Muhammad bin Tughluq
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Muhammad bin Tughluq
Muhammad bin Tughluq (reigned 1325-1351) was a medieval Indian ruler whose reign saw the beginning of the disintegration of the empire of Delhi.
The son and successor of the Turk Ghiyas-ud-din (reigned 1321-1325), the founder of the Tughluq dynasty that replaced Khilji rule in Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq displayed an extraordinary capacity for classical learning and military leadership. He was formally crowned in 1325, when his father met an accidental death in which Muhammad was implicated.
In spite of a wealth of information on Muhammad's reign from contemporaries - such as Zia-ud-din Barani, the well-known chronicler of medieval India, and the Moorish traveler Ibn Battuta, who was in India during 1333-1346 - there is a great deal of confusion about the sequence of events in his reign and their precise nature. Muhammad's regime of 26 years seems to have largely been occupied with fighting rebellions (some 22 are listed), planning ambitious projects of conquest of farflung areas, and making administrative innovations that brought disgrace to the ruler and suffering for his subjects.
The most serious of these rebellions were in the Deccan (1326, 1347), Måbar (tip of the Indian peninsula, 1334), Bengal (1338), Gujarat (1345), and Sind (1350). These rebellions led to Delhi's loss of control over the south and the Deccan, Bengal, Gujarat, and Sind. The rebellions in Gujarat and Sind exhausted Muhammad, for it was in the course of his expedition in Sind that he died near Thatta in 1351.
Among Muhammad's ambitious military projects was his plan to invade Khurasan in Persia in 1329; a large army was raised and paid for, all of which was a wasted effort because the Sultan realized its impracticality. During 1337-1338 he attacked the kingdom of Nagarkot in the Punjab and secured a limited success.
Muhammad's administrative innovations also smacked of the spectacular. In 1327 he ordered that the imperial capital be shifted from Delhi in the north to Daulatabad in the Deccan, a distance of over 750 miles. After moving by force a part of the Delhi population, Muhammad realized that his move was ill-advised, and the capital was moved back to Delhi.
In 1328-1329 Muhammad ordered an enhancement of agricultural taxes in the Doab (area watered by the Ganges and the Jamuna rivers), and the impost was collected with such severity that it bred rebellions and led to devastation of large tracts. In 1330-1332 Muhammad conceived the idea of introducing a token copper currency without taking the necessary precautions against private minting of copper coins. The result was the flooding of the market with spurious coins which were then withdrawn in exchange for gold and silver coins.
In his religious views Muhammad was a liberal, though he requested recognition from the Caliph in Egypt in 1340. He loved holding discussions with philosophers and men of learning and was undoubtedly an extraordinary man who combined within himself numerous contradictions.
Further Reading
Agha Mahdi Husain, Tughluq Dynasty (Calcutta, 1963), is largely devoted to a detailed discussion of the career of Muhammad bin Tughluq. Wolsley Haig, ed., The Cambridge History of India (Delhi, 1958), and R. C. Majumdar, ed., The History and Culture of the Indian People, vol. 6: The Delhi Sultanate (Bombay, 1960), also have substantial sections dealing with the reign of Muhammad.
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This article is about the Sultan of Delhi. For 1971 film of the same name, see Muhammad ibn Tughluq (film). For 1968 play of the same title, see Muhammad bin Tughluq (play).
Muhammad ibn Tughluq (Arabic: محمد بن تغلق) (also Prince Fakhr Malik, Jauna Khan and Ulugh Khan) (c.1300 – March 20, 1351) was the Turkic Sultan of Delhi from 1325 to 1351.[1] He was the eldest son of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq. He was born in Kotla Tolay Khan in Multan. His wife was the daughter of the raja of Dipalpur.[2] Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq sent the young Muhammad to the Deccan to campaign against king Prataparudra of the Kakatiya dynasty whose capital was at Warangal. Muhammad succeeded to the Delhi throne upon his father's death in 1325. He in turn was succeeded by his nephew Firuz Shah Tughluq.
Muhammad Tughlug was a scholar versed in logic, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and physical sciences. He had knowledge of medicine and was skillful in dialectics. He was also a calligrapher. He was well versed with several languages like Persian, Arabic, Turkish and even Sanskrit. Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan traveler, visited him during his reign. He introduced some remarkable administrative measures which although failed but very distinct and exemplary in nature.
