Emperor Nader Shah, the Shah of Persia (1736–47) and the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia, invaded Northern India, eventually attacking Delhi in March 1739. His army had easily defeated the Mughals at the battle at Karnal and would eventually capture the Mughal capital in the aftermath of the battle.
Nader Shah’s victory against the weak and crumbling Mughal Empire in the far east meant that he could afford to turn back and resume war against Persia’s archrival, the neighbouring Ottoman Empire, but also the further campaigns in the North Caucasusand Central Asia.
Prelude
Nader Shah became the Persian ruler in 1730. His troops captured Esfahan from the Safavid dynasty and founded the Afsharid dynasty in that year. In 1738, Nader Shah conquered Kandahar, the last outpost of the Hotaki dynasty in Afghanistan, he then began to launch raids across the Hindu Kush mountains into Northern India, which, at that time, was under the rule of the Mughal Empire. As he moved into the Mughal territories, he was loyally accompanied by his Georgian subject and future king of eastern Georgia, Erekle II, who led a Georgian contingent as a military commander as part of Nader’s force.
The Mughal empire had been weakened by ruinous wars of succession in the three decades following the death of Aurangzeb. The Marathas had captured vast swathes of territory in Central and Northern India, whilst many of the Mughal nobles had asserted their independence and founded small states. The Mughal ruler, Muhammad Shah, proved unable to stop the disintegration of the empire. The defenses in Afghanistan, especially, were weak after tribal uprisings by the Pashtuns on the Northern Frontier. The imperial court administration was corrupt and weak. However, the country was extremely rich and Delhi’s prosperity and prestige was still at a high. Nader Shah, attracted by the country’s wealth, sought plunder like so many other foreign invaders before him.Delhi was one of the richest capitals in the world at the time. Of the three great Muslim realms in the 18th century, the Ottoman, the Persian, and the Moghul, the Moghul was the most affluent and splendid.
Nader had asked Muhammad Shah to close the Mughal frontiers around Kabul so that the Afghan rebels he was fighting against could not seek refuge in Kabul. Even though the Emperor agreed, he practically took no action. Nader seized upon this as a pretext for war. Prior to embarking on his campaign, Nader more or less sacked Isfahan for money and provisions for his army. Together with his Georgian subject Erekle II (Heraclius II), who took part in the expedition as a commander leading a contingent of Georgian troops, he began marching into Mughal territory on May 10, 1738.
Invasion
Conquest of Northern Afghanistan
Capture of Ghazni
Nader Shah crossed Mughal territory at the Mukhur spring and halted at Qarabagh, south of Ghazni. A detachment was sent under Nader’s son, Nasrullah, to attack the Afghans of Ghorband and Bamian. When the governor of Ghazni fled upon hearing of Nader’s approach, the Qadi, Scholars,