Chapter III
By Dr. Ganda Singh

ELECTION AND CORONATION The death of Nadir Shah opened a new chapter in the history of Afghanistan. The chief actor who now appeared on the stage was Ahmad Khan Abdali who could rightly be called the father of modem Afghanistan, as it was he who, for the first time, stood for — in fact created — a separate Afghan political entity and raised his people from the dust of subjection to the throne of independence. At the time of Nadir’s death the Afghans found them- selves surrounded on all sides by hostile Persians, who at- tacked them to foil their attempts to reach the royal tents. Once there, and convinced’ of the tragic truth, they again fought their way back through the enemy’s ranks, and, under Ahmad Elhan’s leadership, extricated themselves from their clutches. Their royal master and patron killed, there was now no clash of loyalties. There was only one way open to them, and that was to return to their motherland and strive for her freedom from the foreign yoke. The Afghans at this time were under the chief command of Nur Muhammad Khan Alizei who, as Nadir’s nominee, had held their reins since the conquest of Qandahar in 1738. “But with the death of Nadir Shah, and the subsequent re- treat of all the Afghans upon Qandahar the position, not only of the contingent but of the nation which it represented, was entirely changed.” In the words of Malleson, “a vision of independence opened before them. No longer the hirelings of a foreign prince, they constituted at the moment a national army capable of resisting the heterogeneous mass welded into consistency by the genius of Nadir but which, his grasp over them loosened, would almost certainly dissolve. As the contingent of a foreign prince, the Abdalies and Ghalzeis had not been unwilling to serve under the orders of the nominee of the master who had conquered them, But that ELECTION AND CORONATION 2S master’s death had removed the reason for such obedience. Free men, they were not willing to do homage to an Ahzye,”^ whose origin, they said, was not sufficiently noble.^ THE HISTORIC MEETING The necessity of electing a new chief was keenly felt. It is true that the need for self-defence had welded the Ab- dahs and the Ghalzeis into a single community and they were now marching together in a compact body. But they were in a foreign land of hostile enemies. At the third stage, there- fore, they halted to hold a iargah, a council of the tribal chiefs, to decide the question of leadership. According to Ibn Muhammad Amin Abdul-Hasan Guhstani, they argued: “In this long journey we must have some one under whose orders we should conduct ourselves. Without a supreme chief it is very difficult, nay impossible, to reach Qandahar with the entire body of our troops, followers and dependants in the face of danger from the Qizzilbashes. Let us, therefore, make an effort to appoint a chief to face whatever may hap- pen before we get to our destmation.” The proposition did not admit of any easy solution. Each tribe was anxious to advance the claims of its own candidate. Day after day, eight prolonged meetings were held to discuss the various claims. At the ninth sitting Haji Jamal Khan, the chief of the Muhammadzeis, united a majority of suffrages, but the minority was strong and the decision seemed as remote as ever. Ahmad Khan Saddozei Abdali, whose origin and family were the noblest of them all, had been present at all these tumultuous assemblies and had patiently and attentively listened to all that had been said, without offering a word on the important questions which had been discussed. At an opportune moment, when the disputant chiefs seemed wearied with heated and interminable discussions, a darvesh^ Muham- mad Sabir Shah by name, put forward the claim of Ahmad Khan saying, “Why all this verbose talk? God has created Ahmad Khan a much greater man than any of you; his is the 1, History of Afghanistan, 273-74. 