nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47ordered his troops to take the citadel by storm, only to find his artillery was
unable to breach the Bala Hisar’s walls. In the end one of the defenders’ artil-
lery pieces accidentally exploded, bringing down part of a gate tower and
wall, and Nadir Khan sent in a storming party. Realizing all hope was lost,
the garrison surrendered, and Kabul, which had been a Mughal possession
for more than two centuries and had been Zahir al-Din Babur’s first capital
in northern India, was lost. One wonders how many times Babur, whose
tomb lay on the other side of the Sher Darwaza hills, turned in his grave.
Nadir Shah’s conquest of DelhiDespite the loss of Kabul, Muhammad Shah, the Mughal emperor, showed
stunning complacency: the only serious resistance offered as Nadir Shah
advanced into the plains of Nangahar came from the Ghilzais of Laghman.
After Jalalabad fell, the Mughal governor of Peshawar rallied the Khyber
tribes to block the main highway through the pass only for Nadir Shah
to engage a local Afghan who led a column of his army by a lesser-used
route, caught the Mughal army by surprise and routed them. The fall of
Peshawar finally stirred Muhammad Shah into action and he hastily assem-
bled an army to oppose Nadir Shah’s advance into the Punjab. The Mughal
response, though, was too little, too late. After resting his weary troops for
a month in Peshawar, in January 1739 Nadir Shah crossed the Indus and
by the end of the month Lahore too had submitted.
The cumbersome Mughal force was still only 120 kilometres (75 mi.)
from Delhi and in the end it was Nadir Shah who found them. On 24
February 1739 at Karnal, Nadir Shah defeated the Mughal cavalry and
surrounded what was left of the army. Muhammad Shah was obliged to
go in person to Nadir Shah’s camp to negotiate what were in effect terms
of submission. The conditions Nadir Shah demanded were harsh and
included the payment of a vast tribute. Muhammad Shah baulked at such
a humiliation and held out for a more face-saving deal, but after several
days of futile negotiations Nadir Shah had had enough and refused the
Emperor permission to leave his camp until he agreed to the terms he
had demanded. Meanwhile Nadir Shah sent an advance party into Delhi
to prepare for his triumphal entry into the city. The day before this took
place Muhammad Shah, who had finally capitulated, was sent back to his
capital with orders to prepare a suitable reception for the conqueror. On
20 March 1739 Nadir Shah marched into Delhi, his name was inserted in
the khutba and coins were struck in his name bearing the titles Prince of
the Princes of the Earth and King of Kings.