1 MUHAMMAD SHAH. 215
2 acknowledged as the head of the Abdalis, who inhabit the mountainous
3 country near Herat. The Saddozais are held in religious veneration, and
4 this fact, combined with the activity and personal bravery which young
5 Abdulla possessed, materially tended to his rise. His aspirations to sovereign
6 power led to his imprisonment by “Abbas Kuli Khan, Shamlu, the Herat
7 governor of Shah Husani. Safvt, king of Persia; but when the kazalbashis
8 expelled Abbas from Herat, Abdulla found an opportunity of making his
9 escape from confinement, Having collected the people of his tribe, he
10 defeated and imprisoned Jafar Khan, who had become governor of Herat,
11 and took possession of the whole tract of country known by that name.
12 When Nadir Shah rose to power and subdued Herat, he found Zulfikar
13 Khan, Abdali, and his brother Ahmad Khan (afterwards Ahmad Shah)
14 captives of the Ghilzais. Having liberated the brothers, he conferred upon
15 them new honours, and sent them to Mazindaran to live in peace,* though
16 he kept a watchful eye over them. Nadir Shah had great respect for
17 Ahmad Khan, and, on his expedition to India, took him to that country. ;
18 Ahmad Khan, on attaining power, changed the name of his tribe, from some
19 superstitious motive, from Abddli to Durrani, by which it has ever since
20 been known. Having fought his way through the greater part of Khorasdn,
21 and overrun the neighbouring countries of Kandahar (where a treasure
22 of 80 lakhs of rupees, which was being escorted to the treasury of
23 Nadir Shah, fell into his hands) he, at the age of 23 years, was crowned
24 king of Kandahar, in 1747, under the name of Ahmad Shah, with the
25 assistance of the Durrani, Kazalbashi, Bilichi and Hazard chiefs.| Having
26 * There is no authority for the statement made by Dow and Prinsep that the Durrani
27 king was originally 2 mace-bearer of Nadir Shah’s. He was the chief of his own tribe, the
28 Saddozais, and Nédir Shah, after his conquest of Kandahar, had sent him to reside with honour
29 in Mazindaran, his object being to keep the enterprising youth ata distance, But all accounts
30 agree that Ahmad Shah accompanied Nadir Shah to Hindostan.
31 + Ahmad Shah, on assuming sovereign power, cased a coin to be struck in his name which
32 bore the following inscription :—
33 sles U pole T pest Wap y? oH &yfu xlvghs ooaly wees 296 5} ot es
34 “God, the insertable, commanded Ahmad, the king, to impress his name on silver and gold
35 from the bottom of thesca tothe moon.” ute.
36 A coin struck in Kashwir had the following inscription :—
37 Sp pads oy! 35 52 Sho
38 sl ges} sly eis xls
39 oe Through the Grace of God, Ahmad Shah the king, the Asylum of the World, struck
40 coin,
41 gold
42 According to Mr. Rodger’s he struck a coin at Lahore bearing the following inscription :—
43 sldgls xle sss} whe vo
44 d 5d wahblLiJd}ofa wy yO
45 dol Urple enransdo Utglo
46 i.e.; “King Ahmad Shah, the pearl of the Durrini: struck at the capital of Lihore in first
47 onepteius year of the reign.”—Journal of B.A. Society. | | |, .
48 is seal was in the shape of a peacock, and had the following inscription on it :—
49 WO Dd wlS good — LY by a ca]
50 ‘*By the command of God, the Bestower of victory, Ahmad, the king, became the pearl
51 of the Durranis.”
52 Ahmad Shah entertained a great veneration for his spiritual guide, Sdbar Shah of Lihore.
53 He was often seen lying naked by the side of Ahmad on his throne, eA Bae king’s ears, the
54 king not uttering 2 word. It is said that, on Nadir Shah’s death, the faqir, putting on
55 Ahmad’s head a chaplet of grass, saluted him king.—Alemoirs of Abdul Karim Ulvi.
56 The king had the highest esteem for the issue of Nadir Shah. Thus, he lefé Shah Rukh
57 Mirza, the son of Raza Kuli, and grandson of Nadir by Fatin a Sultan Begum, daughter of
58 Shah Huscin, Safvi, in the government of Mashhad, and married his son Tymir Shah to the
59 He necompanies
60 Nadir Shah to Hindos-
61 an.
62 Tis conquests,
63 Is crowned king of
64 Eandahar, 1747,
65 dante oF TO SEG ULE Sane SINGH J i eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com