Qutb ud-Din Aibak
Qutb ud-Din Aibak was a Turkic general of the Ghurid emperor Muhammad Ghori. He was in charge of the Ghurid territories in northern India, and after Muhammad Ghori's assassination in 1206, he established his own independent rule in Lahore, and laid the foundations for the Sultanate of Delhi.
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 Muhammad Ghori 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 Muhammad Ghori.
After the Ghurid victory in the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192, Muhammad Ghori 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.
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's 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. His name is variously transliterated as "Qutb al-Din Aybeg", "Qutbuddin Aibek", and "Kutb Al-Din Aybak". He came from Turkestan, and belonged to a Turkic tribe called Aibak. The word "Aibak", also transliterated as "Aibek" or "Aybeg", derives from the Turkic words for "moon" and "lord". As a child, he was separated from his family and taken to the slave market of Nishapur. There, Qazi Fakhruddin Abdul Aziz Kufi, a descendant of the noted Muslim theologian Abu Hanifa, purchased him. Aibak was treated affectionately in the Qazi's household and was educated with the Qazi's sons. He learned archery and horse-riding, besides Quran recital.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.
Aibak later rose to the important position of Amir-i Akhur, the officer of the royal stables. During the Ghurid conflicts with the Khwarazmian ruler Sultan Shah, Aibak was responsible for the general maintenance of the horses, as well as their fodder and equipment. One day, while foraging for horse fodder, he was captured by Sultan Shah's scouts and was detained in an iron cage. After the Ghurids defeated Sultan Shah, Muhammad Ghori ad-Din saw him in the cage and was deeply touched by his desperate condition. After he was released, the Sultan greatly favoured him. No information is available about Aibak's subsequent assignments until the First Battle of Tarain fought in India, in 1191–1192.
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 Chahamana ruler Prithviraja III at the First Battle of Tarain in India. At the Second Battle of Tarain, where the Ghurids emerged victorious, he was in charge of the general disposition of the Ghurid army and kept close to Sultan Muhammad Ghori, who had placed himself at the centre of the army.After his victory at Tarain, Muhammad Ghori assigned the former Chahamana territory to Aibak, who was placed at Kuhram. The exact nature of this assignment is not clear: Minhaj describes it as an iqta', Fakhr-i Mudabbir calls it a "command", and Hasan Nizami states that Aibak was made the governor of Kuhram and Samana.
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.
Campaign against Jatwan
In September 1192, a rebel named Jatwan besieged the Hansi Fort commanded by Nusrat-ud-din, in the former Chahamana territory. Aibak marched to Hansi, forcing Jatwan to retreat to Bagar, where the rebel was defeated and killed in a battle.The above-mentioned information about Jatwan's rebellion comes from the contemporary writer Hasan Nizami. Firishta, however, dates the rebellion to 1203, and states that Jatwan retreated to the frontiers of Gujarat after his defeat. He was later killed as a subordinate of the Chaulukya king Bhima II when Aibak invaded Gujarat. According to historian Dasharatha Sharma, Firishta may have confused the Bagar tract with another area called Bagar near the Gujarat border, around Banswara and Dungarpur. Historian A.K. Majumdar adds that Firishta may have confused the Chaulukya ruler Bhima with Bhima-simha, who - according to the Kharatara Gaccha Pattavali - was the governor of Hansi in 1171 CE. Thus, Jatwan may have been a general of Bhima-simha, and may have tried to recover the fort on behalf of his master.
Henry Miers Elliot thought Jatwan to be a leader of Jats, a claim repeated by later writers. 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. According to S.H. Hodivala, "Jatwan" is a mistranscription of the "Chahwan" in the manuscript, and the rebel was probably a Chahamana subordinate of Prithivraja. According to Rima Hooja, it is probably a corrupt form of the name "Jaitra".
