Indo-Iranian Relations - History - Nader Shah's Invasion of India

Nader Shah's Invasion of India

In 1738, Nader Shah, the Turkic ruler of Afsharid dynasty in Persia, conquered Kandahar, the last outpost of the short lived Hotaki dynasty. His thoughts now turned to the Mughal Empire in India. This once powerful empire was falling apart as the Hindu Maratha Empire made inroads on much of its territory from the south-west. Its ruler Muhammad Shah was powerless to reverse this disintegration. Nader asked for Afghan rebels to be handed over by the Mughals, but Mughal emperor refused. Nader used the pretext of his Afghan enemies taking refuge in India to cross the border and capture Ghazni, Kabul, Peshawar, Sindh and Lahore. He then advanced deeper into India crossing the before the end of year.

He defeated the Mughal army at the huge Battle of Karnal on 13 February 1739. After this victory, Nader captured Mohammad Shah and entered with him into Delhi. When a rumour broke out that Nader had been assassinated, some of the Mughal troops attacked and killed Afsharid troops. Nader reacted by ordering his soldiers to plunder the city. During the course of one day (22 March) 20,000 to 30,000 Indians were killed by the Persian troops, forcing Mohammad Shah to beg for mercy. Nadir Shah wished to visit Ajmer Sharif however Rajasthan was no more under Mughal Empire, as soon as Peshwa Baji Rao got news of this he angered and ordered Maratha army to march on to Delhi, seeing the hostile attitude of Maratha army who were then fighting a war against Portuguese Empire in Goa and almost threw Portuguese out of Goa. Chinmaji Appa gave relief to Portuguese however snatch north and eastern Goa leaving only half of Goa for Portuguese. Seeing this Nadir Shah cancelled his plan of Ajmer visit and retreated back from delhi through Punjab route. Chatrapati Shahu the grandson of Shivaji who was also called the adopted grandson of Aurangzeb also asked his Peshwa Baji Rao the most powerful general in South East Asia to march against Nadir Shah. After signing the treaty of Panji with Portuguese, Maratha army moved out of Goa where the rest of Maratha army from Pune joined this by the time Maratha Army reached Bundelkhand it was known that Persian army has vacated Delhi and wanted to avoid any confrontation with Maratha Empire specially against Baji Rao I. Though Marathas and Mughals were having strained relationship but the letter written by Baji Rao himself to his General Pilaji Jadon in Bundelkhand shows his intention of Marching towards Delhi--"I shall march to Northern India by regular stages. The Persian sovereign Tahmasp Quli has come to conquer the Hindustan and inhibit our Imperial expansion policy".

In response, Nader Shah agreed to withdraw, but Mohammad Shah paid the consequence in handing over the keys of his royal treasury, and losing even the Peacock Throne to the Persian emperor. The Peacock Throne thereafter served as a symbol of Persian imperial might. Among a trove of other fabulous jewels, Nader also gained the Koh-i-Noor and Darya-ye Noor diamonds (Koh-i-Noor means "Mountain of Light" in Persian, Darya-ye Noor means "Sea of Light"). The Persian troops left Delhi at the beginning of May 1739. Nader's soldiers also took with them thousands of elephants, horses and camels, loaded with the booty they had collected. The plunder seized from India was so rich that Nader stopped taxation in Iran for a period of three years following his return.