Sovereignty, Space, and Identity: The Politics of Power in Eighteenth Century Punjab

Abstract

This dissertation inquires how Iranian and Afghan attempts to gain and legitimize political power over Punjab from 1738 to 1772 led to new constructions of sovereignty, reimagined connections to land and space, and re-articulation of self and community as part of that process. Mughals, Iranians, Afghans, Sikhs, and Marathas competed, at time simultaneously, for political power over Punjab—a strategic borderland province—in the eighteenth century. To date, scholars have focused on theories of Mughal decline or decentralization, or Sikh history, religion, and culture; whereas, Iranian and Afghan intermittent power over Punjab has remained largely unexplored. This is perhaps the result of a long history of either marginalizing or writing off legitimate Afghan claims to Punjab, and other parts of Iran and Hindustan. Safavid, Mughal, and Sikh historians and chroniclers—the historiography through which British colonial scholars understood the early modern period—depict Afghans as rebels attempting to overthrow Iranian, Mughal, and emerging Sikh empires. British colonial and postcolonial scholars further described Afghans as foreign to and invaders of Hindustan. I question these associations and argue that the Afghans had a significant interest in governing Punjab; in fact, I show that Afghan interests in the region was not one of rebellion or invasion, but a strategic and inevitable economic and political move. The Afghan leader, Ahmad Shah Abdali-Durrani (d. 1772), turned emperor took advantage of power vacuums with the assassination of the Iranian warlord, Nadir Shah Afshar (d. 1747), and the unstable and inept Mughal government. Ahmad Shah was able to leverage existing economic, social, cultural, and religious networks that were available to him to extend his territories well beyond Punjab, as indicated in eighteenth century Persian, Punjabi, Urdu, Braj, French and English histories, genealogies, memoirs, poetry, and travel literature. By reading these underused or misused sources in their original languages and by seriously considering Iranians and Afghans, this dissertation further examines and interrogates how eighteenth century women, slaves, eunuchs, and especially Afghans, lurking in the shadows, have been (mis)represented in colonial and postcolonial scholarship.