Hotak dynasty

Hotak Empire
1709–1738
Flag
Hotak Empire at its greatest extent
Capital	Kandahar (1709-1722), (1725-1738) Isfahan (1722-1729)
Common languages	Pashto and Persian (poetry)[a][1]
Religion	Sunni Islam
Government	Absolute monarchy
Emir
• 1709–1715	Mirwais Hotak
• 1715–1717	Abdul Aziz Hotak
• 1717–1725	Mahmud Hotak
• 1725–1730	Ashraf Hotak
• 1725–1738	Hussain Hotak
Historical era	Early modern period
• Revolt by Mirwais Hotak	21 April 1709
• Siege of Kandahar	24 March 1738
Preceded by Succeeded by Safavid Iran Mughal Empire Afsharid dynasty
Today part of	Iran Afghanistan

The Hotak dynasty (Pashto: د هوتکيانو ټولواکمني‎; Persian: سلسلهٔ هوتکیان‎) was an Afghan monarchy founded by Ghilji Pashtuns that briefly ruled portions of Iran and Afghanistan during the 1720s.^[2][3] It was established in April 1709 by Mirwais Hotak, who led a successful revolution against the declining Persian Safavid empire in the region of Loy Kandahar ("Greater Kandahar") in what is now southern Afghanistan.^[2]

In 1715, Mirwais died of natural causes and his brother Abdul Aziz succeeded him. He did not reign long as he was killed by his nephew Mahmud, who deposed the Safavid shah and proclaimed his own rule over Iran. Mahmud in turn was succeeded by his cousin Ashraf following a palace coup in 1725. Ashraf, however, did not retain his throne for long, as the Iranian conqueror Nader-Qoli Beg (later Shah), leading the resurgent Safavid banner, defeated him at the Battle of Damghan of 1729 and banished Ashraf Hotak to what is now southern Afghanistan, confining Hotak rule to a small corner of their former empire. In 1738, Hotak rule ended when Nader Shah defeated Ashraf's successor Hussain Hotak after a lengthy siege of Kandahar. Subsequently, Nader Shah began reestablishing Iranian suzerainty over regions lost decades before to Iran's archrivals—the Ottoman and Russian Empires.^[4]

History of the Hotak Dynasty

Rise to power and Reign of Mirwais Hotak

Decline of the Safavids

The Shi'a Safavids ruled Loy Kandahar as their far easternmost territory from the 16th century until the early 18th century. At the same time, the native Afghan tribes living in the area were Sunni Muslims. Immediately to the east began the Sunni Mughal Empire, who occasionally fought wars with the powerful Safavids over the territory of southern Afghanistan.^[5] The Khanate of Bukhara controlled the area to the north at the same time. By the late 17th century, the Safavids started to decline. With the death of Shah Abbas in 1629, succeeding Safavid rulers weren't as effective and caused the empire to decline. On 29 July 1694 Shah Suleiman died and Sultan Husayn took the throne.^[6] Under his reign the problem got worse. Husayn barely left the palace during his reign, not an uncommon aspect of many later Safavid Shahs. Later Safavid rulers were immobile and their courts were riddled with factionalism unlike their more mobile ancestors who spent more time on campaigns and had smaller courts.^[6] The government was weak and the army was ineffective. This power vacuum allowed tribal groups like the Turkmen, Baluch, Arabs, Kurds, Lezgins, and Afghans from constantly raiding frontier provinces.^[6][7]

Governorship of Gurgin Khan

In 1704, the Safavid Shah Husayn appointed his Georgian subject and king of Kartli George XI (Gurgīn Khān), a convert to Islam, as the governor of Kandahar.^[8][7] In early May 1704 he marched from Kerman and after a seven week march, he crushed disturbances going on in the province at the time.^[9][6][7] He soon encountered Mirwais Hotak, the mayor (kalantar) of Kandahar and one of the most richest and influential people among the Ghilzais.^[9][7] At first Mirwais had good relations with the Georgians but it began to sour when Mirwais was removed from his position as mayor in 1706 and replaced by Alam Shah Afghan.^[6]

The Georgians were hated throughout the province. They ruled with brutality towards the local population.^[10] This would encourage the Ghilzais to revolt against Safavid rule, and Mirwais was involved in one of these revolts. Gurgin Khan found out and sent Mirwais to Isfahan.^[6][9][7] While there, he saw the weakness of the Safavid court and complained about the brutality of Gurgin Khan. He turned the shah and his court against Gurgin Khan, and then went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He managed to get a fatwa from the religious authorities approving Mirwais's plan to overthrow tyrranical Safavid rule. In the summer of 1708 or January 1709^[11] he returned to Kandahar and waited for the opportunity to kill Gurgin Khan.^[10][9][7]

