Ahmad Shah Durrani

Ahmad Shah Durrani
Shah, Amir
Reign	1747 - 1773
Coronation	October, 1747
Predecessor	Nadir Shah
Successor	Timur Shah Durrani
Names Ahmad Khan Abdali
House	Durrani
Dynasty	Durrani Empire
Father	Muhammad Zaman Khan Abdali
Mother	Zarghoona Alakozai

Ahmad Shah Abdālī (c.1723-1773) (Pashto/Template:PerB - Ahmad Khan Abdālī), also known as Ahmad Shāh Durrānī, was the founder of the Durrani Empire. After the assassination of Nadir Shah Afshar he became the Amir of Khorasan. The Pashtuns of Afghanistan often call him Bābā ("father").

Early years

Ahmad Khan (later "Ahmad Shah"), an ethnic Pashtun from the Sadozai line, was born in Multan, which is a city in the Punjab Province that is currently part of the modern state of Pakistan. He was the second son of Mohammed Zaman Khan, chief of the Abdalis. In his youth, Ahmad Shah and his elder brother (Zulfikar Khan) were imprisoned inside a fortress by Hussein Khan, who was governor of Kandahar for the Ghalzais. Hussein Khan commanded a powerful tribe of Afghans, having conquered the whole of Persia a few years previously and trodden the throne of the Safavid sufis in the dust.

Ahmad Shah and his brother were freed by Nadir Shah, the new ruler of Persia, after his conquest of Kandahar in 1736-37.

Commander of the Abdali cavalry

Nadir Shah was known to be a child molester and it was not a surprise that he kept Abdali as one of his slaves. Shah favored Abdali above the rest because of Abdali’s young, handsome features. Abdali was then given the title of “Dur-Durran” (Pear of Pearls) by Shah and then Abdali changed the Abdali tribe name to the Durrani tribe. Shah gave Abdali the command over a cavalry of Abdali tribesmen. Ahmad quickly rose to command a cavalry contingent estimated at four thousand strong, composed chiefly of Abdalis, in the service of Nadir Shah.

Legend & portents of Ahmad Shahs future

Popular history has it that the brilliant but megalomaniac Nadir Shah could see the talent in his young commander. Unfazed by the news he is said to have drawn a knife and cut Ahmad Shahs ear saying,"When you become King this will remind me of you". Later on according to Pashtun legend, in Delhi it is said Nadir Shah summoned Ahmad Shah Abdali and said: "Come forward Ahmad Abdali. Remember Ahmad Khan Abdali, that after me the Kingship will pass on to you. But you should treat the descendants of Nadir Shah with kindness." The young Ahmad Shah's response was, "May I be sacrficed to you. Should your majesty wish to slay me I am at your disposal. There is no cause or reason for saying such words!" .

Nadir Shah's assassination

Main article: Nadir Shah

Nadir Shah's rule abruptly ended in June 1747, when he was assassinated. As the story goes, the Turkoman guards involved in the assassination did so secretly so as to prevent the Abdalis from coming to their King's rescue. However Ahmad Shah was told that Nadir Shah had been killed by one of Nadir Shah's wives. Despite the danger of being attacked, the Abdali contingent led by Ahmad Shah rushed either to save Nadir Shah or to confirm what happened. Upon reaching the King's tent, they were only to see Nadir Shah's body and severed head. Having served him so loyally the Abdalis wept at having failed their leader, and then fought their way out of the camp, and headed back towards Kandahar.

Loya jirga

Main article: Loya jirga

Later the same year (1747), when the chiefs of the Abdali tribes met near Kandahar for a Loya Jirga to choose a new leader. For nine days serious discussions were held among the candidates in the Argah. Ahmad Shah kept silent by not campaigning for himself. At last Sabir Shah, a religious chief, came out of his sanctuary and stood before those in the Jirga and said: He found no one worthy for leadership except Ahmah Shah. He is the most trustworthy and talented for the job. He had Sabir's blessing for the nomination because only his shoulders could carry this responsibility. The leaders agreed unanimously. Ahmad Shah was chosen to lead the tribes. His coronation as King of Afghanistan occurred in October, 1747, near the tomb of Shaikh Surkh, adjacent to Nadir Abad Fort.

