The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.105

v3.c20.105

Muhammad appointed as viceroy of his new conquests Qutb-ud-dīn Aibak, the most trusty of his Turkish officers, who made Guhrām his headquarters. Qutb-ud-dīn, the real founder of Muslim dominion in India, had been carried as a slave in his youth from Turkistān to Nīshāpūr, where he was bought by the local governor and, being again sold on the death of his master, passed eventually into the hands of Muhammad. He first attracted his new master’s attention by his lavish generosity, and rose to the highest rank in his service. His name, Aibak, which has been the subject of some controversy, means either ‘Moon-lord,’ and may indicate that he was born during an eclipse, or ‘Moon-face,’ an epithet which in the East suggests beauty, though we learn that he was far from comely. He was also nicknamed *Shal* (‘defective’ or ‘paralysed’) from an injury which deprived him of the use of one little finger. He was active and energetic, an accomplished horseman and archer, and sufficiently well learned, and the lavish generosity which had distinguished his youth earned for him in later years, when wealth had augmented his opportunities, the name of *Lak-bakhsh*, or giver of tens of thousands. Muhammad trusted Aibak as he himself was trusted by his brother, and left him untrammelled, not only in his administration of the new conquests, but also in his discretion to extend them.