Muizuddin Bahram, Sultan of the Mamluk Dynasty

Muiz-ud-din Bahram, Iltutmish’s third son, was raised to the throne of Delhi Sultanate in 1240 by the aristocratic Turkish nobles who put the then reigning ruler Raziya Sultana into prison in the Bhatinda fort, north-western India. Razia tried to retrieve the situation by marrying her captor Altuniya, the governor of Bhatinda. However, both were defeated by the Delhi forces.

Muizuddin Bahram was a savage and bloodthirsty ruler. He was, according to medieval historian Minhaj-us-Siraj, ‘a fearless, intrepid and sanguinary man’.

During his reign in 1241 the Mongols reached the gates of Lahore and sacked the city.

As part of the agreement under which Muizuddin Bahram was raised to the throne by the nobles, he designated Aitigin as Naib-i-Mamlikat, regent of the kingdom and assigned the highest executive power of the state to him. Naib-i-Mamlikat was intended to be the de facto ruler., the Sultan merely a figurehead.

However, if the nobles expected Muizuddin Bahram to be a puppet in their hands, they were living in fool’s paradise. He executed Aitigin who had offended him by marrying one of his sisters. The nobles became terrified and got him killed in May 1242 A.D. Ala-ud-din Masud Shah, son of Rukn ud-Din Firuz, was raised to the throne by the nobles.

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