Balban

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Balban
Zil-i-Ilahi (Shadow of God) Niyabat-i-Khudai (Vice-regency of God) Khuda-i-Vandgar (Devotee of God)
Miniature portrait of Balban, c. 1900, British Library
Sultan of Delhi Sultan of Hindustan
Reign	18 February 1266 – 13 January 1287
Coronation	18 February 1266 at Qutb Minar complex
Predecessor	Nasir ud din Mahmud I
Successor	Muiz ud din Qaiqabad
Heir-apparent	Muhammad Khan (1266–1285) Kaikhasrau (1285–1287)
Born	Baha-ud-Din 1216 Turkestan, Central Asia
Died	13 January 1287[1] (aged 71–72) Delhi, Delhi Sultanate (modern-day Delhi, India)
Burial	Tomb of Balban, Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Delhi
Issue	Muhammad Khan Nasiruddin Bughra Khan
House	House of Balban
Dynasty	Ilbari dynasty
Religion	Sunni Islam

Al-Sultan al-Azam Ghiyath al-Dunya Wal Din Abu'l Muzaffar Balban al-Sultan (Persian: السلطان الاعظم غیاث الدنیا والدین ابوالمظفر بلبن السلطان;^[a] 1216 – 13 January 1287), more famously known as Ghiyath al-Din Balban or simply Balban, was the ninth Mamluk sultan of Delhi. He had been the regent of the last Shamsi sultan, Mahmud until the latter's death in 1266,^[2] following which, he declared himself sultan of Delhi.

His original name was Baha-ud-Din. He was an Ilbari Turk. When he was young he was captured by the Mongols, taken to Ghazni and sold to Khawaja Jamal-ud-din of Basra, a Sufi. The latter then brought him to Delhi in 1232 along with other slaves, and all of them were purchased by Iltumish.^{[citation needed]} Balban belonged to the famous group of 40 Turkic slaves of Iltumish.^[3]

Ghayas made several conquests, some of them as wazir. He routed the people of Mewat that harassed Delhi and reconquered Bengal, all while successfully facing the Mongol threat, during which his son died. After his death in 1287, his grandson Qaiqabad was nominated sultan, though his rule undermined the success made under his grandfather's reign.

In spite of having only a few military achievements, Balban reformed civil and military lines that earned him a stable and prosperous government granting him the position, along with Shams ud-din Iltumish and the later Alauddin Khalji, one of the most powerful rulers of Delhi Sultanate.^{[citation needed]}

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