Hurra-yi Khuttali

Hurra-yi Khuttali (; ) was a princess from the Ghaznavid dynasty and the daughter of Sabuktigin, ruler of Ghazna (now in Afghanistan). She was married to two Mamunid rulers of the Khwarazm region, Abu al-Hasan Ali and, after his death, his brother Mamun II. It is not known if she had any children with either of her husbands. Her marriages were a direct cause of the annexation of Khwarazm by her brother, Mahmud of Ghazni. In 1030, upon Mahmud's death, she wrote a letter to her favourite nephew, Masʽud, urging him to claim the throne from his brother, Muhammad. After receiving her missive, Masud quickly marched to Ghazna and usurped the throne. Hurra's letter is considered the most prominent political act of a woman during the Ghaznavid era. She is last mentioned in 1040, leaving Ghazna for India; her ultimate fate is unknown.

Name and sources

is an Arabic word meaning 'free woman'. It was most likely a (honorific) conferred on Ghaznavid princesses. She used two (a part of an Arabic name that acts as an adjective, often referring to the individual's place of origin), ''Khuttali'' and ''Kaliji''. According to the British orientalist Clifford Edmund Bosworth, ''Khuttali'' may have referred to an earlier Ghaznavid marital alliance with the Principality of Khuttal, located in central Asia. Another variation of her name is Khuttali Khatun, recorded by Persian historian Shabankara'i ().

The only primary source that sparsely records Hurra's life is by Abul-Fadhl Bayhaqi ( 1077), a secretary in the court of Amir Masud of Ghazna (), Hurra's nephew. Khwarazmian polymath al-Biruni (973 – ) wrote a first-hand account on the history of Khwarazm, which has a few brief mentions of Hurra; only parts of the account have survived in the form of quotations in Bayhaqi's work.

Biography

Early life and marriages

Hurra-yi Khuttali was a daughter of Sabuktigin, Amir of Ghazna () and the progenitor of the Ghaznavids, a dynasty of Turkic origin whose realm included modern day Afghanistan, eastern Iran, Pakistan and northwestern India. Hurra's date and place of birth are unknown; Bosworth believes she may have been born in the region of Khuttalan (now in Tajikistan). According to Bosworth, she was distinguished from her sisters because of her intelligence and tactfulness, which gave her an influential role in governmental matters. In an era when education for women was restricted to only theology, she sought to learn other subjects. She had a good relationship with her brother, Mahmud (), and repeatedly sent him luxurious gifts. In 1008, Hurra married Abu al-Hasan Ali, ruler of Khwarazm (today in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) from the Mamunid dynasty. This marriage secured an alliance between the two realms, since the Mamunids feared that Mahmud might intend to annex Khwarazm.

Abu al-Hasan probably died in 1008/9 and was succeeded by his brother, Mamun II. He, with the same intent as his brother of securing an alliance, married Hurra in 1015/16. Mahmud demanded his new brother-in-law recognize him as his sovereign, which Mamun conceded. Mamun was killed during a rebellion in 1017, which arose in opposition to his submission. Mahmud sought retribution for the killing of his brother-in-law and part of his plan was to ostensibly employ his sister as a mediator. According to al-Biruni, Mahmud demanded the safe return of his sister, so that she could intercede between the two realms, while he prepared his army. His invasion was paused until Hurra was in Ghaznavid territory. When she was safely returned, he invaded Khwarazm in revenge and sacked its capital, Gurganj. It is not known if Hurra had any children with her two husbands.

Masud's ascension and later life

After her return to Ghazna, Hurra took on a more active role in the court. She acted as a spy for her favourite nephew, Masud, Mahmud's son, who was the governor of Herat. In 1030, after Mahmud's death, she was entrusted with the care of his widows and concubines from his harem. In his will, Mahmud named Masud's twin brother Muhammad as his successor. Hurra, her younger brother Yusuf ibn Sabuktigin, and the military commanders of the army considered Muhammad inept and unable to rule the Ghaznavid empire, which was dependent on the powerful leadership of the sultan. Therefore, Hurra wrote a letter to Masud, who was preoccupied with his military campaign in Isfahan, informing him of his father's death and encouraging him to take the throne. Masud marched east and continued to receive letters from Hurra and his mother regarding the situation in Ghazna. In 1030, he arrived in the city and took the throne from his brother. He put Muhammad in prison and may have had him blinded.

Masud lacked political shrewdness; Hurra is suspected to have influenced most of his decisions. She constantly warned him of the importance of Ghazna as the principal territory of the empire, the region of Khorasan being secondary. The region of Khorasan housed rich oases and neglected Khorasan. Meanwhile, Turkoman tribes under the leadership of the Seljuk dynasty began raiding the towns and the caravans of the region from the northern borders. Masud failed to provide protection in the region and eventually, the unsatisfied landowners of Khorasan surrendered themselves to the Turkomans. Masud attempted to suppress the raiders but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Dandanaqan (1040) and Khorasan was fully conquered by the Seljuks. According to Bayhaqi, when Masud and his army were retreating towards Ghazna, Hurra sent them clothes to cover themselves before entering the city. Fearful of an imminent invasion, Masud urged Hurra, his other aunts, and his mother to leave Ghazna with him for India. Bayhaqi's last mention of Hurra is her attempt at dissuading Masud from his plan. It is certain that she was with Masud's entourage when they were raided en route to India by rebels. Masud was killed and his throne was usurped by Muhammad, whose second sultanate ended in 1041 after he was dethroned by Masud's son, Mawdud. Hurra's ultimate fate is unknown.

Assessments and historiography

Hurra's interference in Mahmud's succession was the most prominent instance of a woman openly partaking in the politics during the Ghaznavid period. Without the zeal of Hurra and the royal Ghaznavid women in recalling Masud he possibly would not have returned to claim the throne from his brother. Her letter, preserved in Bayhaqi's book, is the only surviving text from the Ghaznavid era written by a woman, and also one of the oldest surviving prose works of the Early New Persian language. Hurra displays her authority in her letter, her writing style is decisive and frequently uses the imperative mood, provoking her nephew's emotions and urging him to return with speed. Modern historian Soheila Amirsoleimani interprets her act of offering clothes to Masud's dilapidated army as metaphorically covering their shame. Both of these episodes present her as more powerful than Masud, since in Bayhaqi's work, advisors are always displayed as symbolically higher-ranking. Her warnings to Masud are likened to prophetic foretellings of destruction and ruin, a common trope in Bayhaqi's writing.

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Notes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurra-yi Khuttali
Iranian princesses
10th-century Iranian people
Year of birth unknown
People from the Ghaznavid Empire
10th-century women writers
10th-century Persian-language writers