Person · founder of the Durrani Empire
Ahmad Shah Durrani
Also known as Ahmad Shah Abdali, Durrani
Ahmad Shah Durrani (c.1722 - 16 October 1772), the founder of the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan and the Mountain of Light's recipient after Nader Shah's 1747 assassination. Originally Ahmad Khan Abdali, a Pashtun military commander in Nader Shah's army, he received the Koh-i-Noor from Nader Shah's grandson in 1751 (or from Nader's harem lady, by another account) in return for his support. Ahmad Shah ruled Afghanistan 1747-1772 and conducted nine invasions of India, defeating the Marathas decisively at the Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761). The Koh-i-Noor passed through his descendants to his grandson Shah Shuja Durrani.
- Date
- 1722–1772
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Patron dynasty
- Durrani Empire
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Connections (2)
- Power passed toKoh-i-Noor
After Nader Shah's 20 June 1747 assassination at Fathabad, the Koh-i-Noor passed to his Pashtun general Ahmad Shah Abdali, who established the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan the same year. The Afghan chronicle Siraj al-Tawarikh records that Nader Shah's first lady of the harem gave the diamond to Ahmad Shah; another account places the transfer in 1751 from Nader's grandson in return for Ahmad Shah's political support. The Koh-i-Noor remained in the Durrani royal collection through four generations until Shah Shuja Durrani fled with it to Lahore in 1812.
- Won battle atKala Amb (Third Battle of Panipat memorial)
Ahmad Shah Durrani crushed the Maratha army under Sadashivrao Bhau at Kala Amb on 14 January 1761 — the Third Battle of Panipat. About forty thousand Marathas including Sadashivrao, Vishwasrao (son of the Peshwa) and their senior commanders died in the day-long engagement; the Maratha camp of some three hundred thousand noncombatants was overrun afterwards. The battle ended Maratha ambitions on Delhi for a generation and left the political vacuum the East India Company moved into after Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764).
On these journeys
Sources
Standard biography.
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