Kaikhosro of Kartli

Kaikhosro (also spelled Kay Khusrau, Kai Khusraw; Georgian: ქაიხოსრო) (January 1, 1674 – October 27, 1711), of the House of Bagrationi, was a king (actually a Persian-appointed wali, i.e. viceroy) of Kartli, eastern Georgia, from 1709 to 1711. However, he never ruled due to his permanent absence at the Persian military service.

He was the son of Prince Levan, and accompanied his father during the service in the Saffavid empire. Since 1703, Kaikhosro himself served on high posts in the Persian administration, including being a "darougha" (prefect) of the capital city of Isfahan and a naib (deputy) to the divanbeg (chief justice). On the death of his uncle, Gurgin Khan (George XI), in 1709, he was confirmed as a wali/king of Kartli and a "sipah-salar" (commander-in-chief) of the Persian armies in Afghanistan, and granted Tabriz and Barda in possession. He spent the whole of this period in field, and Kartli was administered by his brother Vakhtang.

In November 1709, he led a Persian-Georgian army to take revenge for the murder of Gurgin Khan by Mir Wais Hotak, a rebel chieftain of the Ghilzai Afghans. Kaikhosro's efforts to take Kandahar, however, were in vain. A fragile truce ensued, but in the summer of 1711 the hostilities were resumed. Kaikhosro forced the rebels to withdraw within the walls of Kandahar City which was placed under siege. However, the positions of the besiegers soon became precarious due to attacks by the Baloch Afghans. On October 26, 1711, Kaikhosro ordered a retreat from the city. The Afghans attacked the retreating army and won a crushing victory, killing Kaikhosro and his entire army of 30,000 soldiers (of whom only some 700 escaped). [Packard Humanities Institute - Persian Literature in Translation - Chapter IV: "An Outline Of The History Of Persia During The Last Two Centuries"... [http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=90001014&ct=29 THE AFGHÁN INVASION (A.D. 1722-1730)] ] [Maeda, Hirotake (April 7, 2008). " [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/unicode/ot_grp12/ot_kaykhosrowkhan_20080407.html Kay Kosrow Khan] ", in: "Encyclopaedia Iranica" ( [http://www.iranica.com/ Online edition] ). Retrieved on 2008-06-15.]

See also

*History of Kandahar
*Hotaki dynasty

Notes and references

*Martin Sicker, "The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire" (Hardcover) (2000), Praeger/Greenwood, ISBN 0-275-96891-X, page 44

External links

* [http://www.zharov.com/dupree/chapter03.html Nancy Hatch Dupree - Mir Wais Hotak (1709–1715)]