Ahmad Shah Durrani
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ahmad Shah Durrani | |
| Emir of Afghanistan | |
 Ahmad Shah Durrani |
|
| Reign | 1747 - 1773 |
|---|---|
| Coronation | October 1747 |
| Full name | Ahmad Khan Abdali |
| Titles | Padshah of the Durrani Empire |
| Born | 1723 |
| Birthplace | Multan, Pakistan[1] |
| Died | 1773 |
| Place of death | Kandahar, Afghanistan |
| Predecessor | Nader Shah |
| Successor | Timur Shah Durrani |
| Royal House | Durrani |
| Dynasty | Durrani dynasty |
| Father | Muhammad Zaman Khan Abdali |
| Mother | Zarghoona Alakozai |
Ahmad Shah Durrani (b.1723 - d.1773) (Pashto: احمد خان ابدالی), also known as Ahmad Shah Abdali, was a powerful Afghan ruler who established the Durrani Empire at Kandahar in 1747. He is also regarded as the founder and first Emir of modern Afghanistan.[2][3][4][5] Most Afghans refer to him as Ahmad Shah Baba (Ahmad Shah, the Father).[6]
Contents |
Early years
Ahmad Khan (later Ahmad Shah), an ethnic Pashtun from the Sadozai line of the Popalzai clan of the Abdali tribe, was born in Multan (now a city in Pakistan).[1] He was the second son of Mohammed Zaman Khan, chief of the Abdalis. In his youth, Ahmad Khan and his elder brother, Zulfikar Khan, were imprisoned inside a fortress by Hussein Khan, the Ghilzai governor of Kandahar. Hussein Khan commanded a powerful tribe of Afghans, having conquered eastern Persia a few years earlier including the capital city of the Safavids.
After conquering Kandahar in 1737, Nader Shah Afshar, the new ruler of Persia, freed Ahmad Khan and his brother. The brothers, with a powerful body of their clansmen, pledged their loyalty to Nadir Shah and soon distinguished themselves in battle.
Commander of the Abdali cavalry
Ahmad quickly rose to command a cavalry contingent estimated at four thousand strong[7], composed chiefly of Abdalis, in the service of Nadir Shah on his invasion of India.
Legend and portents of Ahmad Shah's future
Popular history has it that the brilliant and megalomanical Nadir Shah could see the talent in his young commander, Ahmad Shah. He is reported to have said, "I have not seen in Iran, Turan and Hindustan any man of such talents as possessed by Ahmed Abdali!".[8] Similarly Persian legend has it that Nadir Shah was warned that one day Ahmad Shah would be a great King. Unfazed by the news he is said to have drawn a knife and cut Ahmad Shah's 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 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!".[8].
Nadir Shah's assassination
Nadir Shah's rule abruptly ended in June 1747, when he was assassinated. 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,[9] and then fought their way out of the camp, and headed back towards Kandahar.
Ahmad Shah had little trouble in taking charge of much of present-day Afghanistan in the power vacuum that resulted from Nadir's death, and Ahmad Shah personally came into possession of the celebrated Kohinoor diamond, which was given to him by Nadir's grandson, Shah Rukh.
Loya Jirga
Later the same year (1747), when the chiefs of the Abdali tribes and clans met near Kandahar City at a Loya Jirga to choose a new leader, Ahmad Shah was chosen to lead the tribe. His coronation as the first King of Afghanistan happened in October 1747, near the tomb of Shaikh Surkh, adjacent to Nadir Abad Fort.
Despite being younger than other claimants, Ahmad had several overriding factors in his favor:
- 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;
- Not least, he possessed a substantial part of Nadir Shah's treasury.
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"). The name may have been suggested, as some claim[citation needed], from a dream dreamt by Ahmad Shah and his pearl earring, or as others claim[citation needed], from the pearl earrings worn by the royal guard of Nadir Shah. The Abdali Pashtuns have been known thereafter as Durranis.
Military campaigns
Ahmad Shah began his military career as head of the Abdali tribe by capturing Ghazni from the Ghilzais, 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 region three times between the years 1747-1753, he captured Herat in 1750 and both Nishapur and 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 region 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. 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 and 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 the capital of Hindustan, Delhi. 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 regions. He installed a puppet Emperor, Alamgir II, on the Mughal throne, and arranged marriages for himself and his son Timur Shah into the Imperial family that same year. Leaving his second son Timur (who was wed to the daughter of Alamgir II) to safeguard his interests, Ahmad Shah finally left Hindustan (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.
Conflict with the Marathas
The Mughal power in northern India had been declining since the reign of Aurangzeb, who died in 1707; the [[Maratha]s], 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 region, and succeeded in ousting his son Timur Shah and his court from India.
Amidst appeals from Muslim leaders like Shah Waliullah[10] 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-kilometer front, and resulted in a decisive victory for Ahmed Shah.[11]
Administration and government
He used to hold, at stated periods, what is termed a Majlis-i-Eeulama, 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
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 began to rebel in much the Punjab region. 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.
Soon afterwards, Ahmad Shah had to hasten westward to quell an insurrection in Afghanistan. He had to buy peace with the Uzbek emir of Bukhara by agreeing that the Amu Darya would mark the division of their lands. Meanwhile, the Sikhs rose again in power and Ahmad Shah was forced to abandon his hopes of retaining the command over the Punjab. The Sikhs thereafter ruled Punjab and the region up till Peshawar until finally defeated by the British in the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849.