2. Eerrier, History of the Afghans, 68, a 4 26 AHMAD SHAH DURRANI most noble of all the Afghan families. Maintain, therefore, God’s work, for His wrath will weigh heavily upon you if you destroy it.” Haji Jamal Khan Muhammadzei, the most powerful and the most influential of the Sardars present at this meeting and who appeared to have the greatest number of votes, at once realized the superiority of the Saddozei’s claim, Ahmad Khan was descended in a direct line from Saddo, who had been an ambassador to Shah Abbas the Great, whereas Haji Jamal Khan’s ancestor, Muhammad, was only a companion of his in that embassy. Then his second next an- cestor, Khwaja Khizar, son of Saddo, was the national saint of the Afghan tribes. Last, though not least, was the emin- ence to which his forefathers had risen as chiefs of the Abda- lis. The superior claims of Ahmad Khan thus established, Haji Jamal Khan immediately withdrew his own pretensions in his favour and supported his election with all the weight of his persuasive eloquence — a conduct ‘that obtained for him the general respect of the Afghans.® Darvesh Sabir Shah, it may be mentioned, had, like Nizatn-ul-Mulk, predicted the rise of Ahmad Khan to king- ship three days before the assassination of Nadir Shah. On the day when Nadir Shah arrived at the last stage from Kha- bushan, and pitched his camp there, a darvesh wearing a woollen cap met Ahmad Khan, and, unmindful of the power and awe of Nadir Shah, said to him, ‘1 see the signs of king- ship in your face. Give me a piece of cotton cloth, so that havmg stitched a few tents and a royal pavihon, I may pray for you and you may soon adorn the ‘throne of the kingdom.” Credulous as Ahmad Khan was, he complied with the wishes of the saint, who, like children, was thereafter seen pitching small tents by the side of Ahmad’s tent and repeating the Quranic verses. On the third day came about the death of Nadir. Ahmad Khan looked upon the darvesh as a holy saint who could foresee the secrets of the future and took care not to leave him behind in his flight. The darvesh pressed Ahmad Khan to declare himself king. But he 3. MujmiUut’-Tawarikh, 74; Ferrier, 68-9; Mallesoa, 273-744 ELECTION AND CORONATION 2T hesitated till the momentous meeting of the tribal chiefs de- creed in his favour.’^ AEMAD KHAN BECOMES SHAH He seems to have hesitated again and pleaded his incom- petence, perhaps, for want of requisite materials for royal grandeur. But Sabir Shah was not the man to be so easily put off. When he saw that the choice in favour of Ahmad had appealed to the Aighan chiefs and tribesmen, he availed hiniself of the psychological moment and, raising on the spot a small platform of earth, took him by the hand and seated him thereon saying, “This is the throne of your kingdom.” He then strewed some barley-shoots from an adjoining field and tucked them into his turban, adding, “And may this serve as the aigrette of your crown.” In the end, as if to complete the ceremony, the darvesh proclaimed, “Now you are Bad- shah Durr-i-Dauran (King, the Pearl of the Age).” But Ahmad amended the title and was content to style himself as Durr~i-Durran, the Pearl of pearls, and his tribe of the Abdalis as the Durrani (Of the Pearls).® 4. Muimll-ut-Tawarikh, 74-75. According to the Husain Shahi, followed by the Tar ikh-i- Ahmad, g^ hir Shah’s prediction had taken place three years before the death of Nadir. But the Muimil-ut-Tawarikh of Ibn Muhanunad Amin seems to be more reliable in this respect. Ferrier, in his History of the Afghans, p. 68, tells us that the meeting of the Afghan chiefs took place in the tomb of plieiVh gurkh situated in the village of Nadirabad, now Kicfak Nookhood, thirty-five miles from Qandahar, 5. Muimil-ut-Tawarikh, 74-5; Husain Shahi, 13-4; Tankh-i- Ahmad, 11-12; Bayan-i-Waciei, 131-32; Siyar-ul-Mutakherin, 860-61; Saulat-i- Afghani, 341-42; Ferrier, History of the Afghans, 68-9; Malleson, 273-75; Sarkar, Fall of the Mughal Empire, ii 203-04. With slight variations, the story of Sabir Shah has been recorded by almost all writers on Ahmad Shah Durrani. According to me Bayan-i-Waqei, and also the Tarikh-i-Sultani, 123, the Darvesh Sabir Shah, whom he calls Baba Sabir, was originally a resident of Lahore in the Panjab and was a na’l-band, horse-shoe-maker, by profession. His real riame, according to Nizam-ud-Din