KUTUB-ud-DIN AIBEK, a slave of Shahab ud-Din, who gave him the government of Heidi. In a.D.1206, on the death of his master, Muhammad Geri, Kutub-ud-Din, retained possession of Hin dustan till his death, A.D. 1210. He was the first of the Turki slaves who attained sovereignty, and furnished a succession of rulers to Hindustan. Kutub-ud-Din in 1210, after a reign of four years, was succeeded by his son Aram, who was within a year displaced, in 1211, by Altamsh, a slave and son-in-law of Kutub-ud-Din. Bakhtiar, general of Kutub-ud-Din Aibek, in A.D. 1201, had conquered Behar, and in 1203 conquered Bengal, but was defeated and driven back from Bhutan and Assam. Altamsh ruled Hindustan 25 years, and in that time subdued the fortress of Rintambore in Raj putana, captured Gwalior and Mandu, and con quered Ujjain. It was in his reign that Chengiz Khan ruled in Western Asia. Ile destroyed the temple of Mohakal, which a Vikramaditya had erected at the beginning of the Christian era. Altamsh died in 1236. His son Rukn-ud-Din reigned six months and was deposed, and then his daughter Sultana Razia, who ruled ably for three and a half years, and in 1239 was defeated and put to death. She was followed by Moiz-ud-Din
Bahram, 1239 ; Ala-ud-Din Masaud, 1241 ; Nasir ud-Din, 1246 ; Ghaias-ud-Din, 1266 ; Kai Kobad, 1286, and the slave dynasty ended with his murder, A.D. 1288.
Kutub-ud-Din's name is preserved at his capital by the Kutub mosque, with its graceful colonnade of richly - sculptured Hindu pillars, and by the Kutub Minar, which raises its tapering shaft, encrusted with chapters from the Koran, high above the ruins of old Dehli. Kutub-ud-Din had started life as a Turki slave, and several of his successors rose by valour or intrigue from the same low condition to the throne. His dynasty is accordingly known as that of the Slave Kings. Under them India became for the first time the seat of resident Muhammadan sovereigns.
The Moghuls are said to have burst through Tibet into N.E. Bengal in 1245 ; and during the next 44 years repeatedly swept down the Afghan passes into the Panjab (1244-88).—Imp. Gaz.