In the battle of Shamkor against the Eldiguzids in 1195, he captured a war banner sent by the Caliph to the Muslim army which was then donated to the revered icon of Our Lady of Khakhuli.

Local Meskhetian forces under Shalva Akhaltsikheli, Ivane Akhaltsikheli and Sargis Tmogveli had been blockading Kars intermittently for some years, and Queen Tamar decided to send a special army under David Soslan and brothers Zakare and Ivane Zakarian to assist their efforts.

After the long siege, the emir of Kars, seeing that no assistance was coming, decided to hand over his domain to Georgians in exchange for a large amount of money and a fiefdom for him.

Having spent some time in honorary captivity, Shalva was put to death for not apostatizing to Islam at Jalal al-Din's order.

[4] Shalva is traditionally believed to be praised in a patriotic Georgian folk ballad Shavlego, which was particularly popular during the national mobilization against the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.