The game spread to South Asia where it has had a strong presence in the north western areas of present-day Pakistan (including Gilgit, Chitral, Hunza and Baltistan) since at least the 15th–16th century. The name "polo" is said to have been derived from the Balti word "pulu", meaning ball. Qutubuddin Aibak, the Turkic slave from Central Asia who later became the Sultan of Delhi in Northern India from 1206 to 1210, suffered an accidental death during a game of polo when his horse fell and he was impaled on the pommel of his saddle. Polo likely travelled via the Silk Road to China where it was popular in the Tang dynasty capital of Chang'an, and also played by women, who wore male dress to do so; many Tang dynasty tomb figures of female players survive. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, the popularity of polo in Tang China was "bolstered, no doubt, by the presence of the Sasanian court in exile".