Initial conquests in Doab
After defeating Jatwan, he returned to Kuhram and made preparations to invade the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. In 1192, he took control of Meerut and Baran, from where he would later launch attacks against the Gahadavala kingdom. He also took control of Delhi in 1192, where he initially retained the local Tomara ruler as a vassal. In 1193, he deposed the Tomara ruler for treason and took direct control of Delhi.Sojourn in Ghazni
In 1193, Sultan Muhammad Ghori summoned Aibak to the Ghurid capital Ghazni. The near-contemporary chronicler Minhaj does not elaborate why, but the 14th-century chronicler Isami claims that some people had aroused the Sultan's suspicion about Aibak's loyalty. Historian K. A. Nizami finds Isami's account unreliable and theorizes that the Sultan may have sought Aibak's help in planning further Ghurid expansion in India.Return to India
Aibak stayed in Ghazni for about six months. After his return to India in 1194, he crossed the Yamuna River, and captured Koil from the Dor Rajputs.Meanwhile, taking advantage of Aibak's absence in India, Hariraja had regained control of a part of the former Chahamana territory. After his return to Delhi, Aibak sent an army against Hariraja, who committed suicide when faced with certain defeat. Aibak subsequently placed Ajmer under a Muslim governor and moved Govindaraja to Ranthambore.
The war against the Gahadavalas
In 1194, Muhammad Ghori returned to India and crossed the Jamuna with an army of 50,000 horses and at the Battle of Chandawar defeated the forces of the Gahadavala king Jayachandra, who was killed in action. After the battle, Muhammad Ghori continued his advance to the east, with Aibek in the vanguard. The city of Benares was taken and razed, and "idols in a thousand temples" were destroyed. It is generally thought that the Buddhist city of Sarnath was also ravaged at that time. Although the Ghurids did not gain complete control over the Gahadavala kingdom, the victory provided an opportunity for them to establish military stations at many places in the region.Other campaigns
After the victory at Chandawar, Aibak turned his attention towards consolidating his position in Koil. 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 after a long siege.Meanwhile, the Mher tribals, who lived near Ajmer, rebelled against the Ghurid rule. Supported by the Chaulukyas, who ruled Gujarat in the south, the Mhers posed a serious threat to Aibak's control of the region. Aibak marched against them but was forced to retreat to Ajmer. The Mhers were forced to retreat after reinforcements from the Ghurid capital of Ghazni arrived in Ajmer.
In 1197, Aibak defeated the Chaulukya army at Mount Abu, thus avenging Muhammad Ghori's defeat at the Battle of Kasahrada nearly two decades earlier. Aibak's army then marched to the Chaulukya capital Anhilwara: the defending king Bhima II fled the city, which was plundered by the invaders. Minhaj characterizes Aibak's raid of Anhilwara as the "conquest of Gujarat", but it did not result in the annexation of Gujarat to the Ghurid Empire. The 16th-century historian Firishta states that Aibak appointed a Muslim officer to consolidate Ghurid power in the region, while Ibn-i Asir states that Aibak placed the newly-captured territory under Hindu vassals. Whatever the case, Ghurid control of the region did not last long, and the Chaulukyas regained control of their capital soon after.
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 and Kannauj. Later, he captured Siroh. According to the Persian chronicler Fakhr-i Mudabbir, 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.
Meanwhile, Baha' al-Din Toghril - another prominent Ghurid slave-general - besieged the Gwalior Fort. After being reduced to a dire situation, the defenders approached Aibak and surrendered the fort to Aibak.
In 1202, Aibak besieged Kalinjar, an important fort in the Chandela kingdom of central India. The Chandela ruler Paramardi initiated negotiations with Aibak but died before a treaty could be finalized. The Chandela chief minister Ajayadeva resumed hostilities but was forced to seek negotiations when the Ghurids cut off the water supply to the fort. As part of the truce, the Chandelas were forced to move to Ajaigarh. Their former strongholds of Kalinjar, Mahoba, and Khajuraho came under Ghurid control, governed by Hasan Arnal.
Meanwhile, the Ghurid commander Bakhtiyar Khalji subjugated the petty Gahadavala chiefs in eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Bihar region. After his Bihar campaign, which involved the destruction of Buddhist monasteries, Khalji arrived in Badaun to greet Aibak, who had just concluded his successful campaign at Kalinjar. On 23 March 1203, Khalji presented Aibak with war booty, including 20 captured elephants, jewels, and cash. Aibak honoured Khalji, who went on to conquer a part of the Bengal region in the east. Bakhtiyar acted independently, and at the time of his death in 1206, was not a subordinate of Aibak.
In 1204, Muhammad Ghori suffered a defeat against the Khwarazmians and their allies at the Battle of Andkhud, followed by several challenges to his authority. Aibak helped him suppress a rebellion by the Khokhar chiefs of the Lahore region, and then returned to Delhi. On 15 March 1206, Muhammad Ghori was assassinated: different sources variously attribute the act to Khokhars or Ismailis.