The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c8.14

c8.14

Aibak's was a short reign and foreign affairs occupied most of his time. Yalduz possessed himself of Ghazni and commenced playing a diplomatic game with both Ghiyasuddin Mahmud and the Khwarizm Shah. The latter, having swallowed the whole of Iran and Central Asia, now cast covetous eyes on Ghazni. To make matters worse for Aibak, by virtue of his possessing the capital of Muizzuddin’s empire, Yalduz now laid claim to the whole of his master’s dominions including Delhi. Unless vigorously resisted, this claim would mean not only a negation of Delhi’s sovereignty but also an extension of the Khwarizm Shah’s ambitions of conquest to India. The situation in the northwest had thus to be closely watched and other affairs had to yield to the urgency of this problem. In such a context Aibak’s continued residence in Lahore from where he is reported to have never moved, becomes intelligible¹.