Narrative Contestation in the History Writing of Eighteenth Century Indo-Khurāsān

This paper will offer a comparative analysis of two eighteenth century histories composed by Iranian émigrés - one by Muhammad Khalīl Mar‘ashī at Bengal and another by Mahmūd al-Husaynī at Qandahar - as a way to understand the complex political history of what may be referred to as Indo-Khurāsān following the collapse of Safavid and Mughal power in the region. Particular emphasis will be placed on the divergent accounts in these texts of the brief and tumultuous reign of the Safavid pretender Shāh Sulaymān II in Mashhad in 1750 - a noteworthy event that deepened instability in the region and had a direct bearing on the emigration of both authors from Iran. This paper will also consider how these two competing narratives of this event were shaped by the underlying ideological positions of each author. Specifically, it will assess the extent to which the status of Muhammad Khalīl, on the one hand, who was a descendent of Shāh Sulaymān II, and that of Mahmūd al-Husaynī, on the other, who was a courtier of Shāh Sulaymān II's political rival Shāhrukh Shāh Afshār, influenced their respective narratives of the event. This paper will conclude by examining the broader implications of this event, including the way in which it facilitated the rise of the Durrānī-Afghan dynasty in early-modern Indo-Khurāsān.