| Ashraf Khan Hotaki | |
|---|---|
| Emir of Afghanistan / Shah of Persia | |
Shah Ashraf Hotaki |
|
| Reign | Hotaki Empire: 1725 - 1729 |
| Coronation | 1715 and 1725 |
| Full name | Ashraf Khan Hotaki[1] |
| Titles | Khan, Shah, Mir |
| Birthplace | Kandahar Province |
| Died | 1730 |
| Place of death | Balochistan |
| Predecessor | Mahmud Hotaki |
| Successor | Hussain Hotaki |
| Dynasty | Hotaki dynasty |
| Father | Abdul Aziz Hotak[2] |
| Religious beliefs | Sunni Islam |
Shah Ashraf Hotaki, (Pashto, Persian, Urdu, Arabic: شاہ أشرف ہوتکی), also known as Ashraf Ghilzai (died 1730), son of Abdul Aziz Hotak, was the fourth ruler of the Hotaki dynasty. An Afghan from the Ghilzai Pashtuns, he served as a commander in the army of Shah Mahmud during their conquest of the Persia Empire. Ashraf participated in the Battle of Gulnabad against the Persians and became victorious. In 1725, he succeeded to the throne (Shah of Persia) after the death of his cousin Mahmud.
The nephew of Mirwais Hotak, his reign was noted for the sudden decline in the Hotaki Afghan Empire under increasing pressure from Turkish, Russian, and Persian forces.[3]
Ashraf Khan halted both the Russian and Turkish onslaughts. He defeated the Ottoman Empire in a battle near Kermanshah, after the enemy had come close to Isfahan. This led to peace negotiations with the Sublime Porte, which were briefly disrupted after Ashraf's ambassador insisted his master should be Caliph of the East and the Ottoman Sultan Caliph of the West. This caused great umbrage to the Ottomans, but a peace agreement was finally signed at Hamadan in the autum of 1727.[4]
Ultimately, though it was a little-known Afsharid Turkmen rebel, Nader Shah, who defeated Ashraf's Ghilzai forces at the Battle of Damghan in October 1729, driving them back to what is now Afghanistan.[3]
Contents |
During the retreat, Ashraf is believed to have been captured and murdered by Baloch bandits in 1730.[5] This was probably a retaliation for killing Mahmud, and was ordered by Hussain Hotaki who was ruling from Kandahar at the time.
Ashraf, having taken Yazd and Kirmán, marched into Khurásán with an army of thirty thousand men to give battle to Ṭahmásp, but he was completely defeated by Nádir on October 2 at Dámghán. Another decisive battle was fought in the following year at Múrchakhúr near Iṣfahán. The Afgháns were again defeated and evacuated Iṣfahán to the number of twelve thousand men, but, before quitting the city he had ruined, Ashraf murdered the unfortunate ex-Shah Husayn, and carried off most of the ladies of the royal family and the King's treasure. When Ṭahmásp II entered Iṣfahán on December 9 he found only his old mother, who had escaped deportation by disguising herself as a servant, and was moved to tears at the desolation and desecration which met his eyes at every turn. Nádir, having finally induced Ṭahmásp to empower him to levy taxes on his own authority, marched southwards in pursuit of the retiring Afgháns, whom he overtook and again defeated near Persepolis. Ashraf fled from Shíráz towards his own country, but cold, hunger and the unrelenting hostility of the inhabitants of the regions which he had to traverse dissipated his forces and compelled him to abandon his captives and his treasure, and he was finally killed by a party of Balúch tribesmen.[3]—Edward G. Browne, 1924
Ashraf Khan's death marked the end of Hotaki rule in Persia, but the country of Afghanistan was still under Shah Hussain Hotaki's control until Nader Shah's 1738 conquest of Kandahar where the young Ahmad Shah Durrani was held prisoner. It was only a short pause before the establishment of the last Afghan Empire[6] (modern state of Afghanistan) by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747.[7][8]
|
Ashraf Hotaki
Born: ~ Died: 1730 |
||
| Preceded by Mahmud Hotaki |
Shah of Iran 1725–1729 |
Succeeded by Tahmasp II |
| Preceded by Mahmud Hotaki |
Emir of Afghanistan 1715–1725 |
Succeeded by Hussain Hotaki |