Chap. II. of the Empire 
Degree, that they no longer kept the Field j upon which 
he determined to lay Siege to Bagdat. 
While he was before this Place, he received Advice, 
that Mahommed Kan Balluche had revolted, and declared 
for Shah Thamas^ and made himfelf Mafter of Shlras. 
Upon this he raifed the Siege immediately, marched 
diredly againft this General, whom he treated as a 
Rebel, had the good Luck to defeat him \ after which 
he plundered the City of Shir as ^ and put Numbers of 
People to Death. He then returned to Ifpahan, from 
whence he foon after marched into Georgia^ reduced the 
City of 'Teffisj which is its Capital ; over- run Armenia^ 
and by the very Terror of his Name, frighted the Ruf- 
fians out of Gilan^ which Province they had feized dur- 
ing the Troubles in Perfia. 
After all thefe Vidories he fiimmoned the Chief of 
the Perfian Nobility to his Army, which then confifted 
of 150,000 Men, and there partly by Fear, and partly 
by Promifes, made them confent to the total Subver- 
fion of their Conftitution, both in Church and State, 
by agreeing to make the Crown hereditary in his Fa- 
mily, to renounce for ever the ancient Line of their 
Princes, and to admit an Union between the two Seds 
of the Sunnds and the Schia^s, which being oppofed by 
the Mullah Bajhi^ in a fet Speech, he anfwered his Ar- 
guments, by ftrangling him upon the Spot, and on the 
. 2jftof March, 1736, he caufed himfelf to be pro- 
claimed Sovereign of Perfia, by the TitL of Nadir Shah. 
The firft pubhek Ad of his Adminiftration was to 
feize, or as he was pleafed to call it, refume all the 
Church Lands in Perfa ; but finding that the Clergy 
were irreconcileable to him, he thought the Dif- 
pute would be lefs dangerous, if they were flript of 
their Property, which was very confiderable, their Re- 
venues amounting to a Million of Tomans, which is 
upwards of three Millions Sterling. 
In June following he was crowned at Casbin, and 
from thence he marched to Ifpahan, where he ftaid 
about fix Months, during which Time he was acknow- 
ledged by the Grand Signor, and the Great Mogul. 
He Ipent his Time in preparing for his Expedition 
Kandahar, and marching thither in the Begin- 
ning of 1737, he appointed his eldeft Son Reza Kuli 
Mirza, to govern Perfa in his Abfence, who fixed his 
Refidence at Mefched, whither Shah Thames was after- 
wards conducted, and as it is faid, by order of the 
young Prince, who no doubt aded therein by his Fa- 
ther’s Direction, was there put to Death, to prevent, as 
far as polfible, any future Revolts in his Favour, or in 
Support of any of his Family. Nadir Shah v^as as for- 
tunate in his Expedition againft Khandahar, as in any 
of his former Undertakings, reducing it much fooner 
than could have been expeded, confidering the great 
Strength of the Place. And it was while he lay before 
this Place, that he received an Invitation from fome of 
the Moguls Minifters, to invade that Empire. As we 
have given a very large and full Account of this Tran- 
fadion in our former Volume, in fpeaking of the Suc- 
ceflion of the Defeendants of Timur Bek, in the Empire 
of Indoftan, we fhall not infift farther upon it here, 
but content ourfelves with firft giving the Reader a 
Ihort View of the Life of this extraordinary Perfon, 
and then refuming the Hiftory of his Reign, at his 
Return from the Indian Expedition. 
10. We have had various Reports in England con- 
cerning the Birth of this famous Conqueror and though 
they are now grown ridiculous, there was a Time when 
they were better received. It muft be allowed, that on 
one Hand, it is extremely difficult for us to obtain any 
true Accounts from Places at fo great a Diftance, and 
it is no lefs true on the other Pland, that we are ex- 
tremely carelefs in our Endeavours to procure them. 