Abdullah Khan Popalzai uses the word Khorasan when Ahmad Shah Abdali was laying-down and executing the master plan of Kandahar City:

دمی که شاه شهامت مداراحمدشاه به استواری همت بنای شهر نهاد، جمال ملک خراسان شد این تازه بنا زحادثات زمانش خدا نگهدارد

Despite being younger than other claimants, Ahmad had several overriding factors in his favour:

• He was a direct descendant of Sado, patriarch of the Sadozai clan, the most prominent tribe amongst the Pashtuns at the time;
• He was unquestionably a charismatic leader and seasoned warrior who had at his disposal a trained, mobile force of several thousand cavalrymen;
• Moreover, he was the undisputed hier of Nadir Shah's Kingdom.

One of Ahmad Shah's first acts as chief was to adopt the title "Durr-i-Durrani" ("pearl of pearls" or "pearl of the age") beucause Nader Afshar always used this title for him. The name may have been suggested, as some claim, from the pearl earrings worn by the royal guard of Nadir Shah, he named him Durr-i-Durran.

Military campaigns

Ahmad Shah began his career as head of the Abdali tribe by capturing Ghazni from the Ghilzai Pashtuns, and then wresting Kabul from the local ruler, and thus strengthened his hold over most of present-day Afghanistan. Leadership of the various Afghan tribes rested mainly on the ability to provide booty for the clan, and Ahmad Shah proved remarkably successful in providing both booty and occupation for his followers. Apart from invading the Punjab three times between the years 1747-1753, he captured Herat in 1750 and both Nishapur (Neyshabur) and Meshed (Mashhad) in 1751.

Ahmad Shah first crossed the Indus river in 1748, the year after his ascension - his forces sacked Lahore during that expedition. The following year (1749), the Mughal ruler was induced to cede Sindh and all of the Punjab west of the Indus River to him, in order to save his capital from being attacked by Ahmad Shah. Having thus gained substantial territories to the east without a fight, Ahmad Shah turned westward to take possession of Herat, which was ruled by Nadir Shah's grandson, Shah Rukh of Persia. The city fell to Ahmad Shah in 1750, after almost a year of siege and bloody conflict; Ahmad Shah then pushed on into present-day Iran, capturing Nishapur (Neyshabur) and Meshed (Mashhad) in 1751.

Meanwhile, in the preceding three years, the Sikhs had occupied the city of Lahore, and Ahmad Shah had to return in 1751 to oust them. In 1752, he invaded and reduced Kashmir. He next sent an army to subdue the areas north of the Hindu Kush. In short order, the powerful army brought under its control the Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik and Hazara peoples of northern, central, and western Afghanistan.

Then in 1756/57, in what was his fourth invasion of India, Ahmad Shah sacked Delhi looting every corner of that city and enriching himself with what remained of that city's wealth after Nadir Shah's invasion in 1739. However, he did not displace the Mughal dynasty, which remained in nominal control as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad's suzerainty over the Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir. He installed a puppet Emperor, Alamgir II, on the Mughal throne, and arranged marriages for himself and his son Timur into the Imperial family that same year. Leaving his second son Timur Shah (who was wed to the daughter of Alamgir II) to safeguard his interests, Ahmad finally left India to return to Afghanistan. On his way back, he couldn't resist attacking the Golden Temple in Amristar and filled its sarovar (sacred pool) with the blood of slaughtered cows and people. The Golden Temple is to the Sikhs what Mecca is to the Muslims so his transgressions were of great proportions. Ahmad Shah captured Amritsar (1757), and sacked the Harmandir Sahib popularly known as the Golden Temple the most holy Gurdwara of the Sikhs. This final act was to be the start of long lasting bitterness between Sikhs and Afghans.

Third battle of Panipat

Main article: Third Battle of Panipat

The Mughal power in northern India had been declining since the reign of Aurangzeb, who died in 1707; the Marathas, who already controlled much of western and central India from their capital at Pune, were straining to expand their area of control. After Ahmad Shah sacked the Mughal capital and withdrew with the booty he coveted, the Marathas filled the power void; in 1758, within a year of Ahmad Shah's return to Kandahar, the Marathas secured possession of the Punjab, and succeeded in ousting his son Timur Shah and his court from India.

