Book Description
Shams ud-Din Iltutmish was the third of the Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sovereign to rule from Delhi, and is thus considered the effective founder of the Delhi Sultanate.
After Mu'izz ad-Din's death in 1206, Aibak became a practically independent ruler of the Ghurid territories in India, with his headquarters at Lahore. After Aibak's death, Iltutmish dethroned his unpopular successor Aram Shah in 1211, and set up his capital at Delhi.
He married a daughter of Aibak, subjugated several dissidents, and gained control over much of the territory that had been lost after Aibak's death. He did not immediately claim a sovereign status, acknowledging the nominal authority of Taj al-Din Yildiz, another former slave who had gained control of the Ghurid capital Ghazni. Subsequently, a Khwarazmian invasion prompted Yildiz to move from Ghazni to India, and to demand control of the former Ghurid territories in India. Iltutmish refused to oblige, defeating and killing Yildiz at the Battle of Tarain in 1216.
After the departure of Jalal ad-Din from India in 1224, Iltutmish turned his focus towards eastern India, where Aibak's former subordinates had carved out an independent kingdom headquartered at Lakhnauti. Iltutmish extracted tribute from the local ruler Ghiyasuddin Iwaj Shah in 1225, and annexed the region in 1227 after an unsuccessful rebellion by Ghiyasuddin.
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