Qutbuddin Aibak

Also called: Lakh Bakhsh, Qutb-ud-din Aibak · Topic: Turkic Invasions and the Delhi Sultanate · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"; Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map"

Meaning

Qutb-ud-din Aibak (also written Qutbuddin Aibak) was a Turkic slave-general of Muhammad Ghuri. Ghuri left him in India to hold and expand the lands he had conquered. After Ghuri was killed in 1206, Aibak became the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate and founded what is called the Mamluk or "Slave" dynasty. He died in 1210. He matters because he turned Ghuri's battle victories into a lasting state in north India. The Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque and the Qutb Minar, both started by him, show that the Turks had come to stay.

Explanation

Background: from Ghuri's general to sultan

• Ghuri wanted land, not just loot.
• Mahmud of Ghazni raided India, took its wealth and went home.

• Muhammad Ghuri fought to keep the territory he took.

• The road to Delhi:

• First Battle of Tarain, 1191: Prithviraja III (Prithviraj Chauhan) defeated Ghuri [2].

• Second Battle of Tarain, 1192: Ghuri won, executed Prithviraja and captured Delhi [2].

• Ghuri went back to Ghazni. He left his generals to hold and extend the new lands. The most important of them was Aibak.

• Aibak was a slave by origin. Turkic rulers bought boys as slaves and trained them as soldiers. The best of them became trusted generals and governors. Such a slave-soldier is called a mamluk (Arabic for "owned").

How Aibak held and widened the conquest

• His commanders pushed east. Bakhtiyar Khilji was Aibak's army commander [4].
• From the end of the 12th century, Bakhtiyar conquered Bihar and Bengal.
• He destroyed the monastic universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila.

• Around c. 1203–04 he made a surprise attack on Nadiya and drove out the Sena king Lakshmanasena (Britannica dates this to 1202) [4].

• 1206 was a double-death year.

• Muhammad Ghuri was killed.

• Bakhtiyar Khilji was murdered, apparently by his own men.

• The conquest still held. North India stayed with Ghuri's generals. Aibak became its independent ruler. This is how the Delhi Sultanate began.

Building as a sign of permanent rule

• Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, AD 1198:
• The earliest surviving mosque built by the Delhi Sultans [3].

• It was built from material reused from about 20 Brahmanical temples [3].

• Qutb Minar, AD 1199:

• Aibak laid its foundation and built only the first storey [3].
• It was meant for the mu'azzin (the man who calls Muslims to prayer) [3].
• His successor and son-in-law Iltutmish (AD 1211–36) added three more storeys [3].

• It is made of red sandstone and is 72.5 m high. It is 14.32 m wide at the base and narrows to 2.75 m at the top [3].

• Simple point for an answer: raiders who only want loot do not build mosques and towers. These buildings show that Aibak planned to rule.

His title and short reign

• He was called Lakh Bakhsh, which means "giver of lakhs". The name comes from his generous gifts.
• He ruled for only about four years, 1206–1210, and died in 1210.
• His son-in-law Iltutmish later made the new Sultanate strong and finished the Minar [3].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: late 12th century to 1210. Aibak was Ghuri's general from 1192 and sultan from 1206 to 1210.
• Dynasty: first ruler of the Mamluk (Slave) dynasty, the first dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
• Region: north India, with Delhi at its centre. His commanders took Bihar and Bengal in the east.
• Key people: Muhammad Ghuri (his master), Prithviraja III (defeated in 1192) [2], Bakhtiyar Khilji (his army commander) [4], Iltutmish (his son-in-law and successor) [3].
• How we know:
• Buildings: Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi, which include the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque. They are protected by the ASI and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 [3].
• Chronicle: Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani's Tabakat-i-Nasiri records the campaigns of Aibak's commander Bakhtiyar, including the destruction of Nalanda.
• Coins: Ghuri's coins show the regime he and Aibak served. One shows a mounted conqueror named "Muhammad ibn Sam". Another shows the Goddess Lakshmi.

Don't confuse with

• Iltutmish: Aibak only began the Qutb Minar (first storey, 1199). Iltutmish, his son-in-law, added three storeys [3].
• Muhammad Ghuri: Ghuri won Tarain (1192) and went back to Ghazni. Aibak stayed in India and founded the Sultanate in 1206.
• Bakhtiyar Khilji: he was Aibak's army commander who conquered Bihar and Bengal [4]. He is not a sultan, and he did not belong to the later Khalji dynasty.
• Mahmud of Ghazni: Mahmud raided and went home. Aibak ruled and built. This is the difference between plunder and permanent rule.

Prelims Hooks

• Qutb-ud-din Aibak: founder of the Mamluk (Slave) dynasty and first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1210). Title: Lakh Bakhsh.
• Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, AD 1198: built by Aibak. It is the earliest surviving mosque of the Delhi Sultans and used material from about 20 temples [3].
• Qutb Minar: foundation laid in AD 1199 by Aibak (first storey only). Iltutmish added three storeys. It is 72.5 m high and became a UNESCO site in 1993 [3].
• Bakhtiyar Khilji was Aibak's army commander. He conquered Bihar and Bengal and expelled Lakshmanasena from Nadiya [4].
• Order of events: First Tarain (1191) → Second Tarain (1192) → Quwwat-ul-Islam (1198) → Qutb Minar foundation (1199) → Ghuri killed and Aibak becomes sultan (1206) → Aibak dies (1210).
• Trap: "Aibak completed the Qutb Minar." Wrong. He built only the first storey [3].

Mains Points

• From raid to rule. Second Tarain (1192) became a turning point only because of what followed. Aibak stayed in India, built (the mosque in 1198 and the Minar in 1199) and founded a sultanate [3]. He kept the conquest together even after Ghuri and Bakhtiyar both died in 1206. Raids change a treasury; Aibak's rule changed the state.
• Slaves as rulers. The Ghurids trusted slave-soldiers (mamluks) more than their own kin. Such a man owed loyalty only to his master. Aibak's rise shows how this system produced the first rulers of the Delhi Sultanate.

• Debate: historians say "Slave dynasty" is a loose label. Its main rulers came from different families, and they were not all slaves when they ruled. "Mamluk" or "early Turkish sultans" is more exact.

• Conquest and culture. The Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque reused stone from temples [3]. Yet the same regime struck coins showing Lakshmi, so local people would accept its money. Destruction and continuity ran side by side. A balanced answer avoids a one-line verdict either way.

Related concepts

• Ghurids
• Muhammad Ghori
• First Battle of Tarain
• Prithviraj Chauhan
• Second Battle of Tarain
• Bakhtiyar Khilji
• Tabaqat-i-Nasiri

Read more

• The Ghurid turning point: Tarain and the conquest of the north