3/5 Muhammad Ali S. 3 years ago on Google
Tomb
of
Qutb
al-Din
Aibak is
situated
in
anarkali
Lahore,
it
is
tomb
of
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.
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 on
horseback),
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.
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.
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.
