1 198 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
2 ence of Ispahan in the month of Saffar, 1149” (June 1736 A.D.). The edict
3 was received with great joy by most of the king’s subjects, particularly
4 by his soldiers, who, being all Sunnis, became personally attached to him.
5 Resumption of war He resumed war with the Turks and recovered the whole of the terri-
6 Soe hee nae tory which had been occupied by the Porte and the Russians, making peace
7 with both powers.
8 Nddir now embarked on his great enterprise, the subjugation of the
9 Khiljis, and the restoration of Kandahar to the Persian kingdom, He
10 marched with an army of 80,000 men and was joined by the Abddlis, now
11 his staunch allies, The hiljis, under Husein Khan, the governor of
12 ag Conus ot Bae: Kandahar, made a desperate resistance, but after a siege which lasted
13 tare ; about eighteen months, Kandahar fell into the hands of the Persians (1788),
14 and the whole country surrounding it was annexed to the kingdom of
15 Persia. Zulfikar Khan and his brother, Ahmad Shah, were made prisoners in
16 Kandahar during the siege of that city. Nddir released the brothers and
17 sent them to Mazindarén, in command of a force of their own tribe. While
18 the blockade of Kandahar was going on, the Shah’s son, Raza Kuli Mirza,
19 ‘Victory overthe conquered Balkh, and achieved a great victory over the king of Bokhara
20 EUG OE ROS in person, on the banks of the Oxus.
21 During the siege of Kandahar, a large number of Afghans fled to the
22 territory of the Indian emperor and sought protection there. Nadir Shah,
23 who was determined to extirpate the whole race of Afghans, sent his
24 Embassies totho confidential agent, Ali Mardéa Khan, as ambassador to the court of Muhammad
25 court of Muhammad Shah, the emperor of Hindostdn, to prevent the influx of Afghan fugitives
26 into his territory near Ghazni, and to expel those who had already found
27 an asylum in his dominions, The emperor received the envoy with every
28 mark of respect, and dismissed him with an assurance that active measures
29 would be taken to intercept the Afghan rebels, and that fresh supplies of
30 troops would be sent to the Persian borders. Nothing, however, came of
31 the emperor’s promise, and a second embassy, under Muhammad Khan
32 Muhammad Shah's Turkoman, was sent to India with the same request as before, and returned
33 a a with renewed assurances of help on the part of the Indian sovereign.
34 Shortly after this, however, the Afghans fled in troops from the newly
35 subjugated province of Kandahar, and found an asylum in Kébul and
36 Ghazni, and still no steps were taken by the Indian sovereign towards
37 intercepting the progress of the fugitives. Nddir Shah was greatly incensed
38 at the apathy of his perfidious ally, who had thus harboured the most dan-
39 gerous enemies of the Persian monarchy. He therefore sent a third embassy,
40 under a Persian nobleman, with instructions not to stay at Delhi for more
41 than forty days, but the ambassador was detained at Delhi for about a year,
42 pdlisdetention of the without a reply being given him. The Shah issued stringent orders for
43 mane the envoy to quit the capital of the Moghal immediately, which he did,
44 without even now receiving an answer from the emperor or his ministers.
45 The Moghal was at this time engaged in a contest with the Mahrattas, and
46 in re Moghal energed his court was divided,—one faction being led by Khan-i-Dauran Khan, the
47 Mahrattas, commander-in-chief of the Indian armies, favored by the emperor, and the
48 other by Chin Kilich Khan, surnamed Asaf J&h, who was at this time
49 subadar of the Dekkan. Probably the Indian emperor did not attach any
50 importance to Nadir Shah’s demand, and the great Moghal thought it below
51 his dignity to recognise Nddir as the legitimate sovereign of the Persian
52 empire. The energies of the Moghal were absorbed in the settlement of the
53 difficulties created by the incursions of the Mahrattas, and no troops could
54 probably be spared for the purpose of guarding the Indian frontiers, which
55 then ex tend S ;
56 Sri Satguru] satoaded ip een ang Habu). NAUSEA erin ea coHR Persian