443 



KHOKAK 



from 1843 to 1849, in which latter year the 

 Sartes obtained control of the government. 

 They had, in 1857, again to give way to the 

 Turks, who, amid many vicissitudes, main- 

 tained their power for about eight years until 

 the death of their leader, Alim lul, and the vic- 

 tory of the Russians. From this time the Sartes 

 and Khudayar Khan, who fully sympathized 

 with them, had once more absolute control of 

 the government. 



Khudayar Khan is the son of Shere Ali, who 

 in 1841 was appointed Khan by the Kiptchaks 

 during the conflicts with Khan Nasr Ullah of 

 Bokhara, the father of the present Khan. In 

 the conflict between the Turks and the Sartes, 

 the former of whom were headed by Yussuf 

 Ming Bashi, or rather the shrewd and ener- 

 getic Musulman Kul, while the Sardes had as 

 their leader Thade Ming Bashi, the former re- 

 mained victors, and for eight years Musulman 

 Kul, partly as prime-minister, partly as re- 

 gent and sovereign, was the ruler of Khokan. 

 During the progress of the conflict, Shere Ali 

 sided with the Sartes ; but, when the latter were 

 totally defeated, Musulman Kul reinstated Shero 

 Ali as ruler. Soon after the Sartes again rose 

 in rebellion, and, during the absence of Musul- 

 man Kul, defeated Shere Ali ; but their power 

 was of short duration, as Musulman Kul sud- 

 denly appeared and fully subdued them. In- 

 stead of reinstating Shere Ali, Musulman Kul 

 appointed the son of Shere Ali, Khudayar, at 

 that time sixteen years old, as Khan, and re- 

 mained the guardian of the young prince and 

 the regent of the country. When the Sartes 

 attempted another revolution, and were even 

 favored by the ungrateful Khudayar, they were 

 again totally defeated. Mohammed Kul was, 

 however, unwise enough to reappoint Khu- 

 dayar as Khan. The latter, to get rid of his 

 guardian, instigated a plot for the assassina- 

 tion of Mohammed Kul, and, when the latter 

 escaped and collected a small army, Khudayar 

 totally defeated him near Ikus, at the con- 

 fluence of the Marius with the Jaxartes, took 

 him prisoner and had him put to death con- 

 jointly with 10,000 Kiptchaks. The undisputed 

 rule of Khudayar and the Sartes lasted until 

 1857, when the Khan's brother, Mollah Khan, 

 rose in rebellion at the head of the dissatisfied 

 Turks. Khudayar soon saw himself aban- 

 doned by most of his adherents, and even his 

 own relatives, and had to flee to the Khan of 

 Bokhara, Nasr Ullah, who made several at- 

 tempts to restore Khudayar to power, but was 

 every time defeated. After that, Mollah Khan 

 remained for two years in the undisturbed pos- 

 session of his power ; and, when he was assas- 

 sinated by malcontents of his own party, his 

 prime-minister, Alim Kul, remained at the 

 head of the government until 1864. The at- 

 tempts of Khudayar, who in the mean while 

 had been elected ruler of Tashkend, to dislodge 

 him from power, were fruitless ; but he finally, 

 in 1864, succumbed to the Russians, who 

 marched an army into Bokhara arid annexed 



three-fourths of the khanate. Alim Kul him- 

 self lost his life under the walls of Tashkend. 

 Khudayar Khan now succeeded in seizing 

 again the reins of government. Following the 

 advice of Mirza Hakim Bey, the richest mer- 

 chant of Khokan, who had several times visited 

 the fairs of Nyni-lSTovgorod and Poltava, he 

 concluded to enter into negotiations with the 

 Russians for the establishment of friendly re- 

 lations. Mirza Hakim Bey was appointed 

 plenipotentiary of Khokan, and as such took up 

 his residence at Tashkend. He prevailed upon 

 the Russians to conclude, on February 13, 

 1868, a treaty of commerce and friendship 

 with Khokan. Khudayar appointed his broth- 

 er, Sultan Marud, governor of the province of 

 Mergulan, and his eldest son, Nassyr Eddyn 

 Bey, also called Khan Sade, governor of the 

 eastern provinces, with his residence at An- 

 didjan, the centre of the Kiptchak and Kara- 

 kirghiz. The son of Musulman Kul, Abu 

 Rakhim, also called Abelurrhaman, who seemed 

 to have forgotten the assassination of his fa- 

 ther, lived at the court of Khudayar. The trade 

 with Russia considerably increased, and during 

 the winter of 1871 Khan Sade paid a visit to 

 the Russian authorities in Tashkend, where 

 Mirza Hakim gave in his honor a splendid 

 banquet, at which a Russian enthusiast com- 

 pared the young prince with Peter the Great. 

 In 1873 the dissatisfaction of the Kiptchaks 

 with the rule of Khudayar, which had never 

 ceased, led to a conspiracy, when the Khan 

 imposed a tax upon the wild fruit-trees of the 

 mountains, which constitute an important arti- 

 cle of trade for the merchants of Khokan. In 

 consequence of the severe measures adopted 

 by Khan Sade, and the perfidy of Khudayar, 

 who enticed forty government Kiptchaks to 

 his court and then had them assassinated, the 

 Kiptchaks of the northwestern districts rose 

 in open rebellion, and they were soon joined 

 by the Karakirghiz in the south and the south- 

 west. The chief of the latter, Batyr-Khan, a 

 brother-in-law of Khudayar, was likewise as- 

 sassinated in the palace of the latter. The 

 rebellious Kiptchaks, who had established their 

 headquarters in the town of Kara-Guldja, ap- 

 plied to the Russians for aid, but met with a 

 decided refusal. During the winter of 1873-'74, 

 the leader of the -Kiptchaks, Mehemed-Emir, 

 in the popular jargon called Mamir, shut him- 

 self up in the almost inaccessible stronghold 

 Kara-Guldja. In 1874, according to the Rus- 

 sian press, this Khan had shown hostile senti- 

 ments toward Russia. Mirza Hakim, the pleni- 

 potentiary of Khokan at Tashkend, and a 

 decided advocate of maintaining friendly rela- 

 tions with Russia, was deposed, and another 

 merchant, Mir Alim Bei, became the confiden- 

 tial adviser of the Khan. The rebels, in the 

 .mean while, began to make considerable prog- 

 ress, and took the towns of Namangan and 

 Korsan. When they, however, encroached 

 upon territory claimed by the Russians, plun- 

 dering the Jomuels, who are under Russian 



