Aram Shah ruled for no more than eight months, during which various provincial governors started asserting independence. Some Turkic officers then invited Aibak's former slave Iltutmish, a distinguished general, to take over the kingdom. Aibak had purchased Iltutmish sometime after the conquest of Anhilwara in 1197. According to Minhaj, Aibak looked upon Iltutmish as the next ruler: he used to call Iltutmish his son, and had granted him the iqta' of Badaun. Consequently, the nobles appointed Iltutmish as Aram Shah's successor, and married Aibak's daughter to him. Aram Shah challenged Iltutmish's claim to the throne, but was decisively defeated and killed after a military conflict. Iltutmish subjugated the rebel governors, and transformed the loosely-held Ghurid territories of India into the powerful Delhi Sultanate.