22 The tughlaq dynasty (1320 – 1414)

P. Bhaskar Reddy

1. Introduction

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq was the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty in 1320. The Tughlaqs belonged to the Qurauna Turk tribe. The Tughlaqs provided three competent rulers: Ghiyasuddin, his son Muhammad Bin Tughlaq and his nephew Firoz Shah Tuglaq. The first two sultans ruled over an empire which comprised almost the entire country. The empire of Firoz was smaller but even then it was as large as that ruled over by Alauddin Khilji. After the death of Firoz, the Delhi Sultanate disintegrated and north India was divided into a series of small states.

2.Ghiyasuddin (1320 – 1325)

Ghiyasuddin was also known as ‘Ghazi Malik’ and simply ‘Tughlaq Shah’. He played an important role during the time of Alauddin Khilji in driving out Mongols. Later he served as the governor of Dipalpur (Punjab). Finally, he overthrew Khusrau Khan, the last king of Khilji dynasty and occupied the throne of Delhi Sultanate. The service rendered by Ghiyasuddin can be divided into three categories-viz; i) Administrative reforms ii) Conquests iii) Patron of arts and letters.

2.1. Administrative reforms

Ghiyasuddin was an experienced warrior-statesman and an able administrator. The administration of Ghiyasuddin was based on principles of justice, benevolence and public welfare. He liberalized administration in certain respects. He restored the lands of those who had been deprived of them by Alauddin Khilji. He suppressed the followers of Khusrau by confiscating their lands. The practice of physical torture in case of economic offence and recovery of debts was given up. He also discarded Alauddin’s system of measurement of land for the assessment of land revenue. The rate of land revenue was also reduced to one-third of the produce.

2.2 Conquests

The most important event during his reign was the conquest of Warangal. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq sent his son Juna Khan alias Ulugh Khan in 1321 to subdue Prataparudra II of Warangal and to reassert Delhi’s authority. But the campaign failed in its mission and the heir apparent returned to Devagiri. Once again Juna Khan had another expedition against Warangal in 1323. He successfully captured Warangal and took Prataparudra as prisoner. Prataparudra committed suicide on the way to Delhi and the Kakatiya territories annexed to the Thuglaq empire. The city of Warangal named as Sultanpur.

Bengal, which was torn by civil war between the various contenders for the throne, attracted the attention of the Sultan, who marched against it and brought it under Delhi’s control. Nasiruddin was put on the throne of west Bengal as a vassal of Delhi and east Bengal was annexed to Delhi.

In 1324 the Mongols invaded northern India but they were defeated, their leaders were captured and brought to Delhi.

Juna Khan also led an expedition on Jajnagar and acquired a vast beauty. When the Sultan returned to Delhi, his son Ulugh Khan hastily built a temporary wooden pavilion, however, was not strong enough and collapsed. Both the Sultan and his younger son were crushed to death. The story is described in detail by Ismail and Ibn Battuta. Both accuse Ulugh Khan of parricide but some later writers consider Ulugh Khan to have been innocent.

2.3 Patron of arts and letters

• He was patron of learning and there were many scholars and poets in his court. He patronized Amir Khusrau. He was fond of buildings and constructed a new city Tughlakabad, near Delhi with fort to protect Delhi Sultanate from Mongol attacks.
• It was a new touch to the architecture of the Sultanate period.

3.  Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq (1325 – 1351)

Ulugh Khan succeeded his father under the title of Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq. He ruled for twenty six years. During this period he introduced several new and novel experiments and also experienced the impact of the same. It may be stated here that no ruler in medieval India has evoked so much criticism and discussion concerning his polices and character as Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq.

Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq was one of the most remarkable rulers of the age. A careful study of his character will enable us to state that he was an admixture of opposites. In other words he was a combination of kindness and cruelty. So for as personal life is concerned, he was simple and free from all the vices of the age viz drinking, debauchery etc. The Muslim historians inform us that he was highly generous even to his enemies.

He was a great scholar of Persian and Arabic and was well versed in various branches of learning, such as astronomy, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, logic etc. In religious and philosophical matters he was a rationalist. He anticipated Akbar in holding religious discussions with Hindu Yogis and Jaina Saints such as Rajasekhar and Jinaprabhasuri. He offended the orthodox Muslim Ulema by curbing their political influence and tried to resolve secular problems through secular methods. He believed in the principle that all offices are open to talented person. He had been described by his contemporaries, as ‘one of the wonders of the age in which he lived’. But all these great qualities were over shadowed by his cruelty and obstinacy.

Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq, in spite of all these rare qualities and scholarship, was a failure as a ruler. Normally, his plans were endowed with remarkable political foresight but in practice they let loose hell. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq was hot-headed, proud to the very core, poor judge of human nature and above all never bothered to give weight and value to the suggestions given by his ministers.

The contradictory qualities of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq were obvious in all the ‘five ambitious projects’ that he had undertaken in his twenty-six years of reign period.

3.1 Transfer of the Capital (1327)

The most controversial step which Muhmmad Bin Tuglaq under took soon after his accession was the transfer of the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (Devagiri). The main motive for the transfer of capital to Daulatabad was its central location and close proximity to the south, which was a newly conquered region and required regular and close supervision. The scheme of the transfer of the capital was properly executed. The Sultan ordered many officers and leading men, including many Sufi saints, to shift to Daulatabad. No attempt was made to shift the rest of the population. Delhi remained a large and populous city in the absence of the Sultan. It is wrong to assume that the transfer of capital was a mass exodus and the city of Delhi was completely deserted. Though Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq had built a road from Delhi to Daulatabad and set up rest houses on the way to help the travelers, Daulatabad was more than 1500 kms away. Many people died during rigorous journey and the heat, since this movement took place during the summer season. The people who were brought to Daulatabad did not like the new environs and there was widespread resentment against the Sultan. After two years, the Sultan abandoned Daulatabad and decided to retransfer the capital to Delhi.

The immediate impact of the experiment was that it reduced the prestige and prosperity of Delhi. But it was for a short period. Ibn Battuta who came to Delhi in 1334 found it in a fairly flourishing condition. The Sultan lost his prestige in the estimation of the people and could never win back their confidence all his life- the bad execution of the project. Therefore, it resulted in the personal loss to the Sultan. But, this resulted in a number of long range benefits. It helped in bringing north and south India closer together by improving communications. Many people, including religious divines who had gone to Daulatabad settled down there. They became the means of spreading in the Deccan the cultural, religious and social ideas which the Turks had brought with them to north India.

3.2 Introduction of token currency

The introduction of token currency was the second controversial project of the Sultan. The token currency meant the introduction of Copper tankas in place of Silver tankas. The value of the token coin was deemed to be equal to a silver coin. There was a shortage of silver in the world in the fourteenth century. Moreover, Qublai Khan of China had already successfully experimented with a token currency. The idea of a token coin was a new one in India, and it was difficult to induce the traders as well as the common man to accept it. Finally, Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq introduced this in 1329-1330, which remained in circulation for two years. But in executing, the plan failed miserably.

The Sultan did not make the issue of token copper coins as the monopoly of the state. Hence, every house of a copper-smith and gold-smith became a mint. The goldsmiths began to forge the token coins on a large scale. But he could not able to prevent forging the new coins. Soon the new coins were not accepted in the markets. The Khuts and Muqaddams paid all the land revenue in token currency. Consequently the Sultan was compelled to withdraw the token currency. He offered to exchange all the token coins for silver coins. Many people exchanged the new coins but the treasury became empty. According to Ziauddin Barani the heap of copper coins remained lying on roadside in Thuglakabad. Though this experiment failed, Edward Thomas described the Sultan as “the Prince of Moneyers” for this innovative idea.

The failure of these two experiments affected the prestige of the sovereign, and also meant wastage of money. However the government quickly recovered.

3.3 Khurasan expedition (1332 – 1333)

The Khorasanian region was a part of the Persian empire. Abu said was the Mongol emperor of Persia. He was a minor. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq along with Tarmasharin the ruler of Transoxiana and also the ruler of Egypt entered into a “Triple alliance” to dismantle the Persian empire. Muhammad Bin-Tughlaq created a large army, known as ‘Khurasan army’. Ziauddin Barani says that 3,70,000 men were enrolled and paid for one whole year. But the army never passed into the action. The scheme was abandoned, due to lack of adequate finances, the difficulties in crossing the Snow Mountains and when the Sultan learnt that the conditions in Khurasan had improved. It should be noted here that the position of the Sultan was not very stable in India itself and hence it was foolish on his part even to think of conquering foreign lands. The soldiers, who were suddenly thrown out of employment, took to plunder and robbery and proved a nuisance to the Sultan as well as to the public.

3.4 Qarachil expedition-(1333)

The next scheme of the Sultan was the conquest of Qarachil. It is known through the account left by Ziauddin Barani that the Qarachil expedition was a part of the project of the Khurasan expedition. The Qarachil region is located between India and china and this in all probably Kumaon-Garhwal region. This was inhabited mostly by the Rajputs and by some Himalayan turbulent tribes. However, it never aimed at the conquest of China, as some later historians have suggested. These hilly tracts usually served as the place of refuge for rebels and therefore the Sultan wanted to bring them under his control. The Sultan’s nephew Khusrau Malik was the commander in-chief of this expedition. After some initial victories, the imperial army marched into Tibet, where the entire army was annihilated in winter, followed by an outbreak of plague.

