QUTB-UD-DIN AYBAK

died 1210 a founder of Muslim rule in India and an able general of Mu'izz-ud-Din Muhammad of Ghur. In childhood Qutb was sold as a slave and raised at Nishapur. He came into the possession of Muhammad of Ghur, who put him in charge of the royal stables. Eventually he was appointed to military command, and in 1193, after conquering Delhi, Muhammad returned to Khorasan and left the consolidation of the Ghurid conquests in northwest India to Qutb. With his headquarters at Delhi, Qutb subjugated areas between the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, and he then turned his attention to the Rajputs who were still resisting Ghurid domination. In 11951203 he mounted campaigns against their strongholds, while his lieutenant Bakhtiyar Khalji conquered Bihar and Bengal. When Muhammad of Ghur was assassinated (1206), Qutb-ud-Din was his logical successor. He was still technically a slave, and he quickly obtained manumission. He married the daughter of Taj-ud-Din Yildiz of Ghazna, one of the other principal claimants to succeed Muhammad, and by other judiciously arranged marriages consolidated his rule. His son-in-law, ablest general, and successor, Iltutmish (reigned 121136), basing his power on the conquests of Qutb, was able to establish the independence of the sultanate of Delhi. Surviving inscriptions describe Qutb as malik (king), and the Qutb Minar in Delhi still stands to commemorate his victories. He died of injuries received in a polo match. See also Delhi sultanate.