Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/119

 ARABESQUE SCROLL FROM THE MINARET OF KUTB-AD-DIN ATBEK. CHAPTER IV KUTB-AD-DIN AYBEK AND ALTAMISH TWO OF THE SLAVE KINGS 1206-1236 A.D. AT the beginning of the thirteenth century a line of slaves, born from the blood of Turks, rose to be kings of Northern India and formed a powerful dynasty that governed Hindustan for more than eighty years (1206 - 1290 A. D.). The strain of royal democracy in their veins seemed to possess the qualities that make for greatness, and three of the ten " Slave Kings " Kutb-ad-din Aybek, Altamish, and Balban were men of remarkable power, while the administrative strength of all of them was enhanced by the special advantage of not ruling India at a distance, from Ghazni and Ghor in Afghanistan, but sitting directly on the throne of Delhi itself. Kutb-ad-din Aybek, the first of these dynasts, was a slave of Mohammad of Ghor, but was raised by his imperial master to the rank of viceroy because of his merit, and became the nominal founder of the Slave 87