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Ghiyās al-Dīn was a vizier and later ruler of the Delhi Sultanate (r. 1266–1287).
Rise of Balban
The origins and early career of this prominent Delhi Sultanate ruler are relatively well known thanks to Jūzjānī’s chronicle, the Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī, and, to a lesser extent, Ziā al-Dīn Baranī’s Tārīkh-i Fīr̲ūz Shāhī [5, 12]. Allegedly part of the Ilbārī tribe from the Qipchaq Steppe, Balban and his siblings rose to prominence as slaves and court attendants during the later period of rule by Sultan Shams al-Dīn Iltutmish (r. 1210–36) [6]. The first mention of Balban is in 1232 when he was purchased by Iltutmish, but his first formal appointment came in 1236 when the sultan’s daughter and successor, Rażiyya, named Balban as amīr-shikār (master of the hunt) [7, 9]. The period following Iltutmish’s death in 1236 was a chaotic one, and Rażiyya was deposed quickly and replaced by her brother, Bahrām Shāh [4]; Balban appears to have been particularly adept at navigating...
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Mitchell, C.P. (2018). Balban, Ghiyās al-Dīn. In: Kassam, Z.R., Greenberg, Y.K., Bagli, J. (eds) Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism. Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1267-3_1958
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