page_title: Battle of Karnal
section_title: Losses & consequences
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Karnal / Battle / Losses & consequences
caption_attribution_description: English: Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah and King of Iran Nadir Shah. 1740, Musee Guimet, Paris
context_page_description: The Battle of Karnal, was a decisive victory for Nader Shah, the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia, during his invasion of India. Nader's forces defeated the army of Muhammad Shah within three hours, paving the way for the Persian sack of Delhi. The engagement is considered the crowning jewel in Nader's military career as well as a tactical masterpiece. The battle took place near Karnal, 110 kilometres north of Delhi, India.
  The battle was the culminating point of Nader Shah's invasion of the Mughal Empire. After his conquest of eastern Afghanistan and invasion via Kabul and Peshawar, Nader led his forces south towards the Mughal capital. At Delhi Muhammad Shah gathered an extremely large force with which he marched north before his cumbersome army ground to a halt at Karnal. Nader gave battle and won a crushing victory. In the negotiations following the catastrophic defeat, Muhammad Shah agreed to pay a large indemnity in exchange for maintaining his imperium over his lands. Nader however, forced the Mughal emperor to submit utterly and marched him to his capital, Delhi, where the Mughal treasury was plundered.
context_section_description: The Mughals suffered far heavier casualties than the Persians. Exact figures are uncertain as accounts of that period were prone to bombast. Various contemporary commentators estimated Mughal casualties being up to 30,000 men slain with most agreeing on a figure of around 20,000 and with Axworthy giving an estimate of roughly 10,000 Mughal soldiers killed. Nader himself claimed that his army slew 20,000 and imprisoned "many more". The number of Mughal officers slain amounted to a staggering 400. Though as a proportion of the entire Mughal army the actual casualties suffered were not excessive, this masks the fact that the casualties constituted the very best of the Mughal army, including an overwhelming number of its leaders.
  The nature of the casualties caused great despair amongst the remaining Mughals who as a consequence of the crushing defeat were unable to maintain their discipline. Soon after morale collapsed, the soldiers looted their own camp, many deserted and any will to fight again evaporated. One of the most painful losses was that of Khan Dowran. He was brought back badly wounded and his loyal retainers could not even find a place for him to rest his head. Nizam-ul-Mulk, due to a long-standing enmity, came to Khan Dowran's side as he was dying in order to ridicule him before his death. The Khan died that evening surrounded by his few surviving followers.
  Recent scholarship gives an estimate of the total Persian casualties at a mere 1,100 including 400 killed and 700 wounded. This number comprised such a small fraction of the Persian army as to be negligible.
  Sa'adat Khan was taken to Nader that very evening. The Khan advised the Shah to call upon Nizam-ul-Mulk as he was the "key to the Empire". Soon after, Nizam-ul-Mulk and a following of other Mughal negotiators arrived at Nader's camp.
  Although the meeting was initially tense, with the Mughal plenipotentiaries arriving with armour instead of plain clothing, Nader soon requested that he and Nizam-ul-Mulk be left alone to discuss matters more freely. Once alone with the Shah, Nizam-ul-Mulk humbly claimed that his life was entirely at his mercy. Nader impressed upon him the importance of Muhammad Shah agreeing to pay an indemnity to the Persian crown. Having convinced Nizam-ul-Mulk to request the Mughal Emperor's personal presence in the Persian camp, Nader sent him away.
  26 February saw the Mughal Emperor travel to meet with his Persian counterpart amongst much pomp and circumstance. Nader paid Muhammad Shah the respect worthy of an Emperor and conversed with him in Turkic. After the conclusion of the negotiations the Mughal party returned to their encampment west of Alimardan river.
  A sharp dispute arose regarding who would replace Khan Dowran in his office. Muhammad Shah interceded on Nizam-ul-Mulk's behalf which enraged many other notables, chief amongst them Sa'adat Khan. It is claimed that Sa'adat Khan entered into secret correspondence with Nader and incited the Shah to march to Delhi in order to extract a much larger indemnity from Muhammad Shah.
caption: The meeting between Shahanshah Nader Shah, and Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah.
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