[4] Mahmud was the eldest son of Mirwais Hotak, the chief of the Ghilji Pashtun tribe of Afghanistan, who had made the Kandahar region independent from Safavid rule in 1709.

Abdul Aziz sided with the Persians and re-entered the suzerainty of Safavid Iran, which proved unpopular with his fellow Afghans.

[12][13] In the very early days of his rule, Mahmud displayed benevolence, treating the captured royal family well and bringing in food supplies to the starving capital.

Tahmasp escaped and the Pashtuns took the city but, shocked at the treatment they received at the hands of the conquering army, the population rose up against them in January 1723.

The revolt was a success and Mahmud was worried about the reaction when the surviving Pashtuns returned to Isfahan to bring news of the defeat.

Suffering from mental illnesses and fearing a revolt by his subjects, Mahmud invited his Persian ministers and nobles to a meeting under false pretence and had them slaughtered.

At the same time the Persian arch rivals, the Ottomans, and the Russians took advantage of the chaos in Persia to seize land for themselves, reducing the territory under Mahmud's control.

When Soltan Hoseyn tried to stop the massacre, he was wounded, but his action led to Mahmud sparing the lives of two of his young children.

Mír Maḥmúd was at the time of his death only twenty-seven years of age, and is described as "middle-sized and clumsy; his neck was so short that his head seemed to grow to his shoulders; he had a broad face and flat nose, and his beard was thin and of a red colour; his looks were wild and his countenance austere and disagreeable; his eyes, which were blue and a little squinting, were generally downcast, like a man absorbed in deep thought.

Mahmud ordered Mirza Sami'a to compose the Tazkerat al-Moluk, a manual for the government that outlined how the nation was administered, who was responsible for paying what taxes, and how much money was paid to which officials for what kinds of duties.