Dictionary of Indian Biography/Ahmad Shah Abdali, or Durani
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AHMAD SHAH ABDALI, or DURANI ( ? –1772)
Son of an Afghan chief of the tribe of Abdal, near Herat : held a command under Nadir Shah : after whose death, in 1747, he attacked the Persians, seized Kandahar, Kabul and Lahore : in 1748 he attacked the Moguls in Hindustan : returned to Kabul, but, in 1757, came down on Delhi and Agra, plundered Mathura and returned to Kandahar : about 1758, in response to an invitation from India, he advanced against the Mahrattas, then in great power, and defeated them at Panipat, Jan. 1761 : returned to Kabul : again invaded India in 1767 : returned to Afghanistan with little success, but some plunder : died 1772, succeeded by his second son, Timur Shah.