Amidst appeals from Muslim leaders like Shah Waliullah and the humiliation of his son, Ahmad Shah chose to return to India and face the formidable challenge posed by the Maratha Confederacy . He declared a jihad (Islamic holy war) against the Marathas, and warriors from various Pashtun tribes, as well as other tribes such as the Baloch, Tajiks, and Muslims in India, answered his call. Early skirmishes ended in victory for the Afghans. By 1759, Ahmad Shah and his army had reached Lahore and were poised to confront the Marathas. By 1760, the Maratha groups had coalesced into a great army that probably outnumbered Ahmad Shah's forces. Once again, Panipat was the scene of a confrontation between two warring contenders for control of northern India. The Third battle of Panipat (January 1761), fought between largely Muslim and largely Hindu armies who numbered as many as 100,000 troops each, was waged along a twelve-kilometre front, and resulted in a decisive victory for Ahmad Shah.

Administration & government

He used to hold, at stated periods, what is termed a Majlis-e-Ulema, or Assembly of the Learned, the early part of which was generally devoted to divinity and civil law-for Ahmad Shah himself was a Molawi and concluded with conversations on science and poetry. He as a rule did not interfere with the tribes or their customs as long as they did not interfere with his ambitions.

Decline

A painting of Kandahar, Ahmad Shah Durrani's capital city, with his tomb (background left). Lithograph, James Rattray, 1848

The victory at Panipat was the high point of Ahmad Shah's and Afghan power. His empire was among the largest Islamic empires in the world at that time. However, this situation was not to last long; the empire soon began to unravel. As early as by the end of 1761, the Sikhs had begun to rebel in much of the Punjab. In 1762, Ahmad Shah crossed the passes from Afghanistan for the sixth time to crush the Sikhs. He assaulted Lahore and Amritsar (the holy city of the Sikhs). Within two years, the Sikhs rebelled again, and he launched another campaign against them in 1764, resulting in a severe Sikh defeat, although he was to never succeed in 'wiping out the Sikhs'. During his 8th Invasion of India, the Sikhs vacated Lahore, but faced Abdali's army and general, Jahan Khan, at Amritsar, inflicting a humiliating defeat,and forcing him to retreat, with five thousand Afghan soldiers killed. Sikh leader Jassa Singh Ahluwalia with an army of about twenty thousand Sikhs roamed in the neighbourhood of the Afghan camp, plundering it.

In the spring of 1761, Ahmad Shah, returned to Kabul; and from that period, up to the spring of 1773, was actively employed against foreign and domestic foes; but at that time his health, which had been long declining, continued to get worse, and pre-vented his engaging in any foreign expeditions. His complaint was a cancer in the face, which had afflicted him first in 1764, and at last occasioned his death. He died at Murghah, in Afghanistan, in the beginning of June 1773, in the fiftieth year of his age. He was succeeded by his son, Timur Shah Durrani.

Legacy

See also: Durrani Empire

File:Mausoleum of Ahmad Shah Durrani (Abdali),Kandahar.jpg

Ahmad Shah Abdali's Mausoleum in Kandahar

Ahmad Shah's successors, beginning with his son Timur, proved largely incapable of governing the Durrani empire and faced with advancing enemies on all sides it was at an end within 50 years of Ahmad Shah's death. Much of the territory conquered by Ahmad Shah fell to others in this half century. By 1818, Ahmad Shah heirs controlled little more than Kabul and the surrounding territory. They not only lost the outlying territories but also alienated other Pashtun tribes and those of other Durrani lineages. Until Dost Mohammad Khan's ascendancy in 1826, chaos reigned in Afghanistan, which effectively ceased to exist as a single entity, disintegrating into a fragmented collection of small units.

