David was a son of King
Heraclius I of Kakheti and Queen Ana
Cholokashvili. He was born and raised at the
shah’s court at
Isfahan and installed as
wali (viceroy) of Kakheti upon his father's retirement to Iran in 1703. David resided at Qara Aghach or Qaraghaji in eastern Kakheti, on the borders of
Shirvan, but had to move his residence to
Telavi after he failed to recover
Balakan from the
Lesgians of Char and lost
Qakh to them in 1706. After the death of his father in 1709, David was ordered to Isfahan to receive his investiture from Shah
Husayn, leaving his younger brother
Teimuraz and mother Anna in charge of the government. The years of his obliged absence at the Shah's court (1711–15), were troubled by the Dagestan attacks and peasant revolts. Returning to Kakheti, David attempted to bring the situation under control. He made an alliance with
Jesse, ruler of the neighboring Georgian kingdom of
Kartli, and marched against
Dagestan, but he suffered a crushing defeat and failed to prevent settlements of the Lezgins in the Kakhetian borderlands. In December 1719, he met
Vakhtang VI of Kartli and negotiated a new alliance against the Dagestani clans. Early in 1720, reinforcements sent by Vakhtang under the command of Prince Erasti Kaplanishvili arrived in Kakheti, but David refrained from launching another expedition and sent the Kartlian army back home. David died at his summer residence at Magharo in 1722 and was buried at
Qum,
Iran. ==Family==