Muhammad bin Tughlaq [1325-1351 AD] GK Notes

Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq is known as the “Wisest Fool” or ‘Pagla Raja’ (means Mad King) in medieval history. He was called the ‘Caravan’ of the Sultanate period. His real name was Juna Khan. His predecessor was Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq. He was the first Indian ruler to introduce a coherent policy for the development of agriculture.

This article discussed the Sultan Muhammad Bin Tughlaq which is an important part of UPSC prelims. This article also provides key points such as general knowledge for Muhammad bin Tughlaq and is useful for NCERT notes as well as other competitive government job examinations.

Many historians gave several views on Muhammad bin Tughlaq –

1. According to historian Isami, the Sultan was “despot and irreligious“.
2. According to historian Barni, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq was a “wonder of nature“.
3. According to historian Eliphinston, the sultan was called a “tinge of madness“.
4. According to historian Ibn Batutah, Muhammad bin Tughlaq was always available to help others.

Early Life

• Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s father was Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq.
• 1325: After his father’s death, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq ascended the throne.
• His real name was Juna Khan or Ulugh Khan.
• He was well-educated in various fields such as philosophy, religion, the Quran, and other subjects.
• He was very intelligent from his childhood.
• He always had a strong passion for learning new things.
• He also had excellent knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, and medicine.
• He had liberal religious views from his childhood.
• He appointed many Hindus to high posts based on merit.

Revenue Reforms:

1. Muhammad Bin Tughlaq introduced many steps to reform the revenue system.
2. He established a separate Agricultural Department – ‘Diwan-i-Amir Kohi‘.
3. Amir-e-Kohi was in charge of this department.
4. This department helped to restore unused land.
5. Boosting agricultural products was another main goal of this department.
6. Later he introduced agricultural credit or crop loans known as Taccavi (or Taqvi loan).
7. He also reduced taxes for some regions later.

Taxation in Doab

1. Muhammad Bin Tughlaq increased in revenue in the Ganga Yamuna Doab region.
2. He increased the land tax (Khara) up to 50%. He wanted to cover the losses due to his newly reformed policies.
3. Contemporary historian Ziauddin Barni in his book (Tarikh-e-Firozshahi) wrote: “Famine was spread in the Doab at this time. Still, the Sultan had implemented new policies in this region”.
4. According to Barni: The forced collection of revenue by the Sultan’s servants here caused untold suffering to the public. Thousands of people died due to lack of food. Those who wanted to escape were slaughtered like animals by the Sultan’s army in various raids.”
5. Barni said: The amount of increased taxes was double the normal tax.
6. Barni also said: Farmers burned their crops and abandoned the land.
7. Barni’s hometown Bulandshahr (Baran) saw a farmers’ revolt.
8. According to Firishta: The Sultan increased the revenue by 3-4 times.

1327: The Transfer of Capital:

1327: Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted the capital from Delhi to Devagiri. Devagiri is called Daulatabad. But his plan failed. 1335: He again shifted his capital to Delhi.

Reason for shifting the Capital

Muhammad’s reasons for moving to this capital were –

1. Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s favorite choice was Devagiri. Because he stayed several years as a prince during his campaign in the southern states.
2. Devagiri was located in the middle of the empire. This might help better govern the kingdoms of North and South India.
3. Devagiri was closer to the major ports of South India.
4. His newly conquered regions Madurai and Karnataka were near to it. So that he could oversee the regions effectively.
5. Devagiri was much safer from Mongol invasion than Delhi.
6. Exploiting the resources of South India.
7. Spreading Islamic culture there.

Impact of Capital Shift:

1. 1327: He gave the order for everyone living in Delhi – nobles, bureaucrats, intellectuals, and servants – to migrate to Daulatabad.
2. For this long journey, he gave them money, wagons, horses and other animals.
3. At the stations after every two miles, food and water supplies were available.
4. Despite moving, the citizens expressed their dissatisfaction.
5. The people hated and cursed the sultan for imposing such a one-sided and difficult decision.
6. Many people died due to restlessness and hunger while moving from one capital to another.
7. Before completely shifting to Daulatabad, civil unrest had arisen in the northern regions.
8. A few years later, Muhammad bin Tughluq changed his mind after realizing his mistake.
9. 1335: Finally, he shifted back his capital Devgiri to Delhi in 1335.

Info: Muhammad bin Tughluq left Delhi and lived in the ‘Swargadwari’ camp for two years due to an epidemic of plague in Delhi. ‘Swargaduari’ is located on the banks of river Ganga near Kanauj.