Rebellion

That opportunity came in April 1709. The Kakar tribe refused to pay taxes and revolted, so Gurgin Khan and his men went out to campaign against them. Protected by the Ghaznavid Nasher Khans,^[12] Mirwais and his men ambushed Gurgin Khan on April 21 and killed him.^{[13][9][7][6][10]} They expelled the Georgian garrison from Kandahar and the surviving Georgians fled to Gereshk and waited.^[9] When the Safavid court heard of this, they sent Kaikhosro Khan with 12,000 men to recapture Kandahar. He left Isfahan for Qandahar in November 1709,^[9] and were aided by members of the Abdali tribe.^[7][6][11] The army progressed slowly as the court was unwilling to help much, and they arrived at Farah in April–May^[11] or November 1710.^[9] In the summer of 1711 Kaikhosro marched to Kandahar and besieged it. The Ghilzais sued for peace but Kaikhosro refused to accept it, so they kept fighting. The Baluchis frequently harassed the Georgians and forced them to retreat on October 26.^[9][7][6] The defenders of Kandahar emerged and pursued the Georgians, resulting in the death of Kaikhosro. Another Persian army was sent to Kandahar in 1712 but they never made it there as their commander died in Herat, leaving the Hotaks to their own devices. With this, Mirwais was able to extend his control over the entire province of Kandahar. After his peaceful passing in November 1715 from natural causes, his brother Abdul Aziz succeeded him; the latter was murdered later by Mirwais' son Mahmud after having only ruled for eighteen months.^[9]

Invasion of Iran

In 1720, Mahmud's Afghan forces crossed the deserts of Sistan and captured Kerman.^[14] He planned to conquer the Persian capital, Isfahan.^[15] After defeating the Persian army at the Battle of Gulnabad on March 8, 1722, he proceeded to besiege Isfahan.^[16] The siege lasted about six months and the people of Isfahan were in such a state of hunger that they were forced to eat rats and dogs.^[17] on October 23, 1722, Sultan Husayn abdicated and acknowledged Mahmud as the new Shah of Persia.^[18] For the next seven years until 1729, the Hotaks were the de facto rulers of most of Persia, and the southern areas of Afghanistan remained under their control until 1738.

The Hotak dynasty was a troubled and violent one from the very start as an internecine conflict made it difficult to establish permanent control. The majority of Persians rejected the leaders as usurpers, and the dynasty lived under great turmoil due to bloody succession feuds that made their hold on power tenuous. After the massacre of thousands of civilians in Isfahan – including more than three thousand religious scholars, nobles, and members of the Safavid family – the Hotak dynasty was eventually removed from power in Persia.^[19]

Decline

Ashraf Hotak took over the monarchy following Shah Mahmud's death in 1725. His army was defeated in the October 1729 Battle of Damghan by Nader Shah Afshar, an Iranian soldier of fortune from the Afshar tribe, and the founder of the Afsharid dynasty that replaced the Safavids in Persia. Nader Shah had driven out and banished the remaining Ghilji forces from Persia and began enlisting some of the Abdali Afghans of Farah and Kandahar in his military. Nader Shah's forces, among them Ahmad Shah Abdali and his 4,000 Abdali troops, went on to conquer Kandahar in 1738. They besieged and destroyed the last Hotak seat of power, which was held by Hussain Hotak (or Shah Hussain).^[15][20] Nader Shah then built a new town nearby, named "Naderabad" after himself. The Abdalis were then restored to the general area of Kandahar, with the Ghilji's being pushed back to their former stronghold of Kalat-i Ghilji. This arrangement lasts to the present day.

List of rulers

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v t

Name	Picture	Reign started	Reign ended
Mirwais Hotak Woles Mashar		1709	1715
Abdul Aziz Hotak Emir		1715	1717
Mahmud Hotak Shah		1717	1725
Ashraf Hotak Shah		1725	1729
Hussain Hotak Emir		1729	1738

See also

• Durrani dynasty
• Safavid dynasty
• Delhi Sultanate

Notes

References

Sources

• Bausani, Alessandro (1971). "Pashto Language and Literature". Mahfil. Asian Studies Center. 7 (1/2 (Spring - Summer)): 55–69.

External links

• Balland, D. (2011) [1987]. "AŠRAF ḠILZAY". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 8. pp. 796–797.
• Tucker, Ernest (2009). "Ashraf Ghilzay". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.

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