Morgan - Medieval Persia 1040-1797

The afawids

The Ghilzai Afghans who, as it were by chance, had overthrown the afawid empire in 11345/1722 did not retain control of Persia for very long. In fact, they did not control a good deal of the country at all. They did have possession of the person of the last fully fledged afawid shh, Suln usayn; and he had indeed acknowledged, albeit under duress, Mamd Ghilzai as his successor. The Afghans had also seized a number of other afawid princes when they took Ifahn. These were imprisoned together with the former shh, who was for the moment well treated. But later Mamd killed many of the princes, some of them with his own hands; and in the following year (1139/1726) his successor had Suln usayn executed.

The last, however, had not been heard of the afawids, though no representative of that house was ever again to recover real power. The dynasty had reigned over Persia for the quite unusually long period of two and a quarter centuries. It was difficult for Persians to accustom themselves to the idea that the rule of the descendants of Shh Isml and Shh Abbs was no more. Despite the decay and degeneracy of the last decades of afawid rule, the prestige of the dynasty which had not only proved so long-lasting but had been responsible for the introduction of the now firmly established state religion did not evaporate overnight. For some time to come, many of those who were struggling for power in Persia claimed to be acting on behalf of the rightful afawid claimant, and kept tame afawids at their courts for purposes of display and to lend legitimacy to their ambitions.

Soon after the fall of Ifahn a afawid prince declared himself shh in the north of the country, which the Afghans had not succeeded in occupying. Other external enemies of Persia had not missed their chance: Russian forces had marched into the north-west of the country, and the Ottomans had seized much of the west, reaching as far as the region of Hamadn and Kirmnshh.

Mamd Ghilzai was murdered in 1137/1725 and was succeeded as shh of the parts of Persia under Afghan rule, an area centred on Ifahn, by his nephew Ashraf. But Ashrafs power was precarious, for he failed to hold the Ghilzai home base of Qandahr, where a son of Mamd was able to seize the throne. In 1142/1729 Ashraf was overthrown by Ndir Khn Afshr, and in 11423/1730 the second and last Afghan shh, too, was murdered. The short-lived period of Ghilzai government, or misgovernment, in Persia was at an end.

Ndir Khn, who now moved into prominence, was a member of one of the great Qizilbash tribes, the Afshr. An able general, he assembled an army in the north of Persia and after rallying to the support of the afawid claimant in the north, ahmsp II, he overthrew his principal rival, Fat Al Khn of the Qjr Qizilbash tribe. He adopted the name ahmsp-qul, the slave of ahmsp. Ndirs was a singularly unservile form of slavery, but he did acknowledge ahmsp II as shh, at least in name, until 1145/1732, and thereafter for the next four years he recognized ahmsps infant son, who was called Abbs III.

But by 1148/1736 Ndir evidently felt that his own position had been established so firmly that he no longer needed to hide behind a nominal afawid shh. He therefore held an assembly, called by the Mongol term quriltai , at Mghn in arbyjn. The notables present at the quriltai military commanders, officials, ulam did what was expected of them and declared Ndir the first shh of the Afshr dynasty. He had already embarked on what was to prove a spectacular career of military conquest.

He had turned his attention first to the Ottomans. In 11423/1730 he reconquered western and northern Persia from them, as far as Tabrz. In 1145/17323 he besieged Baghdad without success, but the threat was enough to persuade the Ottomans to agree to return to the Perso-Ottoman frontier as it had been in 1049/1639. This agreement was not immediately ratified by the government in Constantinople, but it was finally accepted after there had been further fighting in the north in 11489/1736. There was no clash with the Russians, who were still in occupation of parts of north Persia. They withdrew when it became clear that the areas they had held would not be taken by the Ottomans but would fall to Ndir, who seemed to them to be less of a threat.

Next Ndir marched against the Afghans. Initially his aim was the recovery of Qandahr for the Persian crown, but when this was achieved (1150/1738) he went on to take Ghazna, Kbul and Peshawar. These advances pointed him in the direction of the legendary riches of India. There the Mughal Empire was past its peak, and Ndir was able to take Lahore, then marching on to meet and defeat the Mughal forces at Karnl (1151/1739). He seized and sacked Delhi, the Mughal capital, and marched home with a prodigious quantity of loot, including the famous Peacock Throne of the Mughal emperors. He made no attempt to remain and rule India: this was simply a plundering expedition on a massive scale, like Temrs in 801/1398.