Ishrat’s Shah-Namah-i- Ahmadiya, 73, was Raza Shah, and Sabir Shah was his title as a Dar- vesh. See also Mirat-i-Aftab Numa, 158b. A brother of Sabir Shah, Baqir Shah by name, was living in Peshawar in 1212 A.H., and received five thousand rupees annuafiy from the Afghan Government. He was personally known to Imam-ud-Din Husaim, the author of die an 28 AHMAD SHAH DURRANI As was natural, Ahmad Khan had the greatest venera- tion for Sabir Shah. Imam-ud-Dm Husaini, the author of the Tarikh4’-Husain Shah% records it on the authority of Nawab Nasir Khan of Kabul of whom we shall read a good deal in the coming pages: “One day I went to the Darbar of Ahmad Shah. I saw that Ahmad Shah was sitting on his throne and a darvesh^ naked from head to foot, with his body covered with dust, was lying in his lap. Very often he raised his hand to his ear and nose and, pulling them towards himself, said, ‘You see, O Afghan, I have made you a king.^ And Ahmad Shah with his head bent down was talking to him in a most respectful manner. When I enquired of the people in the house the name of the darvesh they told me that he was called Sabir Shah.”^ INDEPENDENCSi DECLARED Another matter of importance, decided in the meeting of the Afghan chiefs and to which all had agreed without a dissentient vote, was to sever their connection with Persia and to declare the independence of the Afghans under a king of their own. A full-fledged king, though not yet formally crowned, Ahmad Khan proceeded to make the necessary appointments. Shah Wali Khan Bamezei was given the title i-Httsain Shahi, and is said to have been a man of talents . — Husain Shaht, 15-16. Sher Mohammad Khan in his Ansah^-^Rausa-^i-Dera Ismail Khan, 31b, says that the Fir who gave the title of DurrA-^Durran to Ahmad IChan was Hazrat Umar of Chamkanni near Peshawar. According to Perrier, 69, the Darvesh was a caretaker of the tomb of Sheik Surkh in the village of Nadirabad, 35 miles from Qandahar. It was there, as Perrier tells us, that the historic meeting for the elec- tion of the chief of the Afghans was held after their arrival at Qandahar. Cf. Tarikh-i’-Suliani, 122 Nizam-ud-Din Ishrat makes no mention of Sabir Shah at this stage in his Shah Namah-i-Ahmadiya. The narra- tive given above, constructed out of conflicting material, appears to be more probable. I am inclined to believe that while the Jargah of the Afghan Sardars, wherein Ahmad Khan was elected as chief of the Afghans, was held on their way to Qandahar, the actual formal coronation took place at the mausoleum of Shir Surkh at Nadirabad two miles to the south-east of Qandahar. 6. Husain Shahi, 15, ELECTION AND CORONATION 29 of Ashraf-uUWuzra and was appointed prime minister, with Sardar Jan Khan, later on popularly called Jahan Khan, as war minister and Sipah-Salar^ or the commander-in-chief. Shah Pasand Khan was created Amir-i~Lash/car, or chief of the army. Similarly, many other Sardars, such as Barkhur- dar Khan, Abdullah Khan and Nur-ud-Din were honoured and raised to high offices in the newly constituted state.’^ At the head of some three to four thousand Afghans, who were then with him, Ahmad Khan marched homeward. Herat was then governed by a Persian nominee of Nadir Shah. Ahmad Khan did not find himself strong enough to re- duce this place. Moreover, he was not yet perfectly sure of the loyalty of his companions. As his main object at this time was to get to Qandahar as early as possible, he dropped the idea of taking Herat and marched on straight to his destina- tion. In the neighbourhood of Farrah, an army of a few thousand Persians came to block his way, but they were easily pushed aside by the Afghans, who arrived at Qandahar in due course without any further obstruction.