| Timur Shah Durrani | |
|---|---|
| King of Greater Afghanistan | |
Sketch work of Timur Shah Durrani |
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| Reign | Durrani Empire: 1772 - 1793 |
| Full name | Timur Shah Durrani |
| Titles | Padshah |
| Born | 1748 |
| Died | May 18, 1793 |
| Place of death | Kabul |
| Buried | Maqbara-i-Timur Shah, Kabul |
| Predecessor | Ahmad Shah Durrani |
| Successor | Zaman Shah Durrani |
| Dynasty | Durrani dynasty |
| Father | Ahmad Shah Durrani |
Timur Shah Durrani ,(Pashto, Persian, Urdu, Arabic: تیمور شاہ درانی ; 1748 – May 18, 1793) was the second ruler of the Durrani Empire from October 16, 1772, until his death in 1793.[1] An ethnic Pashtun, he was the second and eldest son of Ahmad Shah Durrani.
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Timur Shah was born in Mashhad[2] in 1748 had a quick rise to power by marrying the daughter of Mughal Emperor Alamgir II. He received Sirhind as a wedding gift and later his father Ahmad Shah Durrani made him governor of Punjab, Kashmir and the Sirhind district, in 1757 when he was only 9 years old. He ruled from Lahore under the regency of his Wazir, general Jahan Khan, who administered these territories for approximately one year, from May 1757 until April 1758.
Adina Beg Khan, governor of the Julundur Doab, along with Raghunath Rao leading the Maratha empire, forced Timur Shah and Jahan from Punjab and put in place their own government under Adina Beg Khan.
When Timur Shah succeeded his father in 1772, the regional chieftains only reluctantly accepted him, and most of his reign was spent reasserting his rule over the Durrani Empire. He was noted for his use of the Bala Hisar Fort in Peshawar as the winter capital of his Empire.[2]
In 1776 Timur shah compelled his uncle Abdul Qadir Kahn Durrani to leave Afghanistan. Abdul Qadir Khan Durrani left Afghanistan and sent his family his wife Zarnaab Bibi, sisters Azer Khela, Unaar Khela, brother Saifullah Khan Durrani, nephews Mohammad Umer Durrani, Basheer Ahmad Khan Durrani and Shams ur Rehman Durrani and two sons, Faizullah Khan Durrani and Abdullah Khan Durrani to Akora Khattak in present day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He himself went to Damascus (Syria) where he (Abdul Qadir Khan Durrani) died in 1781.
During his reign, the Durrani Empire began to shrink, in an attempt to move away from disaffected Pashtun tribes he shifted the capital from Kandahar to Kabul in 1776. His court was heavily influenced by Persian culture and he became reliant on the Qizilbash bodyguard for his personal protection.
Timur Shah died in 1793, and was then succeeded by his fifth son Zaman Shah Durrani.
| Preceded by Ahmad Shah Durrani |
Emir of Afghanistan 1772-1793 |
Succeeded by Zaman Shah Durrani |
