1 NADIR SHAH. . 195
2 named, where a guard was kept to ‘prevent the Uzbek Tartars from making
3 incursions into Khorasan, The father of Nddir Kuli dying during his
4 minority, his uncle took command of the fortress, which had been hereditary
5 in the family, in the name of the minor, bnt when Nddir came of age, he
6 refused to deliver the trust to him. The youthful Nddir, being thus de-
7 prived of his birthright, went to Mashhad, a city famous for the sepulchre
8 of Imém Ali Razd4, and there entered into the service of Beglerbeg,* as
9 one of the under-masters of ceremonies. In this office he behaved so well
10 that the prince soon gave him the command of a troop of horse. When
11 seventeen years old, he was taken prisoner by the Uzbek Tartars, with
12 whom he had had frequent skirmishes, but, after remaining in slavery for
13 about four years, he effected his escape. Being now reduced to poverty, he was
14 forced to borrow small sums of money of any who would lend them to him,
15 to procure the common necessaries of life. He Jed a life of adventure for
16 some years, and, collecting armed followers around him, he at length made
17 his power supreme in his native province.
18 When the Afghan Xhiljis, the greatest of the western tribes who
19 inhabit the country round Kandahar, expelled Shah Husein, the last of the
20 once powerful line of the Safvi kings who ruled over the destinies of Persia
21 for two hundred years, and Mahmfid, the son of Mir Weis, the Khilji, having
22 put to death Husein with all his family, except one son named Thamasp, be-
23 cameruler of Persia (October 1722), that empire was assailed by the Turks and
24 Russians, who had entered into a confederacy for the purpose of dismember-
25 ing the kingdom. The western provinces were conquered by the Porte, and
26 the northern, comprising Gilan (the ancient Hyrcania) and other places
27 bordering on the Caspian Sea, by the Muscovites, under the Czar Peter.
28 Thamasp, the son of the vanquished monarch of Persia, fled to the Caspian
29 and took protection with a pastoral tribe called Kajar, who occupied the
30 elevated plains which extend over a great part of Persia. He was there
31 joined by Naédir Kuli, then in the prime of his youth, at the head of a body
32 of hardy and warlike shepherds, animated with patriotic feelings. Nadir, in
33 one of his first exploits, seized Mashhad, and then recovered Khorasdn from
34 the Abddlis. The rule of the Afghans under Ashraf, the son of Mahmitd,
35 the Ahiljt, had become intolerable on account of the new king’s grinding
36 tyranny and oppression, and had produced in the mind of every Persian a
37 deadly hatred of the very name Afghan, a feeling which exists to this day.
38 He waged a war against the Ifhiljis under Ashraf, and completely routed
39 the Afghans, who were killed in great numbers in the battle, or perished in
40 the desert on their way home (1828). Ashraf was assassinated by a Bilich
41 during his retreat from Kirman to Kandahar, 1729.
42 _ The adventurer, Nddir Kuli, placed the diadem on the head of the
43 rightful heir, Thamasp, who, for his services, conferred on him the viceroy-
44 alty of Khorasdén, Mazindaran, Sistan, and Kirmdn. Nadir, who had
45 hitherto made no pretensions to sovereign power, assumed the title of Tham-
46 asp Kuli (or the slave of Thamasp), with the addition of that of “ Khan.”
47 He then marched against the Turks and recovered from them the province
48 of Tabrez. :
49 _ A-party of the Abddlis had by this time overrun Khords4n and laid
50 siege to Mashhad, then held by Ibrahim, Nd&dir’s brother, whom they de-
51 feated in a pitched battle. Nddir again engaged the tribe, and, completely
52 subduing it, recovered the lost territories. The Abddlis, under Zulfikar
53 Khan, the brother of Ahmad Shah, and son of Zaman Khan, were driven
54 See ee ic ne eg ee ee ae
55 * A title "Taare in the Turkish language,
56 Sri Satguru Jagjit
57 He enters the service
58 of a prince of Mashhad.
59 Is taken prisoner by
60 the Uzbex Tartars.
61 Nadir Kuli joing
62 Thamasp, prince of
63 Persia,
64 And wages” war
65 against the Altlys,
66 Whom he defeats,
67 1728.
68 His wars against the
69 Turks and the Abdalis.
70 ingh Ji eLibrary ce Mamdhari€library@ gmail.com