Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq

Introduction

Sultan Mohammad Bin Tughlaq, son of Ghiyassudin Tughlaq, founded the Tughlaq dynasty in 1320. Ghiyasuddin became the ruler of the Delhi sultanate in 1320.

(Pinakpani, Tomb of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, the founder of Tughlaq dynasty 30, CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Tughlaq dynasty adopted the forward policy and tried to expand their kingdom. The reign of Ghiyassudin was not for long and Mohammad Tughlaq became the king in 1324. Before becoming the Sultan of Delhi, Mohammad fought many wars and plundered multiple kingdoms. He attacked and annexed Warangal, Mabar, and also raided Odissa and returned to Delhi with rich plunder.

The expansion of the Delhi sultanate was seen in his time. The kingdom expanded in northern India and that might be the reason for its loosened grip on south India. With the tremendous growth in the area of his kingdom, he faced many administrative and financial problems and his unorthodox reforms and experiments did no good for his empire. His experiments became one of the reasons for his less popularity and the fall of his empire.

Ascending the Throne

Muhammad Tughlaq (1290-1352) was the second ruler of the Tughlaq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. In his childhood, he received a good education in the Quran, Philosophy, Muslim Jurisprudence, medicine, astronomy and logic.

He was made the Sultan of Delhi in 1324, after the death of his father Ghiyassudin Tughlaq. He assigned a set of revenue officers to supervise all the economic aspects of the conquered areas. Ziauddin Barni and Ibn-Battuta have written about his rule and his personality in their works, Tarikh-i-Firozshahi and Kitab-i- rehlan respectively. During his time, Ibn- Battuta came to India from Morocco and was appointed as Qazi of Delhi.

Ibn-battuta in his book wrote that the sultan was loving and was always available for helping others. When he came to power, he was not supported by Ulamas, the Muslim divines. He failed in enlisting Sufies and Ulamas in his services. That is why he tried to cut the powers of Ulmas and fill their position with ordinary citizens.

To legitimize his rule and kingdom, he declared himself the Califa and called himself the Shadow of God. in his coins we can see Zille-ilah. Mohammad Tughlaq was a rationalist, he didn't blindly follow the orthodoxy and for that, he was often criticised by religious orthodox. Isami even called him a Tyrant and irreligious.

In the early years of his accession, he faced a serious problem posed by the increasing Mangol power, under the leadership of Tarmashrin. Mongols captured Sindh and one of their forces reached Meerut. Mohammad Tughlaq became the first ruler of the Delhi sultanate to defeat the Mongol invasion and he even captured the area up to Peshawar.

Mohammad Tughlaq was one of the most remarkable rulers of his age and he believed in giving positions in his administration based on merit, not based on their rank in the social hierarchy. His only problem was that he was impatient and imprudent. He was a visionary but he didn't plan accordingly and that is why many of his experiments failed.

Such experiments included capital transfer, token currency and some agricultural reforms. Due to continuous change in rule and administration, there was a growing discontent against him in the mass and orthodoxy.

Moving of the Capital

One of the biggest mistakes made by Mohammad Tughlaq was his experiment of moving the capital of his empire. In 1327, he replaced his capital from Delhi with Daulatabad. Earlier Daulatabad was known as Deogir. Tughlauq had spent his early childhood in deogir and it was the earlier turkey base in India.

Mohammed Tariq, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq 1, CC BY-SA 4.0

Due to the vast size of his empire, the sultan was facing many administrative and financial difficulties. He had a firm grip on north India but he was having issues in controlling the South, that is why he decided to make Deogir his capital and from there he had better access to the south as well as north.

For this purpose, he ordered his officers, leaders and Sufi saints to resettle in deogir which was also known as Daulatabad. Those officials who moved to Daulatabad were paid some money and their transportation arrangements were done. The citizens were forced to move to Daulatabad which was 1500km from Delhi.

Many people died on this harsh journey in summer. The king also went to Daulatabad and abandoned Delhi, where still the most of population was living. This brought major discontent among the citizens against the king.

After some years king realized that even with his capital at Daulatabad, he could not control the south and thus again he changed the capital back to Delhi. Though his experiment of second capital failed miserably, still some good came out of that.

Many people and Sufi saints settled in Daulatabad and they became the means of spreading the culture, religious and social ideas of north India to south India.

Religious Policy

Mohammad Bin Tughlaq was a rational thinker with distinct opinions and perspectives towards diverse religions. He manifested complete support towards Hindus whereas it’s otherwise when it comes to other religions.

In Peter Jackson notes, it was stated that Bin showed hostility towards his visitors like Ibn Battuta, Nunez, and Firistha, as they belong to other religions. He gave patronage to Jain saints. He finished the monopoly of Ulamas as judges and appointed judges based on merit rather than their background.

He was the first sultan to give the Hindus a high position in his administration. He was highly influenced by Sufi saints and he visited the shrine of Khwaja Muinuddin Chisti in Bahraich. His rational thinking toward religion and his tolerant policy towards Hindus made him irreligious in eyes of Isami and Barni.

Administration

Tughlaq Dynasty is often known as Slave Dynasty, due to the old tradition of making special slaves or bandagan, the governor or administrators. Tughlaq did not appoint aristocrats and rich landlords or Nobility as administrators. He believed in the old tradition of appointing Slaves to be administrators.

This tradition had been coming from Illtutmis’s time. These slaves were specially trained for working for their masters only. Slaves were loyal to their masters rather than their heirs. There were certain reforms done by Mohammad Tughlaq.

He formed a large standing army of approximately 3 lakhs. He imposed an extra tax on the doab region to feed his army, unfortunately, that time coincided with a famine. He paid soldiers in cash. He started token currency, which also failed. He tried to conquer a vast region, which emptied this national treasure.

His many experiments failed because of lethargic autocracy and his nobles were not in favour of his policies. Due to many failed policies and experiments, there was a deterioration of the sultanate’s power seen during his time. After he died in 1351, his successors were unable to fix the damages he had done and later the Tughlaq dynasty came to an end.

Conclusion

The reign of Mohammad Tughlaq was from 1324-1353. He was an able ruler, with the knowledge of religion, philosophy, and astronomy. He was a good fighter and visionary ruler, but his downside was that he was a hasty and impatient ruler. He came up with ideas for many great reforms and experiments but he didn't think about the ways to achieve success. He always took decisions hastily and did not listen to his advisors. He did as he, pleased. He was a religious tolerant and credited with appointing Hindus to higher places in his administration.

FAQs

Q1.What were the reforms and experiments done by Mohammad bin Tughlaq?

Ans.there were different reforms and experiments done by the sultan, most of them failed, and those reforms are −

• Change of capital

• Introducing token coin

• Agriculture reform

• Appointment of low-born officials.

Q2.Who were the bandagans?

Ans.Bandagans were specially trained slaves, who were trained for the difficult political tasks and were appointed governors or administrators. Slaves were loyal to only their masters.

Q3.Why did the sultan choose to transfer the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad?

Ans.The sultan transferred the capital from Delhi to daulatabad for better control over south India. He thought that with another capital at daulatabad it would be easier to control the south, but he later realised that he cannot control the south and choose to move back to Delhi.

Q4.Why did the idea of token currency fail?

Ans.The token currency failed because it was made of a cheap metal which was easy to copy and people kept the gold and silver hidden and paid taxes in fake tokens.

Q5.What was Diwan-i-Koh?

Ans.It was a separate department made by Mohammad Tughlaq for the advancement of agriculture.