According to Ziauddin Barani, from an army of 10, 000 only 10 horsemen came back to Delhi to tell the story of the disaster. However, it seems that the hill Rajas accepted the over lordship of Delhi. Here the main aim of Sultan was sound and grand but the selection of the season shows lack of proper judgement.

3.5 Enhancement of land revenue in the Doab

The failure of earlier four projects had catastrophe effect on the economy of the state. In 1328 – 1329, in order to overcome financial difficulties, Muhammad increased the land revenue in the Doab. Here the main motive of the Sultan was to increase the revenues of the state to build a strong army and to introduce sound administration. The actual rate of increase of revenue is not definitely known, but it proved to be ill-timed, because the Doab was then passing through total famine, which was followed by plague. It had resulted in a series of peasant revolts. According to Ziauddin Barani, the farmers set fire to their grain barns and abandoned their fields. Bulandshahir and other towns witnessed open revolt. They fled from the villages. But Muhammad Bin-Tughlaq took harsh measures to capture and punish them. The revolts were crushed.

However, the Sultan realized the gravity of situation undertook a number of relief measures to improve agriculture. He launched a scheme to extend and improve cultivation in the Doab. Consequently, huge sums were advanced as takkavi loans to enable the cultivators to buy seed and cattle, to sink wells and to extend cultivation. During his stay in Delhi the Sultan introduced new regulations to improve farming. He created a department of agriculture called the Diwan-i-Kohi. The main object of this Dept. was to bring more land under cultivation by giving direct help to the peasants. A large tract of land, 60 square miles, was chosen for land reclamation. Land was to be cultivated and different types of crops were expected to be cultivated in rotation. Superior crops were given preference. In two years the government spent 70 lakhs of tankas. Land was given to those who were in need of it.

The measures he advocated had a long term impact, but they failed disastrously during his reign. Thus the Doab experiment departed the glory of Sultan Muhammads empire and his administration lost its very vitality. It also marked the beginning of country wide disorders and popular upsurge against the un popular rule of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq.

3.6 Rebellions

The visionary schemes of Muhammad created a wide spread discontent and misery among the peoples. Another problem which sultan had to face was the problem of nobility. The rebellions took place one after another in different parts of the empire.

During the last decade of his region (1340 – 1351), the Sultan’s time and energy were spent in dealing with rebellions. He faced as many as thirty four rebellions during his reign, twenty seven of them in the south alone. The rebellions of south India were the most serious. The whole of south India became independent during his lifetime.

• The rebellion of Hasan Shah resulted in the establishment of the Madurai Sultanate.
• In 1336 the Vijayanagara kingdom was founded by Harihara and Bukka at Hampi. The Vijayanagara principality which gradually expanded and soon embraced the entire south.
• In 1347 Bahamani dynasty was established by Alauddin Bahamani Shah near the principality of Daulatabad with capital at Gulbarga.
• The governors of Oudh, Multan and Sindh revolted against Muhammad Bin-Tughlaq.
• In Gujarat Taghi rose in revolt against the sultan who spent nearly three years in chasing him.

He restored law and order in Gujarat, but while moving towards Thatta, in Sindh, his health became verse and died in March 1351.

3.7 Estimate

Muhammad Bin-Tughlaq had best intentions, excellent ideas, and exemplary qualities but he failed as ruler. His intention in the above policies and experiments were sound and grand. Abolition of Sati, constructing hospitals, organization of poor relief, and establishment of the Department of Agriculture were the other grand projects of the sultan. But in implementation of these projects he lacked the balance and sense of proportion. Thus, the reign of Muhammad Bin-Tughlaq, while making the zenith of Delhi Sultanate also saw the beginning of the process of its disintegration.

According to Badauni, – “The king was freed from his people and they (people) from their king”

4. Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351 – 1388)

Muhammad Bin Tughlaq was succeeded by his cousin Firoz Tughlaq, since he had no heirs. He was considered to be the last great ruler of the Tuglaq dynasty. At his young age, Firoz was appointed deputy to the lord Chamberlain with the title of Naib Barbak. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq treated him with affection and usually kept him in his royal company.

The death of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq at Thatta threw his leaderless army into great confusion and disorder. For two days it was harassed and plundered by rebels of Sindh and the Mongol mercenaries. During this critical period, the nobles urged Firoz to ascend the throne and save the dispirited army from destruction. Firoz was not usurper, nor was his accession irregular he was duly elected by Nobles and Ulemas and declared competent to rule the realm.

