Sublime

Sadiq Khan.

Nader never wished to rule India, just to plunder it for resources to fight his real enemies, the Russians and the Ottomans. Fifty-seven days later, he returned to Persia carrying the pick of the treasures the Mughal Empire had amassed over its 200 years of sovereignty and conquest: a caravan of riches that included Jahangir’s magnificent Peacock T

Two years later he turned his attention towards Mughal India. After conquering Kandahar in 1738, Nadir Shah swept through the Khyber Pass with his cavalry of 150,000 and easily defeated a Mughal army numbering around 1.5 million. His next move was towards Delhi, seat of the Mughal throne. He managed to capture the Mughal Emperor, Muhammad Shah, and

The Sultana, or ‘queen’, of Patani made a deep impression on Floris. ‘A comely oulde woman nowe about three score yeares…she was tall of person and full of majestie.’ She was also ‘a good sport’, thought nothing of hunting wild buffalo in the forest, and was a great patron of the arts. Her dance troupe was the best Floris had ever seen; and when by

Ala-uddin Shah was reportedly anxious to meet them and in due course sent ‘sixe greate ellifants with many trumpets, drums and streamers’ to convey the English to his court.

Victoria, empress of India, never visited the jewel of her realm—Curzon