Ahmad Shah's own achievements were however considerable. He had succeeded to a remarkable degree in balancing tribal alliances and hostilities, and in directing tribal energies away from rebellion. Although he was ultimately only another in a lengthy line of successful Afghan rulers, Ahmad Shah was aggressive, energetic, and tenacious; a bold but careful general and a conqueror who created a large empire. Even today there are thousands of people each year named their sons Ahmad Shah in tribute to the first Emir of Afghanistan. Ahmad Shah and his heirs were the second Pashtun rulers of Afghanistan, and according to some interpretations, the modern-day nation of Afghanistan and began to take shape under his rule following centuries of fragmentation and exploitation. His love for his land and his people were both something which ensured his position in the collective memory of Afghan and Pashtuns as exemplified by the quote attributed to him "Nowhere in the world can replace the ground on which one crawled in childhood". At the same this policy ensured he did not continue on the path of other conquerors like Babur or Muhammad Ghauri and make India the base for his empire. This has led to him being criticised as a bigot or a pillager.

However for non Muslim subjects within his empire his approach was quite different, while engaged in preparing to meet the Marathas in battle in 1760, the Shah had it proclaimed no one from amongst the men from villayat (Afghanistan) shall exhibitory religious bigotry towards Hindus and Muslims of India. The Shah also employed Hindu vakils Anand Ram and Kalraj for his negotiations with the Marathas and appointed Hindu Sukh Jiwan and Kabuli Mall as governors of Kashmir and Lahore respectively. In addition to liberty and protection of trade in the country, Hindu and Sikh enjoyed full freedom of religious worship and their temples and Gurudwaras were never interfered with. Some of the Hindus and Sikh have since lived in Afghanistan for centuries without any apprehension from the Afghan neighbour.

What he did accomplish was create the basis for Afghanistan as a modern day Nation-state. Indeed, the name "Afghanistan" finds official mention for the first time ever in history, in the Anglo-Persian peace treaty of 1801. Ahmad Shah has therefore earned recognition as "Ahmad Shah Baba", the "Father" of Afghanistan.

His victory over the Marathas also influenced the history of the subcontinents and in particular British policy in the region, his refusal to continue his campaigns deeper into India (and inevitably clash with the East India company) that pause allowed the East India Company to continue to acquire power and influence after their acquisition of Bengal in 1757. However fear of another Afghan invasion was to haunt British policy for almost half a century after Panipat. The acknowledgement of Abdalis military accomplishments are reflected by British intelligence reports on the battle of Panipat, which referred to Ahmad Shah as the 'King of Kings'. Fear of an alliance between the French and Afghans led in 1798 to a British envoy, to the Persian court, being instructed to stir up the Persians against the Afghan Empire.

His image is glorified in Afghanistan and to a lesser extent in Pakistan. A giant picture on a billboard is placed at Ghazi Stadium in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Similar picture on a billboard is placed at Kandahar's Stadium, in the southern city of Kandahar.

The most important historical monument in Kandahar is the mausoleum of Ahmad Shah Durrani, 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.)

Wrote Mountstuart Elphinstone 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.

Ahmad Shah's poetry

Ahmad Shah wrote a collection of odes in his native Pashto language. He was also the author of several poems in Persian.

See also

• Zamzama
• History of Afghanistan

References

• Ahmad Shah Durrani, 1722-1772: Founder and first king of modern Afghanistan : revolutionary reformer, poet or feudal lord by Nabi Misdaq
• Diwan-i Ahmad Shah Abdali by Ahmad Shah Durrani
• Panipat ki Akhiri Jang (Unknown Binding)Sang-i Mil (1974)by Kashi Raj
• Marathas : Rise and Fall (ISBN 81-7169-886-7) B R Verma and S R Bakshi
• Ahmad Shah Durrani. Father of Modern Afghanistan. by Singh, Ganda. Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1959.
• Shahnamah-i Ahmad Shah Abdali (Da Pashto Akedemi da matbu°ato silsilah) (Unknown Binding) by Hafiz (Author)
• Waquiyat-i-Durrani by Munshi Abdul Karim : translated by Mir Waris Ali; Punjabi Adabi Akadami, Lahore (Pakistan) 1963

External links

• KabulPress.org - Abdali: Figure of Controversy
• An Historical Guide To Afghanistan - Ahmad Shah Durrani (1747–1772)
• Invasions of Ahmad Shah Abdali
• Detailed genealogy of the Durrani dynasty
• Famous Diamonds: The Koh-I-Noor
• Abdali Tribe History
• Chronology: from the emergence of the Afghan Kingdom to the Mission of Mountstuart Elphistone, 1747-1809
• Afghan Invaders and Waris Shah
• The story of the Koh-i Noor

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