page_title: Qutb al-Din Aibak
section_title: Death and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Qutb al-Din Aibak / Death and legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Hutchinson's story of the nations, containing the Egyptians, the Chinese, India, the Babylonian nation, the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, the Phrygians, the Lydians, and other nations of Asia Minor.
context_page_description: Qutb al-Din Aibak was a general of the Ghurid king Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori. He was in-charge of the Ghurid territories in northern India, and after Mu'izz ad-Din's death, he became the ruler of an independent kingdom that evolved into the Delhi Sultanate ruled by the Mamluk dynasty.
  A native of Turkestan, Aibak was sold into slavery as a child. He was purchased by a Qazi at Nishapur in Persia, where he learned archery and horse-riding among other skills. He was subsequently resold to Mu'izz ad-Din in Ghazni, where he rose to the position of the officer of the royal stables. During the Khwarazmian-Ghurid wars, he was captured by the scouts of Sultan Shah; after the Ghurid victory, he was released and highly favoured by Mu'izz ad-Din.
  After the Ghurid victory in the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192, Mu'izz ad-Din made Aibak in-charge of his Indian territories. Aibak expanded the Ghurid power in northern India by conquering and raiding several places in the Chahamana, Gahadavala, Chaulukya, Chandela, and other kingdoms.
  When Mu'izz ad-Din died in 1206, Aibak fought with another former slave-general Taj al-Din Yildiz for control of Ghurid territories in north-western India.
context_section_description: After being recognized as the ruler of India, Aibak focused on consolidating his rule in the territories already under his control, rather than conquering new territories. In 1210, he fell down from a horse while playing chaugan (a form of polo), and died instantly when the pommel of the saddle pierced his ribs.
  All contemporary chroniclers praise Aibak as a loyal, generous, courageous and just man. According to Minhaj, his generosity earned him the epithet lakh-bakhs, literally "giver of lakhs [of copper coins or jitals]". Fakhr-i Mudabbir states that Aibak's soldiers - who included "Turks, Ghurids, Khurasanis, Khaljis, and Hindustanis" - did not dare to forcibly take even a blade of grass or a morsel of food from the peasants. The 16th century Mughal chronicler Abu'l-Fazl criticizes Aibak's master Mu'izz ad-Din for "shedding innocent blood", but praises Aibak stating that "he achieved things, good and great". As late as the 17th century, the term "Aibak of the time" was used to describe generous people, as attested by the chronicler Firishta.
  Aibak's conquests involved large-scale capture of people as slaves. According to Hasan Nizami, his Gujarat campaign resulted in enslavement of 20,000 people; and his Kalinjar campaign resulted in enslavement of 50,000 people. According to Irfan Habib, Nizami's work is full of rhetoric and hyperbole, so these numbers seem to be exaggerated, however the number of slaves collected must indeed have been vast and grew over time.
  Aibak, who died unexpectedly, had not appointed an heir apparent. After his death, the Turkic officers (maliks and amirs) stationed at Lahore appointed Aram Shah as his successor. No details about Aram Shah's life are available before his ascension to the throne. According to one theory, he was a son of Aibak, but this is unlikely (see #Personal life section.)
  Aram Shah ruled for no more than eight months, during which various provincial governors started asserting independence. Some Turkic officers then invited Aibak's former slave Iltutmish, a distinguished general, to take over the kingdom. Aibak had purchased Iltutmish sometime after the conquest of Anhilwara in 1197. According to Minhaj, Aibak looked upon Iltutmish as the next ruler: he used to call Iltutmish his son, and had granted him the iqta' of Badaun. Consequently, the nobles appointed Iltutmish as Aram Shah's successor, and married Aibak's daughter to him. Aram Shah challenged Iltutmish's claim to the throne, but was decisively defeated and killed after a military conflict. Iltutmish subjugated the rebel governors, and transformed the loosely-held Ghurid territories of India into the powerful Delhi Sultanate.
  Iltutmish was succeeded by his family members, and then by his slave Ghiyas ud din Balban. This line of kings is called Mamluk or Slave dynasty; however, this term is a misnomer. Only Aibak, Iltutmish, and Balban were slaves, and seem to have been manumitted before their ascension to the throne. The other rulers in this line were not slaves at any point in their life.
  Today his tomb is located in Anarkali, Lahore. The tomb was built, in its present form, during the 1970s by the Department of Archaeology and Museums (Pakistan) which tried to emulate the Sultanate-era architecture. Prior to the modern construction, the Sultan's grave existed in a simple form and was enclosed by residential houses. Historians dispute whether a proper tomb ever existed over it (some historians claim that a marble dome did stand over it but was destroyed by the Sikhs).
caption: A modern artist's impression of the accident that caused Aibak's death
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