Question

Which Sultan had been named Lakh Baksh, or the giver of lakhs, for his unbounded generosity?

Answer 1

Hint: He was a Ghurid king Muhammad Ghori's general. He was in control of the Ghurid provinces in northern India, and after Muhammad Ghori's death, he established an independent state that eventually became the Mamluk-ruled Delhi Sultanate.

Complete answer:
Qutb al-Din Aibak is praised by all contemporary chroniclers as a devoted, generous, courageous, and just man. His generosity earned him the moniker lakh-bakhsh, which means "giver of lakhs [of copper coins or jitals]," according to Minhaj.

According to Fakhr-i Mudabbir, Aibak's warriors, who included "Turks, Ghurids, Khurasan, Khaljis, and Hindustanis," did not dare to force the peasants to take even a blade of grass or a bite of bread. Abu'l-Fazl, a 16th-century Mughal writer, blames Aibak's master Muhammad Ghori ad-Din for "letting innocent blood," but praises Aibak for "achieving things, good and wonderful." According to the chronicler Firishta, the term "Aibak of the time" was used to designate charitable persons as late as the 17th century.

People were enslaved on a huge scale during Aibak's conquests. Hasan Nizami claims that his Gujarat campaign resulted in the enslavement of 20,000 people, while his Kalinjar campaign resulted in the captivity of 50,000. Nizami's work is full of rhetoric and hyperbole, according to Irfan Habib, therefore these figures appear to be overstated.

Note: Aibak was replaced by Aram Shah, and subsequently by his son-in-law Iltutmish, who established the formidable Delhi Sultanate from the weakly controlled Ghurid provinces of India. Aibak is best known for commissioning the Delhi Qutb Minar and Ajmer's Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra.