page_title: Mughal–Persian Wars
section_title: War of 1622–23
hierarchical_section_title: Mughal–Persian Wars / War of 1622–23
caption_attribution_description: Azərbaycanca: I Şah Abbas tərəfindən Babur dövlətinə göndərilmiş nümayəndə Məhəmməd Əli bəy (1631-1632) English: Muhammad ‘Ali Beg was the ambassador sent to the Mughal court by Shah Abbas of Iran, arriving in time for the New Year festival in March 1631. He remained there until October 1632, during which time his portrait was painted by the royal artist, Hashim. The painting is inscribed in Persian ‘likeness of Muhammad Ali Beg, ambassador, the work of Hashim’, possibly by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. It was later mounted on a page with margins decorated with flowering plants and insects for inclusion in an album for the emperor.
context_page_description: The Mughal–Persian Wars were a series of wars fought in the 17th and 18th centuries between the Safavid and Afsharid Empires of Persia, and the Mughal Empire, over what is now Afghanistan. The Mughals consolidated their control of what is today India and Pakistan in the 16th century, and gradually came into conflict with the powerful Safavids and Afsharids, led by Abbas I and Nader Shah respectively. Aside from Nader Shah's invasion of the Mughal Empire, most of the conflict between the two powers were limited to battles for control over Kandahar.
context_section_description: The Mughal–Safavid War of 1622–23 was fought over the important fortress city of Kandahar, in Afghanistan, between the Safavid empire of Persia and the Mughal empire of India. It resulted in a clear Persian victory.
  Having secured crushing victories against the Ottomans, Shah Abbas desired to capture the strategic fortress on Kandahar since he had lost it in 1595. In 1605 the governor of Herat, Hosayn Khan, besieged the city but the tenacious defense of the Mughal governor, Shah Beg Khan, and the arrival in the next year of a relieving Mughal army to Kandahar forced the Safavids to retreat. With the conclusion of the Ottoman-Safavid War (1603-1618), Shah Abbas was secure enough for a war on his eastern frontier, so in 1621 he ordered an army to gather at Nishapur. After celebrating the new year at Tabas Gilaki in southern Khorasan, Abbas joined with his army and marched on Kandahar where he arrived on 20 May and immediately began the siege. Though Jahangir had information of the Persian's movements he was too slow to respond, and without reinforcements the small garrison of 3,000 men could not hold for long against the superior Persian army.
  The Emperor asked his son and heir apparent Khurram who was at Mandu in the Deccan to lead the campaign, but Khurram evaded the assignment fearing to lose his political power while he was away from court. The relief force the Mughals could assemble proved too small to raise the siege, so after a 45-day siege the city fell on 22 June followed shortly after by Zamindawar. After fortifying the city and appointing Ganj Ali Khan as governor of the city, Abbas returned to Khorasan via Ghur, subduing on the way troubling emirs in Chaghcharan and Gharjistan. The rebellion of Khurram absorbed the Mughal's attention, so in the spring of 1623 a Mughal envoy arrived at the Shah's camp with a letter from the Emperor accepting the loss of Kandahar and putting an end to the conflict.
caption: Muhammad Ali Beg was the Persian ambassador sent to the Mughal court of Jahangir by Abbas I of Persia, arriving in time for Muharram in March 1631. He remained there until October 1632, thus negotiating an end to the conflict between the Mughals and the Safavids.
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