1330-1332: Circulation of Token Currency:

• Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the second emperor to introduce reforms to the currency system (after Iltutmish).
• 1329-1330: He introduced token currency (or copper coins) throughout his empire. For this, he modeled on the paper currency of Kublai Khan of China.
• The coins were made up of brass and copper.
• These copper coins were equivalent to gold and silver coins.
• New coins could be exchanged for a fixed amount of gold or silver.

Reasons:

1. The Sultan had time and his mind came up with a new idea or a fresh plan between moving his capital and putting a brake to the revolt.
2. He wanted to extend his kingdom. For this, he needed a huge treasury for the payment of soldiers. But the royal treasury was empty.
3. According to Ziauddin Barani: The reason for this plan was the empty treasury and the shortage of silver in India and the rest of the world.
4. He aimed to boost the flow of money throughout the economy. He also wanted an end to the shortage of gold and silver.

Impact:

1. This plan of the Sultan also failed! Because the fake coins spread over the country.
2. The technique of making these coins was simple. That’s why many fraudsters populated the market with fake coins.
3. The people could not differentiate between the original coin (issued by the government) and the duplicate coin (locally made).
4. As a result, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq had to drop and revise his token currency scheme.

Info: Firishta and most historians refer to the new coin as ‘bronze coins’, although Barani thinks that the symbolic coins were actually copper coins.

Expeditions & Conquest:

• 1321 – 1322: His father Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq sent him to Deccan against Warangal.
• 1325: Muhammad-bin-Tughluq conquered Warangal (Kakatiya kingdom) in the Deccan.
• 1326: He annexed the Malabar region.
• 1327: He captured the Kingdom of Compili and the fortress of Anegundi in 1327 by defeating Bahauddin.
• 1327: His forces captured Madurai (capital of the Pandya kingdom).
• 1329: He had 370,000 soldiers in this year. But he did not check whether the soldiers and horses were capable of war. However, he paid them in advance. Due to this reason, he was unable to pay for maintaining such a large army. So Muhammad-bin-Tughluq disbanded a large portion of his army.
• 1332: Khurasan Expedition: Muhammad-bin-Tughluq planned to conquer the Khurasan region. He got partial victory as the ruler of Khurasan agreed to pay yearly taxes. So, the sultan’s Khorasan expedition remained partially successful and created a frontier in the west.
• 1333: Qarachil Expedition: Muhammad Bin Tughlaq attacked Qarachil (Kullu-Kangra region). He lost around 100,000 soldiers and remained unsuccessful. However, the Qarachil expedition was successful in the sense that it resolved the boundary disputes.
• 1337: The Sultan conquered Nagarkot in Kangra.
• 1337-1338: His Karajal or Kurmachal campaign failed.

Revolts

• Around 22 revolts took place during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq.
• Most of these he brutally suppressed, but some regions became independent. These independent states were- Madurai (1337), Vijayanagar (1336), Bahmani kingdom (1347).
• Revolt of Malik Fakrruddin (Luckhnauti): Sultan succeeded in suppressing.
• 1327: Revolt in Madura: The Sultan suppressed the revolt.
• 1327: Revolt of Bahauddin Gurshap (Gulbarga): successfully suppressed
• 1330: Revolt of Bahram Aiba (Multan): Sultan suppressed the revolt
• 1330: Revolt of Ghiyasuddin (governor of Luckhnauti): successfully suppressed by the army of Muhammad bin.
• 1336: Revolt in Vijaynagar: The Sultan Could not suppress properly and the Vijaynagar empire was established.

Religious Policies

• Initially, Muhammad bin disobeyed the Caliph.
• However, later interrupted he was forced to show allegiance to the Caliph.
• He also damaged the Ulema’s influence.
• He marked the words ‘Al Sultan Jilli Allah’ or ‘the shadow of God’ on his coins.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq tried to stop the practice of the Sati system.
• He visited many temples and idols in Girnar and Palitana regions.
• His notable Hindu servants were Wazir Sairaj, Naib Wazir of Deccan, Dhara Sewan, ruler Ratan, Gulbarga ruler Viral Rai, etc.
• According to historian Peter Jackson: “Muhammad bin Tughlaq participated in Hindu festivities”.
• Jain Pandit Rajashekhar and Jain Prabhasuri received patronage from Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
• He used to participate in Hindu rituals like Holi.
• When the Hindu temple of Kalyan was destroyed in a war in the Deccan, he rebuilt it.
• According to Ibn Battuta: “A Chinese king Yuan came to India to rebuild the Sambhal temple. But the Sultan rejected this proposal”.

1351: Muhammad Bin Tughlaq died in the Khatta region of Sindh. His successor was his cousin Firoz Shah Tughlaq.

Info: During his period a 15-member delegation arrived from China. So he appointed Ibn Battuta as the Qazi of Delhi and later sent him to China as an envoy.

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