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Sack of Delhi (1757)

SOLVED1757Delhi, Mughal Empire (present-day India)3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

## Overview The sack of Delhi took place from 28 January to 22 February 1757, carried out by the Durrani Empire under the Afghan king Ahmad Shah Durrani. Delhi, then capital of the declining Mughal Empire, had already suffered multiple 18th-century invasions, including one by Nader Shah. Following Nader Shah's death, Ahmad Shah Durrani consolidated eastern territories into the Durrani Empire, based in Kandahar.

## Background The Mughal Empire's decline accelerated after Emperor Aurangzeb's death in 1707, amid Maratha incursions and succession disputes. Ahmad Shah Durrani launched successive invasions of Mughal India beginning in 1747. A 1749 campaign forced Punjab's governor, Moin-ul-Mulk, to cede regional revenues after the Mughal emperor authorized concessions rather than send reinforcements. A third invasion in 1751–1752 ended with the siege and sack of Lahore, the capture of Moin-ul-Mulk, and Afghan annexation of Punjab and Kashmir. After Moin-ul-Mulk's 1753 death, internal Mughal power struggles — including the imprisonment of his successor, Mughlani Begum, by vizier Imad ul-Mulk — led Mughlani Begum to invite the Afghans to invade again.

## Invasion and Sack Citing the vizier's misrule, other nobles, including Najib ud-Daula and Mughal emperor Alamgir II, also invited Ahmad Shah to intervene. He launched a fourth invasion in November 1756 with roughly 80,000 men, taking Lahore in December with little resistance and advancing toward Delhi despite limited Maratha resistance under Antaji Mankeshwar. Delhi's defenders largely capitulated, and Ahmad Shah's forces arrived before the city on 28 January 1757.

Ahmad Shah met Alamgir II at the Fatehpuri Mosque and entered Delhi, though residents fled or barricaded themselves indoors. Alamgir was placed under house arrest. Despite initial orders against sacking, bazaars were plundered from 29 January, tribute was extracted from Feroz Shah Kotla, and Ahmad Shah minted coins in his own name and arranged a marriage between his son, Timur Shah Durrani, and a daughter of Alamgir II. Discriminatory measures were imposed on Hindus, and Mughal nobles faced extortionate demands enforced through torture, including foot whipping; many died, were crippled, or died by suicide. Imad ul-Mulk and Intizam-ud-Daulah were forced to surrender large sums of gold, coin, and property. An elderly woman, Sholapuri Begum, was coerced under threat of torture into revealing the location of buried family wealth, which Afghan forces subsequently excavated.

## Aftermath After further campaigning against the Marathas and Jats, Ahmad Shah briefly sacked Delhi again in March 1757 before departing for Afghanistan in April. Estimates of the total loot range from 30 million to 300 million rupees, transported by thousands of pack animals. The invasion diverted and weakened Mughal and Bengal Subah forces, contributing to their defeat months later at the Battle of Plassey, a turning point in British colonial expansion in India.

Key facts

Victims
Imad ul-Mulk, Sholapuri Begum, Intizam-ud-Daulah, Moin-ul-Mulk, Alamgir II
Date
1757
Location
Delhi, Mughal Empire (present-day India)
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 1707-03-03

    Mughal emperor Aurangzeb dies, beginning the empire's decline.

  2. 1747

    Ahmad Shah Durrani launches his first invasion of Mughal India, seizing Kabul and Peshawar.

  3. 1749

    Ahmad Shah's second invasion forces Punjab governor Moin-ul-Mulk to cede regional revenues to the Afghans.

  4. 1751-11

    Ahmad Shah launches a third invasion after tribute is withheld.

  5. 1752-03

    Lahore is besieged, sacked, and its population massacred; Moin-ul-Mulk is captured.

  6. 1752-04

    Ahmad Shah annexes Punjab and Kashmir.

  7. 1753-11

    Moin-ul-Mulk dies; Mughlani Begum succeeds him as governor.

  8. 1756-03

    Mughal vizier Imad ul-Mulk imprisons Mughlani Begum and installs Adina Beg.

  9. 1756-11

    Ahmad Shah begins his fourth invasion of India with about 80,000 men.

  10. 1756-12-20

    Afghan forces seize Lahore with little resistance.

  11. 1757-01-10

    Ahmad Shah's forces cross the Sutlej River at Ludhiana.

  12. 1757-01-17

    Afghan general Jahan Khan besieges Shahdara; Ahmad Shah's name is read in the Delhi Jama Masjid khutbah.

  13. 1757-01-28

    Afghan forces arrive before Delhi; sack of Delhi begins.

  14. 1757-01-29

    Bazaars in Delhi are sacked and tribute extracted from Feroz Shah Kotla.

  15. 1757-01-30

    Ahmad Shah mints coins in his own name and arranges his son's marriage to a daughter of Alamgir II.

  16. 1757-02-01

    Afghan forces rout a Maratha force under Antaji Mankeshwar near Delhi.

  17. 1757-02-22

    Sack of Delhi ends.

  18. 1757-03

    Ahmad Shah returns to Delhi and sacks the city again.

  19. 1757-04

    Ahmad Shah begins preparations to return to Afghanistan after campaigning against Marathas and Jats.

  20. 1757-06

    The Bengal Subah's weakened army is defeated at the Battle of Plassey.

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People

  • Imad ul-Mulk

    VICTIM

    Mughal vizier forced to surrender gold, ornaments, and gold coins to Ahmad Shah's forces.

  • Sholapuri Begum

    VICTIM

    Elderly woman coerced under threat of torture into revealing the location of buried family wealth during the sack.

  • Intizam-ud-Daulah

    VICTIM

    Mughal noble whose wealth, including over 10 million rupees and household members, was confiscated by Afghan forces.

  • Moin-ul-Mulk

    VICTIM

    Punjab governor captured by Afghan forces after the 1752 siege of Lahore, which was sacked with its population massacred.

  • Alamgir II

    VICTIM

    Mughal emperor forced to submit to Ahmad Shah and placed under house arrest during the sack of Delhi.

  • Ahmad Shah Durrani

    CHARGED

    Historical figure identified by the source as leader of the Durrani Empire forces that sacked Delhi in 1757; no modern legal charges apply as this is a historical event.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Places

Delhi, Mughal Empire (present-day India)

28.6567, 77.2228

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
In early 1757, Durrani Empire forces under Ahmad Shah Durrani occupied Delhi, extorted vast wealth from the Mughal capital's nobility and residents through torture and coercion, and left the city devastated, weakening the Mughal Empire ahead of the British victory at Plassey later that year.
Where did the crime happen?
Delhi, Mughal Empire (present-day India).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.
More cases in India

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICSack of Delhi (1757)Wikipedia · 2026-07-07
  2. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — iranicaonline.orgiranicaonline.org · 2026-07-07
  3. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — google.cagoogle.ca · 2026-07-07

Record history

First published
JUL 07, 2026