The Melikdom of Varanda was one of the five
Armenianmelikdoms of the
Karabakh region. It encompassed Varanda, a district located in the southeastern part of Karabakh.[1][2]
The ruling meliks (princes) of the principality belonged to the Shahnazarian family, who not long before their rise to power lived in an area around
Lake Sevan, from which they eventually fled.[3] The melikdom was established in 1606, when Melik Shahnazar of Gegham installed his brother at Varanda, which he himself had received as a reward by
Shah Abbas I (
r. 1588–1629), the
Safavidshah (king) of
Iran.[4] Prior to the takeover of the Shahnazarians, Varanda was ruled by another line of meliks, the last ruler of which was Melik Muzaffar.[5] Varanda and the other melikdoms upheld the notion of Armenian statehood, which was used by the Safavids to fight the
Ottoman Empire.[6] The Shahnazarian family was one of the last families to lose their melikdom, which occurred in 1813, when the
Russian Empireconquered it.[7]
The seat of the meliks of Varanda was at
Avetaranots (Chanakhchi).[8] The fortress of
Askeran protected the eastern frontier of the melikdom.[8] In 1719–1724, the Karabakh Armenian military commander
Avan Yuzbashi built the sghnakh (military camp) of Shushi or Shusha in Varanda.[9] Later,
Melik Shahnazar II of Varanda showed the site of Shusha to his ally
Panah Ali Khan, who expanded it into a proper fortress and capital for the
Karabakh Khanate.[9][10]
List of meliks
This list is taken from Artak Maghalyan's The Melikdoms and Melik Houses of Artsakh in the 17th-19th Centuries.[11]
Pre-Shahnazarian (until c. 1606)
Papi, son of Hakhijan
Avan, son of Papi
Agham, brother of Avan
Pasha/Pashik, son of Avan
Daniel
Muzaffar
Shahnazarian
Mirzabek I (mentioned 1606)
Baghi I, son of Mirzabek (mentioned 1633)
Shahnazar I, son of Baghi I (mentioned 1646, 1673)
Bournoutian, George (1994). A History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's Tarikh-e Qarabagh. Mazda Publishers.
ISBN978-1568590110.
Bournoutian, George (2021). From the Kur to the Aras: A Military History of Russia's Move into the South Caucasus and the First Russo-Iranian War, 1801–1813.
Brill.
ISBN978-9004445154.
Hewsen, Robert (2001). Armenia: A Historical Atlas. University of Chicago Press.
ISBN978-0226332284.
Hewsen, Robert H. (2013). "Historical Introduction". A History of the Land of Artsakh [Karabagh and Ganje, 1722-1827]. S. Hasan-Jalaliants. Translated by Ka'ren V. Ketendjian. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers. pp. 1–61.
ISBN978-1-56859-174-2.
Małalyan, Artak (2007). Arc῾axi melik῾ut῾yunnerə ew melik῾akan tnerə XVII-XIX dd․ [The melikdoms and melik houses of Artsakh in the 17th-19th centuries] (in Armenian). Erewan: HH GAA "Gitut῾yun" hratarakč῾ut῾yun.
ISBN978-5-8080-0714-7.