Sack of Delhi (1757)

• 1. Introduction

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  The Sack of Delhi in early 1757 reduced the Mughal capital to a ghost of itself in twenty-six days. Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Durrani Empire, had been pushing into India for years before the final occupation. When his forces arrived, the Mughal court had neither the troops nor the political cohesion to mount a defense. How had the empire that once commanded vast territories come to this? And what did the sack set in motion, far beyond the city's walls? The road to both answers begins with the death of Emperor Aurangzeb on the 3rd of March 1707.

• 2. Three Invasions

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  Ahmad Shah's first invasion of India came in 1747, when he seized Kabul and Peshawar from the Mughals before advancing into Punjab. At Manupur, however, he met defeat. The loss pushed him to launch a second campaign in 1749, this time crossing the Indus River and pressing deeper into Mughal-held territory.

  The key figure standing between Ahmad Shah and Delhi was Moin-ul-Mulk, the governor of Punjab, who urgently asked Delhi for military reinforcements. The Mughal emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur sent no soldiers. Instead, he authorized the concessions Ahmad Shah had demanded: the revenues of Chahar Mahal, Gujrat, Aurangabad, Pasrur, and Sialkot. Moin-ul-Mulk accepted the terms, having no alternative.

  Moin-ul-Mulk died in November 1753. A woman named Mughlani Begum succeeded him as administrator of Punjab. In March 1756, the Mughal vizier Imad ul-Mulk had her imprisoned and replaced with his own appointee, Adina Beg. Mughlani Begum, stripped of power, sent word to the Afghans promising wealth if they returned. She was not alone in the appeal. Najib ud-Daula, a chief of Rohilkand, and the new Mughal emperor Alamgir II sent their own requests to Ahmad Shah. He accepted.

• 3. The March South

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  Ahmad Shah left Peshawar on the 15th of November 1756, crossing the Attock eleven days later at the head of an army of 80,000 men. Lahore fell on the 20th of December with almost no resistance, and Ahmad Shah collected tribute before continuing south. The Sutlej River at Ludhiana was crossed on the 10th of January 1757. Meanwhile, the advance guard under the general Jahan Khan had already secured Sirhind, Karnal, and Panipat, cutting off the approaches to Delhi.

  The Marathas had committed by treaty in 1752 to defend the Mughals against foreign invasions. They assembled 3,400 men under Antaji Mankeshwar and marched to meet the Afghans at Narela. The engagement ended in Maratha defeat, with losses of 100 men. Najib ud-Daula then formally defected to the Afghan side, and Imad ul-Mulk surrendered not long after.

  Jahan Khan's forces besieged Shahdara on the 17th of January. Inside Delhi, Ahmad Shah's name was read aloud in the Khutbah at the Jama Masjid, a formal declaration of sovereignty over the city. The main Afghan army arrived before the walls of Delhi on the 28th of January 1757. Alamgir II, the emperor who had issued one of the invitations, awaited inside.

• 4. A City Occupied

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  Inside Delhi, the streets were completely deserted when Ahmad Shah entered. Many residents had fled the city; those who stayed barricaded themselves in their homes. Ahmad Shah and Alamgir met at the Fatehpuri Mosque, where the Afghan king made his formal entry with a gun salute. Ahmad Shah's name was simultaneously inserted into the Khutbah at other mosques, a public assertion of his authority. Alamgir was placed under house arrest, and houses outside the city walls were ravaged. At first, his army had orders not to sack Delhi itself.

  On the 29th, bazaars were looted and soldiers under Jahan Khan extracted tribute from Feroz Shah Kotla, a large fortress in the city. On the 30th of January, Ahmad Shah minted coins in his name. He also arranged the marriage of his son, Timur Shah Durrani, to a daughter of Alamgir II. The union bound the two dynasties together while the city around them was being stripped bare.

  Ahmad Shah issued orders that all Hindus were to wear distinctive marks on their heads, and forbade non-Muslims from wearing turbans. He dispatched his own tax collectors to extract extortionate sums from the Mughal nobility. Those suspected of hiding valuables were subjected to foot whipping and other forms of torture. Many thousands died or were crippled; others took their own lives. A tax was also placed on every household in Delhi.

  A Maratha force under Antaji Mankeshwar had been roaming south, west, and north-west of the city, pillaging those who had fled. On the 1st of February, the Afghans routed his force, driving his retreat to Mathura. Beyond the open bazaars, Ahmad Shah was pursuing the private fortunes of the Mughal nobility. One of the largest still lay buried beneath the city.

• 5. The Hidden Fortunes

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  Imad ul-Mulk, the vizier whose earlier maneuvers had contributed to the crisis, was now on the receiving end of Ahmad Shah's demands. He was forced to surrender gold and ornaments valued at 10 million rupees, plus 300,000 gold coins. The nobleman Intizam-ud-Daulah was summoned next, and more than 10 million rupees in assets were confiscated. Ahmad Shah also took 100 of Intizam's wives.

  Unable to produce the further wealth demanded of him, Intizam admitted that his father had buried a fortune somewhere in the city. He identified an elderly woman named Sholapuri Begum as the one who knew its exact location. Sholapuri Begum was threatened with torture by iron pins until she finally disclosed where the fortune was hidden. Afghan soldiers dug for three days. What they recovered exceeded 15 million rupees in cash. Among the other items were 200 golden candles described as the size of a man, plus diamonds, rubies, pearls, and emeralds.

  Ahmad Shah had stripped the city's known fortunes. But the full consequences of his campaign would only become clear months later, in a battle on the plains of Bengal.

• 6. A Continent Reshaped

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  In March 1757, Ahmad Shah returned to Delhi and ordered the city looted for a second time before setting out for Afghanistan. The Mughal Empire paid a price that went far beyond its treasury. The Bengal Subah's forces, some of the best available to the Mughals, had been diverted to fight the Afghans.

  Within months of Ahmad Shah's departure, the Battle of Plassey unfolded on the Bengal plains. The Bengal Subah army, weakened by the Afghan campaign, was decisively defeated, and British power in India began its ascent. Some historians have argued that British success was not the result of naval strength alone. The Afghan invasion had deepened political instability, diverted Mughal military strength, and helped the British access sepoy forces and South Asian resources.

  Estimates from contemporary writers placed the total value of Ahmad Shah's plunder anywhere from 30 to 300 million rupees. More than 28,000 elephants, camels, and mules were needed to carry the spoils. Many of Ahmad Shah's cavalry returned to Afghanistan on foot, having loaded their horses with whatever they had seized personally.

  The Yamuna River was said to have run red with blood for two weeks following the Afghan campaign. Delhi had survived, as it would continue to do, but the empire that had defined it for generations would never recover its former reach.