Daniyal Sultan or Daniyal Bek (1809, İlisu — 1871, Istanbul) was an ethnic Tsakhur nobleman, general-major of the Imperial Russian Army and in Ottoman Army and the last ruler of Elisu Sultanate. He is best known to be one of the naibs (viceroy), relatives, as well as a member of the close circle of Imam Shamil.
Early life
He was born to Sultan Ahmad Khan of Elisu and his second wife Tuti Bike, daughter of Surkhay II of Gazikumukh . He had 4 elder brothers - Imran beg, Muhammad beg, Khalil beg and Musa beg. He also had younger half-brother called Amir Hamza. His father was serving as a commander of local regiment under Paskevich, but soon fell ill in Tbilisi and returned to Elisu where he died on .
Succession crisis ensued afterwards, with Russian authorities not preferring the eldest son Imran bek, whose mother Shamay was his father's third cousin as well. According to Russian intelligence reports, Imran beg was deemed as weak-willed would be prone to be under influence of his younger brother Muhammad beg. Moreover, his wife was a daughter of Khalid beg, a son of Surkhay II, sworn enemy of Russian Empire.
Second and third sons of deceased sultan were born from Pari Jahan Khanum, a daughter of Bala Agha beg, a close associate of Abbas Mirza who was arrested by Yermolov as a rebel and kept in Metekhi prison. Thus, they were dismissed from succession too.
Musa was more favourable, since his mother was a sister of Aslan Khan of Kura Khanate, a major Russian ally. In addition to that, Musa was also married to a daughter of Murtuzali (d. 1815), another son of Surkhay II, as well as half-brother of Aslan, who was killed by his father. As a compensation, Imran bey was granted the village of Meshebashi and Muhammad bey received Aghatai.
Reign
His full-brother Musa's reign lasted only 8 months and was succeeded by Daniyal. Paskevich approved Daniyal with the rank of sultan on February 14, 1831 with the rank of captain in Russian Imperial Army. Daniyal soon managed to stabilize the situation both inside and outside the sultanate in a short time. Gradually, he gained significant prestige and influence in northwestern Azerbaijan and neighboring Dagestan.
However, his succession wasn't as smooth as he expected. His elder half-brother Muhammad beg assaulted Daniyal with a dagger in December 1832 in the village of Baylar, but was stopped by the blow of the latter's nuker. Another half-brother, Khalil, was robbed and killed by unknown assailants at the entrance to village of Tangyt together with his own nukers. While their mother accused Daniyal of murder, official investigator general-major found no evidence of Daniyal's guilt.
Same year Daniyal was granted the rank of major by Russian authorities for resisting Hamzat bek's invasion of Jar. He was awarded Order of Saint Stanislaus of 3rd degree for his accomplishments against Caucasian Imamate. He rose to be lieutenant-colonel in 1838. He was escorting Jamaluddin, son of Shamil who was given as hostage to Russians in 1839 after Siege of Akhoulgo. According to Lesley Blanch, he advised Jamaluddin to be brave, strong and courageous and to trust his new friends in Avar language. Same year, he annexed Rutul Federation to his lands.
He received the right to wear the uniform of the Life Guards of the Grodno Hussars and was promoted to colonel in 1840. However as the sultan, he was subordinate to the administrator of the Djaro-Belokan region, which in 1840 was included in the Georgia-Imeretia Governorate as the Belokan district. The district was subdivided into three sections: Belokansky, Yeniselsky and Elisuysky, the last of which consisted of all the lands of the sultanate under the direct control of the sultan. Two years later, the sultan was subordinate to the military district chief of the newly formed Djaro-Belokansky district, General Schwarz, who began to restrict the rights of the sultan. For his part, Daniyal did not want to go into direct relations with Schwarz, instead directly appealed to Nicholas I in 1842 to be accepted as vassal ruler of his domains, rather than a subordinate to a Russian governor with the same dignity as Principality of Mingrelia.
Still hopeful of to be granted princely dignity, he fought on the Russian side with his militia in the war between the followers of Shamil and Russian troops in Gazikumukh from March 1842 to May. He was granted general-major rank on and few days later awarded Order of Saint Vladimir and Saint Anna.