He appointed Malik-i-Maqbul his prime minister and gave him the title of Khan-i-Jahan. Malik Maqbul was a Brahmin of Warangal, who had been a convert to Islam. He was an able administrator and his appointment as prime minister proved to be a great asset to the administration.

Firoz had excellent record of benevolent measures to his credit. The long reign of 37 years was a period of comparative prosperity and happiness of the people. Till then no muslim ruler was so much loved and venerated by the people has Firoz. His reign can be studied under to heads; i) Conquests, ii) Administration.

4.1 Conquests

After his accession Firoz had to face the problem of preventing the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate. He adopted a policy of trying to appease the nobles, the army and the theologians and of asserting his authority over only such areas which could be easily administrated from the centre. He, therefore, made no attempt to re-assert his authority over south India and the Deccan.

He led two expeditions into Bengal in 1353-1354 and 1359-1360, but was unsuccessful in both.

However he won victories in the campaign against the ruler of Jajnagar (Orissa) on his return from Bengal. Firoz desecrated the famous Jagannadha temple and gathered a rich plunder, but no attempt to annex Orissa.

Firoz Shah Tughlaq led an expedition against Nagarkot in 1360. After a prolonged siege of six months the fort surrendered and the Raja submitted to the Sultan. He was received honorably by the Sultan. The Sultan acquired a great booty which included 1,300 Sanskrit manuscripts, some of which were got translated by the Sultan into Persian.

His longest campaigns were to deal with rebellions in Gujarat and Sindh (1362-1363).

Although the rebellions were crushed, the army suffered great hardship.

Thus the military campaigns of Firoz were to a large extent a failure and his costly wars did not benefit the empire in any way.

4.2 Administration

Firoz Tughlaq adopted a populist policy of reconciliation in administration. In spite of his military failures, the reign of Firoz was notable and remembered in the history as benevolent administrator. He did his best and lot to restore the prosperity of the country and to promote to the welfare of the people. He revert the policies of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq, which were the reason for peaceful reign of 20 years. He chose to abide by the Shariat and thus pacified the Ulema. He pleased the nobles and assured hereditary succession to their properties.

4.2.1 Financial reforms:

He restored the rent free lands to the theologians, the learned and the weaker sections. He waived off all the loans granted during the reign of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq. He abolished as many as twenty three taxes, including the unpopular grazing and the house taxes. According to the sanction of the Islamic law, only four taxes were retained. These were Kharaj, Zakat, Jizya and Khums.

Firoz introduced an irrigation tax at ten percent of the produce on the lands which were irrigated by the state constructed canals. The revenue officials were strictly warned against demanding anything more than the prescribed dues and were punished for unjust exactions.

Firoz not only protected the interests of the peasants, but also tried his best to improve agriculture. He excavated a large network of canals and tanks and encouraged to establish new agricultural settlements along the banks of the canals. He got two canals dug to bring water from Ganga and Yamuna to Hissar. The longest cannel was 200 kilometers which took off from the river Sutlej to Hansi. He also built a number of dams for irrigation. He introduced superior crops and laid more than 1200 state managed fruit gardens.

Firoz took sufficient interest in promoting internal trade. In this connection the merchants were relieved from the payment of irregular and oppressive duties, which obstructed the free transportation of goods from one part of the country to another. Another important feature of his reign was that the prices of the articles of common consumption also became low. Firoz Shah established state owned factories for the manufacture of various necessities of life and luxury goods for the use by the nobility, royalty and the common people.

4.2.2 Judicial and welfare measures

Firoz Shah tried to make judicial administration more humane than before. He made criminal law very light. He abolished death sentence. He banned in human punishment such as cutting of hands, feet, nose, etc. for theft and other offences. To provide free treatment to all, he set up a hospital (dar-ul-shafa) in Delhi. He provided dowries for the daughters of poor. A new department called Diwan-i-Kairat was created to take care of orphans and widows.

4.3 Contribution to Learning

Firoz Shah took very keen interest in the promotion of learning and education. He extended patronage to scholars, poets, historians and learned men. He patronized scholars like Barani and Afif. He established many schools and colleges in important cities and towns. Elementary schools were attached to the mosques throughout his empire. They were provided with adequate financial assistance. The Madrasas at Firozabad rose to be a magnificent university which surpassed all other Madrasas of the time in academic attainments. It is said that Firoz Shah got some Sanskrit books translated into Persian.

