7 o Masjid-i-Kutb-ul-I slant. immediately pave him an office near his person and afterwards appointed him master of the horse. ' When Muhammad Ghori conquered the Hindus in a. d. 1193, Kutb-ud-din was ap- pointed commander of the army left in possession of the invaded territory. He laid siege to Delhi and captured that city after much hard fighting and bloodshed. He led the armies of Muhammad Ghori against Jai Chand, King of Benares; and in a. d. 1194 defeated Bhima Deva, of Nahrwala (the capital of Guzerat). Soon after Gola, the son of Rajah Pithora, was attacked by his brother at Ajmir, and Kutb-ud-din's advance to that place drove back the enemy. In a. d. 1202 he captured Kalinjar and plundered it of a great quantity of gold and jewels. In a.b. 1205 he was sent for by Muhammad, the nephew of Muhammad Ghori, to receive the title of King of Delhi. Kutb-ud-din married the daughter of Taj-ud- din Yilduz, and towards the end of a. d. 1205 was engaged in driving his father-in-law ' © © © away from Lahore, which the latter had captured. He pursued him as tar as Ghazni. where he was again crowned. The latter part of Kutb-ud-din's life was abandoned to pleasure and he was driven out of Ghazni by Taj-ud-din Yilduz, and was obliged to retire to Lahore. After this he reverted to temperate habits; and in a. d. 1210 was killed by a fall from his horse while playing at hockey on horseback (Chowgan). When Kutb-ud-din ascended the throne at Lahore as sultan, he was not very prosperous ; partly on account of his prodigality, which had earned him the name of " Lak Bakhsh " or " Bestower of Laks " and partly because the great wealth of India had been dissipated by frequent conquests, and all the plunder derived by them taken to Ghazni. He was succeeded by Aram his son in a. d. 1210; but after a short year's reign, the youthful king was deposed by Shams-ud-din Altamsh (then governor of Budaon), who had been the slave of the slave Kutb-ud-din. The following is the literal translation of Syud Ahmed's account of the building of the Mosque. In the year a. d. 1193, when Kutb-ud-din Aibik, the commander-in-chief of Moiz- ud-din Muhammad (son of Sam alias Sultan Shahab-ud-din Ghori) conquered Delhi, he converted the Butkhana into a masjid, and ejected the idols from it. On the doors, walls 1 Briggs'a " -Uuhammadati Power in India," vol. i. pp. 189, 1U0.