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 eldest son, Timur Shah Durrani.
Legacy
Ahmad Shah's successors, beginning with his son Timur Shah, 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 warriors, 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 nation of Afghanistan and the basis of a pashtun identity began to take shape under his rule following centuries of fragmentation and exploitation.[12] 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 Mohammad Ghori and make India the base for his empire. What he did accomplish was create the basis for Afghanistan as a modern-day nation. Indeed, the name "Afghanistan" finds official mention for the first time ever in history, in the Anglo-Persian peace treaty of 1801. Ahmed Shah has therefore earned recognition as "Ahmad Shah Baba", the "Father" of Afghanistan.
His victory over the Marathas also influenced the history of the subcontinent and in particular British policy in the region. His refusal to continue his campaigns deeper into India prevented a clash with the East India Company and allowed them to continue to acquire power and influence after their acquistion of Bengal in 1757. However, fear of another Afghan invasion was to haunt British policy for almost half a century after the battle of Panipat. The acknowledgment of Abdali's military accomplishments are reflected by British intelligence reports on Panipat, which referred to Ahmad Shah as the 'King of Kings'.[13] 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.[14]
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.) [15] |
” |
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. | ” |
Ahmad Shah's poetry
Ahmad Shah wrote a collection of odes in his native Pashto language.[6] He was also the author of several poems in Persian.
| “ | I come to you and my heart finds rest. Away from you, grief clings to my heart like a snake. I forget the throne of Delhi when I remember the mountain tops of my Afghan land. If I must choose between the world and you, I shall not hesitate to claim your barren deserts as my own.[16] |
” |
See also
Footnotes
- ^ a b Encyclopaedia Britannica (Online Edition) - Ahmad Shah Durrani...Link
- ^ CIA World Factbook, Afghanistan - Background: "Ahmad Shah DURRANI unified the Pashtun tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747."
- ^ Concise Britannica, Ahmad Shah Durrani - Founder of modern Afghanistan.
- ^ Library of Congress, Afghanistan - AHMAD SHAH AND THE DURRANI EMPIRE: "Indeed, it was under the leadership of the first Pashtun ruler, Ahmad Shah, that the nation of Afghanistan began to take shape following centuries of fragmentation and exploitation."
- ^ Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia, "In 1747 Ahmad Shah, first emir of Afghanistan, made Kābul one of two Afghan capitals, along with the southern city of Kandahār."
- ^ a b Afghanistan Online, Biography of Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani)
- ^ Griffiths, John. C (2001) Afghanistan: A History of Conflict p12
- ^ a b Singer, Andre (1983) Lords of the Khyber. The story of the North West Frontier
- ^ Caroe, Olaf Kirkpatrick (1958) The Pathans, 550 B.C.-A.D. 1957 St. Martin's Press, London, OCLC 32721857
- ^ Shah Wali Ullah [1703-1762]
- ^ for a detailed account of the battle fought see Chapter VI of The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan by H.G. Keene. Available online at [1]
- ^ Taizi, Sherzaman (2006) Daily The Statesman, Peshawar, 24 February 2003 Pakhtunkhwa
- ^ Sources for the study of Afghanistan, 1747-1809[2]
- ^ Summary: the emergence of the Afghan Kingdom and the Mission of Mountstuart Elphistone, 1747-1809 [3]
- ^ Nancy Hatch Dupree - An Historical Guide To Afghanistan - The South (Chapter 16)...Link
- ^ See A Profile of Afghanistan by Kimberly Kim, MAIC [4]
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 OCLC 13024016
- Kashiraj (1926) An account of the last battle of Panipat and of the events leading to it Oxford University Press, London OCLC 38143624, republished as Kashiraj (1961) Account of the Battle of Panipat (1761) Bazm-i-Isháat, Ismail Yusuf College, Bombay, OCLC 208800
- Marathas : Rise and Fall (ISBN 81-7169-886-7) B R Verma and S R Bakshi
- Singh, Ganda (1959) Ahmad Shah Durrani: Father of Modern Afghanistan Asia Publishing House, Bombay, OCLC 28302522
- Prakash, Om (2002) Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali Anmol, New Delhi, India, ISBN 81-261-1083-X
- Waquiyat-i-Durrani by Munshi Abdul Karim : translated by Mir Waris Ali; Punjabi Adabi Akadami, Lahore (Pakistan) 1963
- Shahnamah-i Ahmad Shah Abdali (Da Pashto Akedemi da matbu°ato silsilah) (Unknown Binding) by Hafiz (Author)
External links
- Encyclopedia Britannica - Ahmad Shah Durrani
- Columbia Encyclopedia - Ahmad Shah
- Biography of Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani)
- Ahmad Shah Baba
- Ahmad Shah Abdali
- 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
| Preceded by Nadir Shah of Persia |
Emir of Afghanistan 1747-1772 |
Succeeded by Timur Shah Durrani |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ahmed Shah Durrani |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | "Ahmed Shah Baba" |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Founder of modern day Afghanistan. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1723 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Multan |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1772 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Kandahar |
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