Muhammad Khudayar Khan

Sayid Muhammad Khudayar Khan, usually abbreviated to Khudayar Khan, was an Uzbek Khan of Kokand who reigned between 1845 and 1875 with interruptions. He was the son of Shir Ali Khan. During the reign of Khudayar Khan, the Khanate was suffering from a civil war and from interventions of the Emir of Bukhara. Subsequently, the Russian invasion into Central Asia first forced the Khanate to become a vassal of the Russian Empire, and in 1876 the Khanate was abolished as a result of the suppression of an uprising. In 1875, Khudayar Khan, who took a pro-Russian position, during the uprising had to flee to Orenburg in Russia. He died in exile. The main political figure in the Khanate was Mingbashi Musulmonqul, a military commander, who declared Khudayar Khan, his son-in-law, the khan of Kokand. Khudayar was in Namangan during the uprising and thus survived. In the 1840s, Khudayar Khan was essentially locked in the palace in Kokand, whereas the Kipchak nomad elite under Musulmonqul had all the power in the Khanate. In 1853, there was an uprising against the Kipchaks, and a large number of them were killed, including Musulmonqul. Khudayar Khan continued to rule on his own and took an anti-Kipchak and pro-Uzbek position. Kokand businessmen who sympathized with him gave him money to travel to Peshawar, Bombay and from there to Mecca. He then wandered around the Arabian provinces until, in the early 1880s, he settled in the village of Karukh, east of Herat. He died in 1886 in the village of Karukh, east of Herat, in complete poverty. His grave is also located there.

Under the orders of Khudayar Khan, his military officer Niaz-Muhammad ibn Ashur-Muhammad Khoqani wrote the Tarikh-i Shahrukhi, a Persian chronicle about the Khanate of Kokand. The palace built by Khudayar Khan is one of the landmarks of Kokand.