After Babur founded the Mughal empire in 1525, his descendants, with the exception of the dissolute Jahangir, were ambitious and capable administrators who were determined to sustain their legacy. However, after the death of Aurungzeb, the Mughal Empire was in a state of perpetual decline.
The year was 1739. The man presiding over the throne of Delhi was Mughal emperor Mohammed Shah, who was equal to his ancestors in dissipation but scarcely matched them in talent. He was the grandson of Bahadur Shah and had spent his formative years as a pampered prisoner in the harem where he became addicted to sexual and narcotic excesses that came to dominate his life. His sole interest apparently was animal combats, which he staged with considerable imagination. The emperor did not receive much support from his chief ministers. The first quit in disgust and was replaced by Qamar-ud-din Khan.
While the Marathas made themselves lords of Gujarat, Malwa and Bundelkhand, Bengal and Oudh establishing their independence from the empire and the nobles were dividing their territories amongst themselves, the emperor lay comatose from all night opium binges. Despite poor governance and factionalism, life in Delhi was prosperous and buoyant. Painters and literati, once ostracised by Aurangzeb, reappeared and crowds of young fortune hunters came to try their luck in cosmopolitan Delhi. Gambling, dancing and singing remerged. The treasury was empty and the emperor was politically impotent. Despite all this, commerce flourished, the army was enormous and Delhi was happy.
But all this was destined to come to an abrupt brutal end. In Persia, an Afghan bandit king named Nadir Shah had toppled the last of the Safawid emperors and upon assuming leadership, had sent diplomatic envoys to Delhi. But through inefficiency rather than malice, the emissaries were detained and the emperor failed to acknowledge further Persian communiqués. Provoked by these insults, in May of 1738, Nadir Shah invaded the Northwest Frontier of India. Within no time, he took over Kabul and Lahore. He then swept through the Punjab and was finally met by the Mughal army on the fields of Karnal, north of Delhi. Although the Mughals had the strength of numbers, they lacked the leadership of their enemies.
Divided into splinter groups, pounded mercilessly with swivel guns, maddened by the charges of giant camels laden with explosives, the Mughals were no match for the Persians. Before the retreat could be sounded, 20,000 Indians lay dead on the Karnal plain.
Nadir Shah triumphantly rode into Delhi trailed by the bowing and saluting vanquished Mohammed Shah. On his arrival, Nadir Shah made it clear to the emperor that his sole demand was tribute money and he had no wish to remain in India or rule it. But while the two kings were coming to an agreement, Holi was in full swing outside. In the commotion, someone started the rumour that Nadir Shah was dead. In response, hysterical citizens armed themselves and marched through the city, murdering hundreds of Persian soldiers and plundering their garrisons.
The next day, Nadir Shah, very much alive, rode silently through the streets of Delhi, gazing at the corpses of his men and surveying the hostile crowds. With a single motion of his sword, he gave the signal. The massacre started at 8 am and did not abate till three in the afternoon. Read on in the next issue about the carnage wrecked by the Nadir Shah’s troops on the streets of Delhi.
Reference
The Taj Mahal by David Carroll