® AHMAD SHAH AT QANDAHAR As good luck would have it, a day before Ahmad Khan’s arrival at Qandahar, there had arrived in the city Muham- mad Taqi Khan Shirazi,® Beglarhegi to“ Nadir Shah in Sindh and the Pan jab, Muhammad Saeed, a representative of Nawab Zakriya Khan of Lahore, and Nawab Nasir Khan of Kabul, with a treasure of two karors of rupees in money, diamonds and shawls, carried by three hundred camels under escort of an Afghan guard. It was intended for Nadir, and the cus- todians had encamped in the city to rest for a few days and to collect five hundred animals for their onward journey. No intelligence tould have been more welcome to Ahmad Khan at this time. He immediately sent out jarchis^ or public criers, to announce the news of Nadir’s death and to proclaim his own election to independent kingship of the Afghans.^® 7. Husain Shahij 14; Tarikh^i^ATimad, 11-2; Shah Namah^ 38-9 8. Husain’-Shahi, 14-15; Tarikh-‘i’- Ahmad, 12-3; Shah Namah, 34-5. 9. The Shirazi had only one eye and was nicknamed kur, or the blind. Tazkimh‘-‘i-‘Anandram, 235. 10. According to the BayanA-Wagei^ 130, the treasure amounted to thirty lakhs, and was looted atid divided among themselves by Nur 30 AHMAD SHAH DURRANI He then seized the convoy and also the elephants and other property and distributed the contents amongst the officers and men of his army and other employees of his Govern- ment. “This great liberality on his part/^ says Ferrier, “did more for his future career than all his private virtues and noble origin. Several tribes, who had not as yet positively recognised his election, but the chiefs of which were on this occasion the recipients of his generosity, now attached them- selves to his person and he profited by this feeling of unani- mity to consolidate his power, and during the first year of his reign to raise a large army with which he subsequently marched on Kabul to capture it.”^^ Ahmad Khan treated Muhammad Taqi Khan with kindness and he entered his ser- vice with a number of his Qizzilbash followers. As desired by his new master, Taqi recalled a large number of Nadir’s other Qizzilbash servants, stationed in Kabul and the Panjab, and induced them to enter the Afghan service. But Nasir Khan was not the man to surrender so easily and was, there- fore, kept in confinement.^^ The Afghans thus won over and united and some fresh Persian levies brought into his service, Ahmad Khan advanced upon the city of Qandahar. The elders came out to receive him. Some of them who saw all power slip out of their hands had secretly plotted against him. But it was anticipated. At the time of the interview, Ahmad Khan took one of the leading Sardars, entrusted with the task of negotiations, to the pla’ce of enquiry and, there, threw him to be crushed under the feet of an elephant. Two of the chiefs of that Muhammad Khan, Kadhu Khan and other chieftains in the neighbour- hood of Qandahar; Ahmad Shah had to throw them into prison to force them to disgorge it. I have accepted the total figure of Ferrier, which also included diamonds, shawls, etc. The Imad-us-Saadat gives the amount of the treasure as ten laldis of ashrafis which, with diamonds and shawls added to it, would easily raise the total to two karors. Sykes^ in his Htstory of Persia, 370, says that among the jewels seized on this occasion was the famous diamond known as the Koh-i-Noor. But this seems not to be the fact. For other details, the MujmiUut-^Tawarikh appears to be more reliable. Also see footnote No. U of Chapter II. 11 History of the Afghans, 70. 12. BayanA-‘Waqet, 130-31; Husain ShaU, 15; MnjmiUut-TawanhK. 75; Tankh-i-Ahmad, 12-13, Ferrier, 69-70, Malleson, 275-76. ELECTION AND CORONATION 31 tribe were put to the sword.^® The way was now clear and he entered the city with a strong force. CORONATION Once the master of Qandahar, Ahmad Khan found him- self securely established as the king of the Afghans. He was formally crowned in the mosque at Qandahar early in the month of July, 1747.^“^ ‘The ceremony of liis coronation was of the most simple kind, the Mullah of the highest rank poured a measure of wheat on the head of the new monarch, announcing to the assembled Afghans that he was the chosen of God and the nation.’ “This emblematical investiture of the regal power,” writes Ferrier in the middle of the nine- teenth century, “is followed to the present day amongst the Afghan tribes each time they elect a chief; the signification which is attached to this ceremonial is that abundance and prosperity will result from the acts of him whom they make the depository of power.”