The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.152

v3.c20.152

Iltutmish was the greatest of all the Slave Kings. His achievements were hardly equal to those of his master, but he never had, as Aibak had, the moral and material support of a great empire. What he accomplished he accomplished by himself, often in the face of great difficulties, and he added to the dominions of Aibak, which he found dismembered and disorganised, the provinces of Sind and Mālwa. That he was even more profuse than his master is little to his credit, for the useless and mischievous prodigality of eastern rulers is more often the fruit of vanity than of any finer feeling, and at a court at which a neat epigram or a smart repartee is almost as profitable as a successful campaign the resources of a country are wasted on worthless objects.