Central Asian Portraits; The Celebrities of the Khanates and the Neighbouring States - Tapa blanda

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1880 Excerpt: ... CENTRAL ASIAN PORTRAITS DOST MAHOMED. "when on the ruins of the conquests of Nadir Shah there arose, in the region lying between the Persian border on the one side, and the territory of Delhi on the other, an autonomous state, generally called Afghanistan, the family of the Sudosyes attained supreme power therein partly through the peculiar reputation it had acquired in the eyes of the Afghans, and partly through the pre-eminent ability of its chief Ahmed Shah. Ahmed, who, as a general, emulated Nadir Shah, and, as an administrator, probably surpassed him, was the founder of what has been termed the Durani monarchy. His power descended unimpaired to his son Timour; but in the following generation not only did the vigour of the ruler become relaxed, but the union, which had been hastily patched up in a country which it was only possible in those days for a great soldier to keep welded in one, also began to grow less firm and substantial. The civil wars between the sons of Timour were an invitation to all the ambitious and intriguing brains in the country to combine for the purpose of making the most of the prevailing confusion for the furtherance of personal designs. The invitation was generally accepted, and by one family it was turned to excellent account. It is of the greatest member of that family that it is our purpose, in this opening sketch of those individuals who have influenced the progress of events in Central Asia, to speak here in some detail. Descended from a line of ancestry which scarcely yielded in importance among the Abdali Afghans to that possessed by the Durani Shahs, of the Sudosye family, Dost Mahomed, Barucksye, son of Poyndah Khan, the leading nobleman at the Court of Timour, was one who, in any country and under almost any condition...