Pozil Otaliq
Ruler of Rishtan from the Ming tribe, eldest son of the Fergana ruler Rustam Hoji; he died in 1704 in a power struggle with his brother Ashurqul and the latter’s son Shahrukh.
- Occupation:
- Historical figure, Politician
- Died:
- 1704
- Birthplace:
- Rishton District, Fergana
- Father:
- Rustam Hoji Sulton
- Children:
- Rajab biy
Biography
Pozil Otaliq was born in the second half of the seventeenth century in Rishtan, in the Fergana Valley. The exact year is unknown: reference works place his birth in the reign of the Bukhara khan Abdulaziz (1645–1681). He belonged to the Ming tribe of the Uzbeks and is regarded as the eldest son of Rustam Hoji, ruler of Fergana, who also had a younger son, Ashurqul (Ashurbek).
According to tradition, the descendants of Tangriyor (Khudoyor) Ilik Sultan, the lord of Akhsi, had once governed the valley from Rishtan; Rustam Hoji moved the political centre back to Akhsi. Rishtan nonetheless kept its importance, and the father made his eldest son Pozil governor of the town.
After Rustam Hoji’s death the court officials proclaimed not Pozil but his younger brother Ashurqul as the heir. In the account the Russian ethnographer V. P. Nalivkin took down from Mulla Shamsi, Pozil withdrew to Rishtan and some time later rose against his brother. Reference works note that in 1701–1704 the two brothers divided Fergana between them.
In 1704 Ashurqul marched on Rishtan with his army and besieged it, but was killed in the fighting. The troops proclaimed his underage son Shahrukh as ruler and kept up the siege. Soon afterwards Pozil Otaliq died as well; Rishtan surrendered and recognised Shahrukh’s authority, and the town was almost entirely destroyed.
Pozil’s son Rajab Biy survived, and sources say that his descendants held posts as governors of towns in the Fergana Valley in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Shahrukh in 1709 united the southern and north-western parts of the valley and founded a state with its capital at Kokand; his descendants ruled the Kokand Khanate until 1876.
Life path
- between 1645 and 1681Birth
Born in Rishtan into the family of Rustam Hoji, ruler of Fergana; the exact year is unknown.
- under Rustam HojiGovernor of Rishtan
His father appointed his eldest son Pozil governor of the town.
- 1701–1704Fergana divided with his brother
According to reference works, Pozil Otaliq and Ashurqul split the valley between them.
- after Rustam Hoji’s deathDispute over the succession
Court officials proclaimed Ashurqul ruler; Pozil withdrew to Rishtan and rose in revolt.
- 1704Siege of Rishtan and death
Ashurqul besieged Rishtan and was killed; the siege went on under Shahrukh, and soon afterwards Pozil Otaliq died.
- 1709Shahrukh’s state
Ashurqul’s son Shahrukh united the districts of the valley and made Kokand his capital.
Legacy
With Pozil Otaliq’s death Rishtan ceased to be a political centre of the Fergana Valley and power passed to Shahrukh’s dynasty. His son Rajab Biy survived, however, and over the next two centuries his descendants are recorded among the governors of Andijan, Margilan, Namangan and Khujand.
Era: Turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: the weakening of the Bukhara Khanate and the rise of the Kokand Khanate- Pozil Otaliq and Ashurqul divide the government of Fergana (1701)
- Siege of Rishtan; Ashurqul and Pozil Otaliq die (1704)
- Shahrukh’s state is founded and Kokand becomes the capital (1709)