^^ Ahmad Khan then assumed the title of Shah in addition to that of Durr-i-Durrany as men- tioned above, and he was thenceforward to be known as Ahmad Shah Durrani He also ordered it to be proclaimed by the beat of drum that the name of his tribe was also changed from Abdali to Durrani and that no one should call it by the old nameJ^ 13, Among those killed by the order of Ahmad Shah at Qandahar during these days is also included the name of Abdul Ghani Khan, his own materncd uncle, to whom Nadir Shah had entrusted the govern- ment of Qandahar in 1738 See Tazkimh-i-Anandram, 233. 14 Ferrier places the coronation of Ahmad Shah towards the close of the year 1747, and Nash in October 1747 (Htstory of the War m Afghanistan, 25). There is a letter of Ahmad Shah to Muhammad Husain Afridi, dated the 18th of Raj 3 ab, 1160 AH., July 15, 1747 in^e Tazkirah’-i-Anandram, which refers to his having been crowned. This would place the event in July, 1747, at the latest Putting an accounts together, I am inclined to beUeve that fte formal coronation of Ahmad Shah took place at Surkh at Nadirabad two miles to the south-east of Qandahar C . bar, Ahmad Shah Baha, 85-90. 15. History of the Afghans, 70. „ ™ . qo 16. Tahmas Hamah, 61; Shah Namah-i-Ahmadzya, 3; Femer, . 32 AHMAD SHAH DURRANI As usual on such occasions, coins were struck m the name of Ahmad Shah Durrani with the inscription: » t ^ ^ X’, Command came from God, the Inscrutable, to Ahmad the Kmg, Strike coin on silver and gold from the bottom of the sea to the moon The official seal for his farmans was inscribed with the words: By the command of God, the Bestower of Victory: Ahmad Shah, the Pearl of Pearls. At the end, the picture of a peacock was carved on it. The shape of his seal-ring was that of a gohlet.^’^ Immediately after his accession, Ahmad Shah thought it best to set Nawab Nasir Khan at liberty and to confirm him in the government of Kabul. He did not, however, appear to become a willing agent of the Durrani. He was, there- fore, required to leave his son in Q.andahar as a hostage for good behaviour. It is also said that, willingly or otherwise, the Nawab had agreed to give in marriage the hand of his daughter to Ahmad, in addition to a tribute of five lakhs of rupees.^^ BEGINNING OF CONSOLIDATION Ahmad Shah had then two great problems to solve: the organization of the Afghan tribes and the consohdation of his kingdom. It is true that he had the Persian model of 17. Husain Shahi 10; Latif, Pun^ab^ 215. 18. Mulakhas^ut-Tawarikliy 356; Umda-tu^Tawarikh^ i, 122; Bisalah’- i-‘Nanak Shah^ 121; SaulaUi-Afghani^ 244. ELECTION AND CORONATION 35 Nadir Shah before him to follow. But as the situation in Persia at Nadir’s accession was not identical with that in Afghanistan when Ahmad Shah came to the throne, it was not easy to mould the Afghans on the Persian pattern. TTie Persians had for centuries been accustomed to absolute sub- mission to a despotic system of Government. Nadir, there- fore, succeeded without any serious opposition to an esta- blished monarchy, though foreign, and this proved a most favourable circumstance for him. Ahmad Shah, on the other hand, had to found a monarchy for the j&rst time among a warlike and independent people whose short experience of Nadir’s monarchy, under which they had been compelled to pay tribute to a foreigner to tighten his hold over them, was more hateful than lovable. From love of equality, inherent in their blood, they were likely to view the exaltation of one of their own nation with even more jealousy than the tyranny of a foreign master. He had, therefore, to chalk out his own course. Born as an Afghan, bred among the Afghans, pos- sessing a clear head, and having singularly sagacious views, he was well fitted to deal with the first question. He loiew that the Afghan chiefs were jealous guardians of their here- ditary tribal rights. He, therefore, decided not to touch them and, without centralizing all the springs of power in his own hands, he resolved to rule the tribes through their own chiefs on the feudal system. He preserved the independence of the tribes under their