Qutb ud-Din Aibak
Quṭb ud-Dīn Aibak | |||||
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1st Sultan of Delhi | |||||
Reign | 25 June 1206 – 14 November 1210 | ||||
Coronation | 25 June 1206, Qasr-e-Humayun, Lahore | ||||
Predecessor | Muhammad of Ghor | ||||
Successor | Aram Shah | ||||
Born | 1150 Turkestan | ||||
Died | 14 November 1210 (aged 60) Lahore, Delhi Sultanate (present-day Lahore, Pakistan) | ||||
Burial | |||||
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Qutb ud-Din Aibak (
A native of
After the Ghurid victory in the
After the assassination of Muhammad Ghori in March 1206, Aibak fought with another former slave-general Taj al-Din Yildiz for control of Ghurid territories in north-western India. During this campaign, he advanced as far as Ghazni, although he later retreated and set up his capital at Lahore. He nominally acknowledged the suzerainty of Muhammad Ghori successor Ghiyasuddin Mahmud, who officially recognized him as the ruler of India.
Aibak was succeeded by Aram Shah, and then by his former slave and son-in-law Iltutmish, who transformed the loosely-held Ghurid territories of India into the powerful Delhi Sultanate. Aibak is known for having commissioned the Qutb Minar in Delhi, and the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra in Ajmer.
Early life
Aibak was born in c. 1150.
The Qazi or one of his sons sold Aibak to a merchant, who in turn, sold the boy to the Ghurid Sultan Muhammad Ghori in Ghazni. After being admitted to the Sultan's slave-household, Aibak's intelligence and kind nature attracted the Sultan's attention. Once, when the Sultan bestowed gifts upon his slaves, Aibak distributed his share among the servants. Impressed by this act, the Sultan promoted him to a higher rank.[5]
Aibak later rose to the important position of Amir-i Akhur, the officer of the royal stables.
As the Ghurid Sultan's subordinate
Campaign against the Chahamanas
Aibak was one of the generals of the Ghurid army that were defeated by the forces of the
After his victory at Tarain, Muhammad Ghori assigned the former Chahamana territory to Aibak, who was placed at
After the death of Prithviraja, Aibak appointed his son Govindaraja IV as a Ghurid vassal. Sometime later, Prithviraja's brother Hariraja invaded the Ranthambore Fort, which Aibak had placed under his subordinate Qawamul Mulk. Aibak marched to Ranthambore, forcing Hariraja to retreat from Ranthambore as well as the former Chahamana capital Ajmer.[11]
Campaign against Jatwan
In September 1192, a rebel named
The above-mentioned information about Jatwan's rebellion comes from the contemporary writer
Henry Miers Elliot thought Jatwan to be a leader of Jats, a claim repeated by later writers.[16] Nizami does not state this, and Elliot's guess appears to be based on the similarity of the words "Jatwan" and "Jat", and the rebellion's locality, where Jats can be found.[17] According to S.H. Hodivala, "Jatwan" is a mistranscription of the "Chahwan" in the manuscript, and the rebel was probably a Chahamana (Chawhan or Chauhan) subordinate of Prithivraja.[18][15] According to Rima Hooja, it is probably a corrupt form of the name "Jaitra".[19]
Initial conquests in Doab
After defeating Jatwan, he returned to Kuhram and made preparations to invade the
Sojourn in Ghazni
In 1193, Sultan Muhammad Ghori summoned Aibak to the Ghurid capital Ghazni.
Return to India
Aibak stayed in Ghazni for about six months. After his return to India in 1194, he crossed the
Meanwhile, taking advantage of Aibak's absence in India, Hariraja had regained control of a part of the former Chahamana territory.[11] After his return to Delhi, Aibak sent an army against Hariraja, who committed suicide when faced with certain defeat.[23] Aibak subsequently placed Ajmer under a Muslim governor and moved Govindaraja to Ranthambore.[12]
War against the Gahadavalas
In 1194, Muhammad Ghori returned to India and crossed the
Other campaigns
After the victory at Chandawar, Aibak turned his attention towards consolidating his position in Koil.[21] Muhammad Ghori returned to Ghazni but came back to India in 1195-96 when he defeated Kumarapala, the Bhati ruler of Bayana. He then marched towards Gwalior, where the local Parihara ruler Sallakhanapala acknowledged his suzerainty.[28]
Meanwhile, the Mher tribals, who lived near Ajmer, rebelled against the Ghurid rule. Supported by the
In 1197,
In 1197–98, Aibak conquered Budaun in present-day Uttar Pradesh, and also re-took control of the former Gahadavala capital Varanasi, which had slipped out of Ghurid control. In 1198–99, he captured Chantarwal (unidentified, possibly the same as Chandawar) and Kannauj. Later, he captured Siroh (possibly modern Sirohi in Rajasthan). According to the Persian chronicler Fakhr-i Mudabbir (c. 1157–1236), Aibak also conquered Malwa in present-day Madhya Pradesh, in 1199–1200. However, no other historian refers to such a conquest; therefore, it is likely that Aibak merely raided Malwa.[28]
Meanwhile, Baha' al-Din Toghril [30] (also transliterated as Bahauddin Tughril) - another prominent Ghurid slave-general - besieged the Gwalior Fort.[31] After being reduced to a dire situation, the defenders approached Aibak and surrendered the fort to Aibak.[32]
In 1202, Aibak
Meanwhile, the Ghurid commander
In 1204, Muhammad Ghori suffered a defeat against the
After Muhammad Ghori's death
According to
However, Ghurid control was not equally effective in all these areas. In some of these places, such as Gwalior and Kalinjar, Ghurid control had weakened or even ceased to exist.[42]
Eastern India
During Sultan Muhammad Ghori's reign, parts of the Bihar and Bengal area in eastern India had been conquered by the Khalji clan, led by the Ghurid general
Qaimaz Rumi assigned the iqta' of Devkot to
Recognition as the ruler of northern India
Delhi Sultanate | |
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Ruling dynasties | |
1246–1266 | |
Ghiyas ud din Balban | 1266–1287 |
Muiz ud din Qaiqabad | 1287–1290 |
Shamsuddin Kayumars | 1290 |