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Collapse of the empire
Tughluq died in 1351 on his way to Thatta, Sindh in order to intervene a war between members of the Soomro tribe. He had lived to see his empire fall apart. During the latter years of his reign new kingdoms broke away in the Deccan, such as the Bahmani kingdom founded by Hasan Gangu.[3]
Experiments with coinage
Muhammad bin Tughluq is known for his experimentation with coinage. He memorialized himself and his activities through his coinage and produced more gold coins than had his predecessors. The coins boasted fine calligraphy. He issued a number of fractional denominations.
The large influx of gold from his plundering of south Indian campaign led him to increase coinage weights. He enlarged the gold dinar from 172 grains to 202 grains. He introduced a silver coin, the adlis, which was discontinued after seven years due to lack of popularity and acceptance among his subjects.
All his coins reflect a staunch religiosity, with such inscriptions as "The warrior in the cause of God", "The trustier in support of the four Khalifs - Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali". The kalimah appeared in most of his coinage. Both at Delhi and at Daulatabad coins were minted in memory of his late father. There were also mints at Lakhnauti, Salgaun, Darul-I-Islam, Sultanpur (Warrangal), Tughlaqpur (Tirhut), and Mulk-I-Tilang. More than thirty varieties of bullion coins are known so far, and the types show his numismatic interests.
Unique among his coinage was the "forced" token currency. It was modeled after the Chinese example, using brass or copper tokens, backed by the silver and gold kept in the treasury. Tughluq had two scalable versions, issued in Delhi and Daulatabad. The currency was issued in the two different standards, undoubtedly to follow the local standards which preexisted in the North and in the South respectively. He engraved "He who obeys the Sultan obeys the compassionate" to fascinate people in accepting the new coinage. However, very few people exchanged their gold or silver coins for the new copper ones. Moreover, the tokens were easy to forge, which led to heavy losses, as Tughluq subsequently withdrew the forged currency by exchanging it for bullion coins. It is said that after the plan failed, there were heaps of copper coins lying around the royal offices for years.
Religious tolerance
Muhammad bin Tughluq was relatively liberal and permitted Hindus and Jains to settle in Delhi.[4] The policy was reversed by his cousin Firuz Shah Tughluq.
In popular culture
- Muhammad bin Tughluq (Tamil: முகமது பின் துக்ளக்) is a socio-political satire Tamil play written and first staged by Cho Ramaswamy in 1968. The play was later made as a feature film in 1971.[5]
- Thuglak (Tamil: துக்ளக்) is a weekly Tamil newsmagazine started by Cho Ramaswamy in 1970.[6]
- Muhammad bin Tughlaq is the central character in Tughlaq: a play Kannada in thirteen scenes, by Girish Karnad published in 1972.[7]
Notes
- ^ Tughlaq Shahi Kings of Delhi: Chart The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909, v. 2, p. 369..
- ^ Douie, James M. (1916) The Panjab North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, page 171, OCLC 222226951
- ^ Verma, D. C. History of Bijapur (New Delhi: Kumar Brothers, 1974) p. 1
- ^ The Vividhatirthakalpa as historical source and coherent text, http://www.southasiacenter.upenn.edu/pdf/Paper_Steven_Vose.pdf
- ^ Ramnarayan, Gowri (7 June 2004). "Cho, what's up?". Interview. Kasturi and Sons Ltd for The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2004/06/07/stories/2004060700430300.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ Warrier, Shobha (4 July 2005). "'This is the time for imposing Emergency'". Interview. Rediff. http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/jul/04spec.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-24. "I think it must have been some kind of a thrill because I was only a five-year-old journalist then. My journal was launched in 1970."
- ^ Karnad, Girish Raghunath (1972) Tughlaq: a play in thirteen scenes Oxford University Press, Delhi, OCLC 1250554
- Elliot, H. M. (Henry Miers), Sir; John Dowson. "15. Táríkh-i Fíroz Sháhí, of Ziauddin Barani". The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period (Vol 3.). London : Trübner & Co.. http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924073036737#page/n107/mode/2up.
External links
| Preceded by Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq |
Sultan of Delhi 1325–1351 |
Succeeded by Firuz Shah Tughluq |
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