Muhammad bin Tughluq
Encyclopedia
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
Sultan of Delhi
Delhi Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
from 1325 to 1351. He was the eldest son of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq.He was born in Kotla Tolay Khan in Multan. His wife was daughter of the raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
of Dipalpur
Dipalpur
Dipalpur is a town in Okara District of the Punjab and headquarters of Depalpur Tehsil, assumed to be largest tehsil of Pakistan. It is situated 25 kilometres from the district capital Okara on a bank of the Beas River in Bari Doab...
. 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
Warangal
Warangal is a city and a municipal corporation in Warangal district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Warangal is located northeast of the state capital of Hyderabad and is the administrative headquarters of Warangal District. This district is a combination of three cities: 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
Firuz Shah Tughluq
-External links:*...
.
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
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...
(Moroccan traveler) visited him during his reign.He introduced some remarkable administrative measures which although failed but very distinct and exemplary in nature.
Rule of Tughluq
Tughlaq was committed to maintaining the Sultanate's expansion into the newly conquered provinces of peninsular India. To strengthen the sultanate's hold on its southern parts, Tughluq early in his reign moved the capital from DelhiDelhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
to Devagiri, 700 miles (1500 km) south in the Deccan, renaming Devagiri as Daulatabad. The plan was conceived by the Emperor to rule from a strategic centrally located Capital. A Highway was built between Delhi and Devagiri to enable a smooth transfer. But Devagiri was ill equipped to host the offices and lacked the facilities wished by the Generals. And since this happened in summer, many people died because of inadequate water supply arrangements in Daulatbad. Without their comfortable mansions, the Ministers plotted to get the Capital shifted back to Delhi. The Mongol attack on the North added to the failures of this adventure. After only two years, the capital had to be shifted back again to Delhi, again at great loss, and it was said that Delhi was a ghost town for years after the move back. "When I entered Delhi, it was almost like a desert", wrote the famed North African travel writer, Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...
.
Campaign against Mokhadaji Gohil in Gujarat
Muhammed bin Tughluq was very ambitious and he planned to extend his rule into adjoining areas. To fund his campaign he first accumulated wealth. During that time, rajputRajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
Mokhadaji Gohil
Mokhadaji Gohil
Mokhadaji Gohil was a Rajput ruler of Ghogha, near Bhavnagar in Gujarat during the mid 14th century. He was a descendant of Sejakaji Gohil of Khergadh who migrated to Saurashtra during early 13th century...
ruled nearby Ghogha and Piram Bet (presently near Bhavnagar). In 1347, Mokhadaji received information about moving of treasure by the Delhi Sultanate from Devagiri to Delhi through the port at Khambhat
Khambhat
Khambhat , formerly known as Cambay, is a city and a municipality in Anand district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was formerly an important trading center, although its harbour has gradually silted up, and the maritime trade has moved elsewhere...
. Mokhadaji's navy seized the port and looted the cargoes from the Delhi Sultanate's ships. In response, Tughluq sent his army against Mokhadaji; however, Mokhadaji retreated to his secure base at Piram Bet, from which he raided the sea lanes. The sultanate's army's strategy was to cordon off Piram Bet, but they were not experienced in naval warfare and were unable to stop the raids. Thereafter, Muhammad bin Tughluq himself came to Gujarat to take charge. He established his base in Ghogha and resolved not to leave until Mokhadaji was killed. During the initial few months he was unsuccessful in his efforts to capture Piram Bet. He therefore schemed to entice Mokhadaji to come ashore in order to engage him in land battle. To this end he recruited a rich Vaishnav merchant of Khambhat, who was promised trade benefits if he could convince Mokhadaji to come on land to fight. The merchant went to Piram Bet and emotionally told Mokhadaji that the local people felt very oppressed by the sultan’s occupying army, and wished to wage battle for Mokhadaji if the latter would come to them. Mokhadaji heeded the plea, lost the battle, was taken prisoner near Khadarpar village, and was beheaded near Ghogha.
Collapse of the empire
Tughluq died in 1351 on his way to ThattaThatta
Thatta is a historic town of 220,000 inhabitants in the Sindh province of Pakistan, near Lake Keenjhar, the largest freshwater lake in the country. Thatta's major monuments especially its necropolis at Makli are listed among the World Heritage Sites. The Shah Jahan Mosque is also listed...
, Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
in order to intervene a war between members of the Soomro
Soomro
Soomro or Soomra is a Sindhi tribe in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, Pakistan.- History and origin :The Soomra Dynasty was established by the Soomro tribe of Sindh. The Soomra ruled Sindh from 750-1351. Following the 985 CE expulsion of the Qarmatian Muslim sect from Iraq and Egypt, the...
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
Bahmani Sultanate
The Bahmani Sultanate was a Muslim state of the Deccan in southern India and one of the great medieval Indian kingdoms...
founded by Hasan Gangu
Hasan Gangu
Abu'l Muzaffar Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah , whose original name was Hasan Gangu or Hansan Kanku and also bore the title of Zafar Khan was the founder of the Bahmani sultanate.-Ancestry and early life:...
.
Experiments with coinage
He was very wise and the schemes introduced by him were very good but very poorly executed; hence, many people call him the wisest fool.Muhammad bin Tughluq is known for his experimentiations 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
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
. 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
Dinar
The dinar is the official currency of several countries.The history of the dinar dates to the gold dinar, an early Islamic coin corresponding to the Byzantine denarius auri...
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 - Abubakkar, Umar, Usman and Ali". The kalimah
Kalimah
The Kalimah literally translates as "the word". In the Islamic context, it translates to "the word of Islam." It is a centrepiece in the faith of Muslims...
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
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
or copper tokems, 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. The policy was reversed by his nephew Firuz Shah TughluqFiruz Shah Tughluq
-External links:*...
.
In popular culture
- Muhammad bin TughluqMuhammad bin Tughluq (film)Muhammad bin Thughlaq is a 1971 socio-political satire comedy film in Tamil by Cho Ramaswamy. It is the film version of the stageplay of the same name. Both the play and the film is conceptualized, wrote and directed by Cho who also stars as the titular character...
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. - ThuglakThuglak-History:Cho Ramaswamy founded the magazine and commenced its first publication on the first day of the Tamil harvesting month "Thai" based on the Tamil calendar system; which was January 14, 1970 in the Gregorian calendar. He has been the editor of the magazine ever since and has penned several...
is a weekly Tamil newsmagazineNewsmagazineA news magazine is a typed, printed, and published piece of paper, magazine or a radio or television program, usually weekly, featuring articles or segments on current events...
started by Cho Ramaswamy in 1970. - Muhammad bin Tughlaq is the central character in Tughlaq: a play Kannada in thirteen scenes, by Girish KarnadGirish KarnadGirish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language...
published in 1972.