own chiefs, without any interference in their internal administration. The ruling power that he concentrated in his own hands was to be exercised in con- sultation with the great chiefs. The chiefs were to furnish him with the allotted contingents for service in case of war and the central government was to pay them a certain fixed sum in acknowledgement of their services. To gain, in the first instance, the active support and close co-operation of his own tribe, on which he could depend most for the establishment of his rule, he Confirmed the Durranis in the possession of their old lands, requiring of them nothing more than the attendance of their contingents of troops as fixed by Nadir. He reserved to the Durrani chiefs most of the great offices in his new state and made them almost here- ditary in their families. He exalted the Saddozeis — ^the mem- G. 5 U AHMA1> SHAH DURRANI bers of his ovm clan— and added to the lustre of the halo that ^eady surrounded the descendants of Saddo and Khwaja Khizar, To the other tribes he was equally considerate, and, with a broad mind and sympathetic attitude, he endeavoured to bring them closer and to kmt them into a homogeneous whole* To create in them a spirit of attachment to their native king, he impressed upon every act of his the stamp of patriotism. He was a king to extend the Afghan autho- rity, to found an Afghan nationality^ to spread Afghan ideas. It was in this spirit that he, not unoften, refused to attack refractory tribes and said that he was not willing to bring any calamity upon his countrymen. The undesirable activi- ties of Muhabbat Khan, the former Qiladar, Nur Muhammad Khan, a municipal officer, and Gadai Khan, the commandant of troops in Qandahar on behalf of Nadir, were overlooked by him under these noble sentiments, and it was not till they exceeded all limits and appeared positively dangerous to the consolidation of the state that he was driven to the neces- sity of punishing them.^® But to carry the tribes with him in all these nationalistic ideas, he had, in the first instance, to win their chiefs. He, therefore, instituted a council of nine Afghan chiefs with- out whose consultation and advice he would adopt no measure of importance. ‘Tor the consolidation of his power at home,” says Elphin- stone, “he relied in a great measure, on the effects of his foreign wars. If these were successful, his victories would raise his reputation, and his conquests would supply him with the means of maintaining an army, and of attaching the Afghan chiefs by favour and rewards: the hopes of plunder would induce many tribes to join him, whom he could not easily have compelled to submit: by carrying the great men with his army he would be able to prevent their increasing, or even preserving their influence in their tribes; and the habits of military obedience would prepare them for a cheerful sub- mission to his government at home: the troops also, having the King constantly before their eyes, and witnessing the sub- 10. Gulista’n.-i-RaTi’Jttaf, 146. ELECTION AND COBONATION 35 mission of their hereditary chiefs, would learn to regard him as the head of the nation; and he might hope, as the event proved, that his popular manners, and the courage, activity, vigilance, and other military virtues which he possessed, would impress all ranks with respect, and strongly attach his soldiers to his person.”^^ The situation in the neighbourmg countries was equally favourable. The great Indian and Uzbak empires had been humbled by Nadir and laid prostrate. The warlike Baluchis had been subjugated and there was no fear of opposition from them. In fact it appeared that they would prefer en- tering into alliance with their Afghan neighbours to their union with any one else. The sun of Iran had set with the death of Nadir and, with the dark clouds all around, there was no prospect of its early rise on the political horizon. Such was the state of affairs when Ahmad Shah Durrani ascended the throne of Afghanistan and embarked on a career of conquest. 20. Cauhidy ii, 283-4; Ferner, 69-70; Malleson, 276-77.

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