army. From early on in his reign, his face began to be eaten away by what the Afghan sources call a 'gangrenous ulcer', possibly leprosy, syphilis or some form of tumour. Even as he was winning his greatest victory at Panipat, Ahmad Shah's disease had already consumed his nose, and a diamond-studded substitute was attached in its place.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
. In the following years Abdali's face became disfigured due to the wound inflicted on his nose by the flying brick. To cover it up, he got a nose of silver made. As ordained by Providance, maggot's formation took place in his nose, throat and brain. So much so that it became difficult for him to swallow the food. Maggots would slip down his throat. Attendants, tried to feed him milk by spoon but maggots would fall from his nose in the spoon. His condition became miserable and on the night of 16th Oct, 1772 at Toba Maruf in Suilleman hills he met with a terrible end.
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