4.4 Founder of Cities and Towns

Firoz Shah had great passion for building new cities and renaming the old ones with new names. He himself says

“Among the many gifts which god had bestowed on me, his humble servant was a desire to erect public buildings. So I built mosques, colleges and monasteries”.

He founded a number of new cities and towns. Hissar, Jaunpur and Firozabad in Delhi were the famous among such cities. To beautify his new capital Firozabad, two Asokan Pillars were brought, one from Topara in Ambala and the other from Meerut. He got Qutb Minar repaired.

4.5 The Slave system

Another step which Firoz took was both economic and political in nature. He increased the number of slaves by capturing the defeated soldiers and young persons. It is said that there was 1,80,000 slaves in his empire and 40, 000 slaves were employed in his palace alone.

4.6 Estimate:

Firoz Tughlaq was essentially a man of peace. He was a poor military general who had neither the courage nor the skill to undertake extensive military campaigns. He inherited a fast disintegrating empire but did not show eagerness to bring back all the lost territories into the fold of the Sultanate. Most of the military campaigns undertaken by him proved unsuccessful and exposed the poor organizational skill, lack of direction and incompetence of the Sultan as a general. Firoz thoroughly revised the fiscal policy of his predecessors with the twin objectives of ensuring adequate state revenues and reducing the burden on the tax payers. Firoz, on account of his unscientific fiscal measures, extravagant expenditure on the civil works, maintenance of a large number of Slaves etc., rendered the treasury bankrupt. The cumulative effect of these measures reduced the Delhi sultanate into a weak state.

His last years were “full of tragedies, troubles and turmoils” made worse by the Sultan’s physical and mental infirmity. Towards his end he reclined more towards Islam. During these years the royal powers remained concentrated in the hands of the ambitious and arrogant hereditary prime minister Khan-i-Jahan. The process of decay and disintegration of the Sultanate, which had begun during the reign of Muhammad–bin-Tughlaq gained momentum under Firoz and within two decades of his death the Sultanate of Delhi was reduced to a local principality.

When Firoz died in 1388 the struggle for power between the Sultan and nobles started once again. His successors had to face the rebellion of the slaves created by Firoz.

5. Decline of Tughlaq dynasty

Firoz Tughlaq was succeeded by his grandson Tughlaq Shah, who assumed the title of Ghiasuddin Tughlaq II. Within a year of accession the ruler fell a victim to the intrigues and was beheaded on February 19, 1389. During the next five years – three Sultans – Abu Bakr, Muhammad Shah and Alauddin Sikander Shah ascended the throne. The last Sultan was Nasiruddin Muhammad. During his reign northern India fell a victim to the fury to Amir timur and his marauding hordes in 1398-1399, Nic named Timur-i-lang.

5.1 Timur invasion

Timur, who was a Turk, had started his career of conquests in 1370 and gradually brought under his rule the entire track from Syria to Trans-Oxiana and from southern Russia to Indus. He was the second most barbaric, blood thirsty and awe inspiring warrior after Chengiz Khan, who sat on the throne of Samarkhand. The weakness of the Delhi Sultanate was made even worse by Timur invasion. Amir Timur thought of invading India in 1397 with the two fold object of waging a holy war against the ‘in fidels’ and laying his hands upon the fabulous wealth of the country. The political anarchy that prevailed in India facilitated his task. Timur reached Delhi in December 1398 and ordered general massacre. When Timur entered Delhi there was no opposition and he sacked the city for 3days, killing thousands of people and looting enormous wealth. It resulted in the drain of large amount of wealth, gold, silver, jewellery etc. from India. Timur inflicted more misery in India than any other conqueror, in single invasion. Timur left India in early 1399. The invasion of Timur may however, be regarded as marking the end of the face strong rule by the Delhi Sultans, although the Tughlaq dynasty itself lingered on till 1414.

Thus in the midst of centrifugal forces the Tughlaq dynasty disappeared unceremoniously in the history of the Delhi Sultanate. On its ruins Khizr Khan Sayyid, the viceroy of Punjab, founded the Sayyid dynasty in 1414.

Web links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tughlaq_dynasty
• http://www.indianmirror.com/dynasty/tughlaqdynasty.html
• http://www.muslimtents.com/shaufi/b16/b16_13.htm#3-%20Al-Khums
• http://www.importantindia.com/12839/firuz-shah-tughlaq-2/
• http://www.nmlindia.nic.in/nml_adm/writereaddata/files/Tarikh%20Shams%20Afif.pdf
• http://blog.mapsofindia.com/india/the-tughlaq-dynasty-the-brilliant-yet-stubborn-rulers-of-india/
• http://holisticthought.com/the-tughlaq-dynasty-1320-1414/