insignificant gain to Persia.[1] Another battle won from the Ottoman troops near Diarbekr by Naṣr Ullah Mirza, the young prince who had married a princess of Delhi, left matters much the same as before.
The last years of Nadir’s life were full of internal trouble. On the part of the sovereign, murders and executions; on that of his subjects, revolt and conspiracy. Such a state of things could not last, and certain proscribed persons plotted the destruction of the half-demented tyrant. He was despatched by Salah Bey, captain of his guards (1747). He was some sixty years of age, and had reigned eleven years. About the time of setting out on his Indian expedition he was described as a most comely man, upwards of 6 ft., tall, well-proportioned, of robust make and constitution; inclined to be fat, but prevented by the fatigue he underwent; with fine, large black eyes and eyebrows; of sanguine complexion, made more manly by the influence of sun and weather; a loud, strong voice; a moderate wine-drinker; fond of simple diet, such as pilaos and plain dishes, but often neglectful of meals altogether, and satisfied, if occasion required, with parched peas and water, always to be procured.[2]
During the reign of Nadir an attempt was made to establish a British Caspian trade with Persia. The names of Jonas Hanway and John Elton were honourably connected with this undertaking; and the former has left most valuable records of the time and country.
From Nadir Shah to the Kajar Dynasty.—After the death of Nadir Shah something like anarchy prevailed for thirteen years in the greater part of Persia as it existed under Shah ʽAbbas. No sooner had the crime become known than Aḥmad Khan, chief of the Abdali Afghans, took possession of Kandahar and a certain amount Period of Anarchy. of treasure. By the action of Aḥmad Abdali, Afghanistan was at once lost to the Persian crown, for this leader was strong enough to found an independent kingdom. The chief of the Bakhtiaris, Rashid, also with treasure, fled to the mountains, and the conspirators invited ʽAli, a nephew of the deceased monarch, to ascend the vacant throne. The Bakhtiari encouraged his brother, ʽAli Mardan, to compete for the succession to Nadir. The prince was welcomed by his subjects; he told them that the murder of his uncle was due to his own instigation, and, in order to conciliate them, remitted the revenues of the current year and all extraordinary taxes for the two years following.
Taking the title of ʽAdil Shah, or the “just” king, he commenced his reign by putting to death the two princes Riẓa Kuli and Naṣr Ullah, as well as all relatives whom he considered his competitors, with the exception of Shah Rukh, son of Riẓa Kuli, whom he spared in case a lineal descendant of Nadir should at any time be required. But he had not removed all dangerous members of the royal house, nor had he gauged the temper of the times or people. ʽAdil Shah was soon dethroned by his own brother, Ibrahim, and he in his turn was defeated by the adherents of Shah Rukh, who made their leader king.
This young prince had a better and more legitimate title than that of the grandson of Nadir, for he was also grandson, on the mother’s side, of the Safawid Shah Ḥusain. Amiable, generous and liberal-minded, and of prepossessing exterior, he proved to be a popular prince. But he was neither of an age nor character to rule over a people led Shah Rukh. by turbulent and disaffected chiefs, ever divided by the conflicting interests of personal ambition Saʽid Mahommed, son of Mirza Daud, a chief mullah at Meshed, whose mother was the reputed daughter of Suleiman, declared himself king, and imprisoned and blinded Shah Rukh. Yusuf ʽAli, the general commanding the royal troops, defeated and slew Suleiman, and replaced his master on the throne, reserving to himself the protectorship or regency. A new combination of chiefs, of which Jiʽafir the Kurd and Mir ʽAlam the Arabian are the principal names handed down, brought about the death of Yusuf ʽAli and the second imprisonment of Shah Rukh. These events were followed by a quarrel terminating in the supremacy of the Arab. At this juncture Aḥmad Shah Abdali reappeared in Persian Khorasan from Herat; he attacked and took possession of Meshed, slew Mir ʽAlam, and, pledging the local chiefs to support the blinded prince in retaining the kingdom of his grandfather, returned to Afghanistan. But thenceforward this unfortunate young man was a mere shadow of royalty, and his purely local power and prestige had no further influence whatever on Persia as a country.
The land was partitioned among several distinguished persons, who had of old been biding their opportunities, or were born of the occasion. Foremost among these was Mahommed Ḥasan Khan, hereditary chief of those Kajars who were established in the south-east corner of the Caspian. His father, Fatḥ ʽAli Khan, after sheltering Shah Further Confusion. Ṭahmasp II. at his home in Astarabad, and long acting as one of his most loyal supporters, had been put to death by Nadir, who had appointed a successor to his chiefdom from the “Yukari” or “upper” Kajars, instead of from his own, the “Ashagha,” or “lower.”[3] Mahommed, with his brother, had fled to the Turkomans, by whose aid he had attempted the recovery of Astarabad, but had not succeeded in regaining a permanent footing there until Nadir had been removed. On the murder of the tyrant he had raised the standard of independence, successfully resisted Aḥmad Shah and his Afghans, who sought to check his progress in the interests of Shah Rukh, and eventually brought under his own sway the valuable provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Astarabad[4]—quite a little kingdom in itself. In the large important province of Azerbaijan, Azad Khan, one of Nadir’s generals, had established a separate government; and ʽAli Mardan, brother of the Bakhtiari chief, took forcible possession of Isfahan, empowering Shah Rukh’s governor, Abu’l-Fatḥ Khan, to act for the new master instead of the old.
Had ʽAli Mardan declared himself an independent ruler he would have been by far the most important of the three persons named. But such usurpation at the old Safawid capital would have been too flagrant an act for general assent; so he put forward Ismaʽil, a nephew of Shah Ḥusain, as the representative of sovereignty, and himself as one of his two ministers—the other being Karīm Khan, a chief of the Zend Kurds. Shah Ismaʽil, it need scarcely be said, possessed no real authority; but the ministers were strong men in their way, and the Zend especially had many high and excellent qualities. After a time ʽAli Mardan was assassinated, and Karīm Khan became the sole living power at Isfahan. The story of the period is thus told by R. G. Watson:—
“The three rivals, Karīm, Azad and Muhammad Hasan, proceeded to settle, by means of the sword, the question as to which of them was to be the sole master of Persia. A three-sided war then ensued, in the course of which each of the combatants in turn seemed at one time sure to be the final conqueror. Karīm, when he had arranged Struggle of the Three Rivals. matters at Ispahan, marched to the borders of Mazandarān, where the governor of that province was ready to meet him. After a closely contested battle victory remained with Muhammad Hasan; who, however, was unable to follow up the foe, as he had to return in order to encounter Azad. That leader had invaded Gilan, but, on the news reaching him of the victory which the governor of Mazandarān had gained, he thought it prudent to retrace his steps to Sultanīyah. Karīm reunited his shattered forces at Tehrān, and retired to Ispahan to prepare for a second campaign. When he again took the field it was not to measure himself once more with the Kajar chief, but to put down the pretensions of Azad. The wary Afghan, however, shut himself up in Kazvīn, a position from which he was enabled to inflict much injury on the army of Karīm, while his own troops remained unharmed, behind the walls of the town. Karīm retired a second time to
- ↑ Creasy says the war broke out in 1743, but was terminated in 1746 by a treaty which made little change in the old arrangements fixed under Murad IV.
- ↑ Fraser’s History of Nadir Shah (1742).
- ↑ There were three branches of the Kajar tribe, i.e. the Suldus, Tungkut and Jalaiyar. The last, according to Watson, became settled in Iran and Turan, and seem at first to have given their name to all the tribe.
- ↑ Watson. Malcolm says that Gilan was under one of its own chiefs, Hidaiyat Khan.
