History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c38.3

v3.c38.3

This work of conquering the other Hindu kingdoms of Northern India was carried out by the generals of Shihabuddin and chiefly by his slave Kutubuddin. It is extremely surprizing to read that in those times, among the Mahomedans, slaves especially those brought from Turkestan were treated in a manner diametrically the opposite of that in which Negro slaves were treated by Christians in America and elsewhere. The history of Kutubuddin is indeed marvellous; from an ordinary slave, he rose to be the first emperor of India. He was not even a handsome man and he was called Aibak because he had lost the little finger of his right hand. But he was powerful in body and valorous in battle. He had remarkable wisdom which enabled him to rise from place to place and his generosity was so great that Mahomedan historians delight in telling stories of his munificence, one of which is that as Emperor of India he never made gifts of less than a lakh of rupees.