Nader Shah Sacks Delhi and Carries Off the Peacock Throne
Twenty to thirty thousand die in a single day, and the Koh-i-Noor diamond leaves India for Iran
Quick facts
- Year
- 1739
- Conqueror
- Nader Shah, Afsharid ruler of Iran
- Estimated dead
- 20,000 to 30,000
- Treasures taken
- Peacock Throne, Koh-i-Noor diamond, the Hamzanama manuscript
What happened
The Iranian ruler Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, invaded northern India and sacked Delhi in 1739, in what the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art describes as a period of political and artistic decline following Aurangzeb's reign that left the Mughal Empire subject to outside invasion. Nader Shah's occupation turned violent after an initial period of calm, and estimates put the death toll at roughly 20,000 to 30,000 people killed in the city over the course of a single day. When his forces withdrew, they carried home a vast haul of treasure, including the Hamzanama manuscript, the Peacock Throne itself, and the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
Why it matters
The sack of Delhi stripped the Mughal treasury of the accumulated wealth of a century and exposed to every regional and foreign power watching that the empire could no longer defend its own capital. It stands as the single most visible blow marking the empire's fall from its Shah Jahan-era peak, permanently dispersing the artistic community that had made Delhi a center of Mughal painting and craft.
How we know
The sack and its toll are documented in Persian and Mughal court accounts from the period and in the collection history of the objects Nader Shah's forces removed, several of which, including the Hamzanama folios and portraits of Nader Shah himself, are now held in Western museum collections including the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art.
Sources
- Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. Nadir Shah of Iran · Reputable sourceasia-archive.si.edu · The domain "asia-archive.si.edu" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. The Mughal Empire · Reputable sourceasia-archive.si.edu · The domain "asia-archive.si.edu" is on our Reputable source registry.
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