The Euteh at Batavia require their Fadors at different 
Forts throughout India, to fend them Intelligence, and 
it is from thefe Letters, that they judge of the Abilities 
of the Perfons they employ fo that by this Method they 
are able to give their Mafters in Holland, a tolerable 
View of the whole State of Affairs in the Eaft, once in 
the Year. It is but very lately, that we have had any 
e/ P E R s I A. 915 
diftind and true Account bf this Hero, who Was the 
Son of the Chief of one of the Clans of the Afshars, a 
Turcoman TnbQ into three Families, of which 
his was the fecond, and inhabited a Diftrid of theProvince 
of Chorafan. He v/as born in the Year 1688, and as he 
was the eldeft Son of his Father, was confidered acording 
to the Laws of that Nation, as his apparent Succeflbr. In 
order to form a right Notion of this, the Reader is to 
be told, that there are feveral Tribes of the Turcomans^ 
who inhabit this and other Provinces of Perfa^ where 
they live after their own Manner^ in Confideration 
of certain Services that from Time to Time they 
are called upon to render to the Government of 
Perfia •, and the particular Service of his Family was to 
defend a Imrtrefs commanding the Valley which they 
inhabit againft the Usbeck Tartars. As to his Father’.? 
Name, we know it not j but that which he beftowed 
upon h!s Son at the Time of his Circumcifion, was 
Nadir Kuli, which fignifies literally the Slave of the 
Wonderful, but the true Senfe of it is, the Servant 
of God. 
His Father dying in his Minority, his Brother, the 
Uncle of Nadir, became, according to the Cuftom of 
the Turcomans, the Tutor of his Son, and the Chief pro 
tempore of the Clan. He took Care of the Educa- 
tion of the young Man, whom he bred up a 
zealous Mahometan, according to the Sed of the 
Sunn'ds, who are looked upon by the Perfans as Here- 
ticks, and who, on their Side, confider that whole Na- 
tion in the fame Light ; he caufed him likewife to be 
taught his E,xercifes, and ftiowed him for feveral Years 
a great deal of Kindnefs and Refped. But when he 
came of Age, and would have taken upon him the 
Command of the Fortrefs and of his Clan, his Uncle 
did not care to refign ; and being a Man of great 
Art, he had brought the People into fuch a Depen- 
dance upon himfelf, that his Nephew found they were 
little inclined to do him what he called Juftice *, and 
the Spirit of the young Man was fuch, that fcorning 
to live in Subjedion, in a Place where he conceived it 
his Right to rule, he refolved to put himfelf into the 
Perfian Service. It was for this Reafon he went to Mefched, 
which has been confidered as the Capital of Chorafan 
ever fince Shah Abbas the Great inftituted Pilgrimages 
thither, on Purpofe to hinder his Subjeds from vifiting 
the Tomb of their Prophet at Mecca, before which 
time the City of Herat had that Title. Nadir Kuli was 
well received by the Governor, who gave him a fmali 
Poft in his Family, and another fmali Poft in the Army. 
His Behaviour here was very regular, and very infinua- 
ting ; he ftiowed all poffible Refped for his Superiors, was 
very kind and condefeending to his Inferiors, and very 
exad in the Difcharge of every Branch of his Duty. 
By Degrees he gained the Confidence of the Gover- 
nor to fuch a Degree, that he was raifed to the Rank 
of a Mim-Bq/hi, a Command equivalent to that of a 
Colonel of Horfe in our Service ; and then it was that 
he began to difplay the extraordinary Qualities he re- 
ceived from Nature. He affeded a very different Con- 
dud from that of his Brother Officers, for he was as 
attentive to Difeipline as they were negligent in it 5 he 
defpifed Perquifites, kept his Corps conftantly full, and 
by doing find Juftice to Merit, made his Soldiers not 
only content with their Lot, but pleafed with their Pro- 
feffion. He was often employed in Service, and was 
always fuccefsful, which was chiefly owing to tvvo Things, 
the ftrid Difeipline of his Troops, and his keeping' 
them Complete, v/hich gave him a vaft Advantage of 
the Tartars, and diftinguiflied him from all other Offi- 
cers, who for that Reafon hated him heartily. The 
Confufion in the latter Part of the Reign of Shah Huf 
fein, as it encouraged the Usbecks to make frequent In- 
curfions into Chorafan, fo it gave him many Opportu- 
nities of raifing his Reputation, by repreffing their Info- 
lence, and obliging them often to retire, notwithftand- 
ing their Superiority of Numbers. But in 1720, ihe 
Usbecks invaded the Province with a numerous Army, 
to which the Forces of the Governor were fo unequal, 
that in a great Council of War, the Officers were una- 
