Tughlaq Dynasty (1320–1414 AD) – Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s Experiments and Firoz Shah Tughlaq’s Reforms

At a Glance

• Founder Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, 1320
• Zenith Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1324 to 1351)
• Peaceful ruler Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351 to 1388)
• Blow Timur’s sack of Delhi, 1398
• Dynasty ends About 1412
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Medieval History: The Delhi Sultanate

Where Does It Fit?

This is the third topic of the category on the Delhi Sultanate. The previous topic covered the Khaljis, whose conquests the Tughlaqs carried to their limit, and this topic covers the zenith and the start of the decline. The next topic covers the provincial kingdoms and resistance to the Sultanate. Previous topic: Khalji Dynasty (1290–1320 AD) – Jalal-ud-din Khalji and Alauddin Khalji’s Conquests and Market Control Reforms.

How Did the Tughlaqs Rise and Expand?

In short: the Tughlaq dynasty began in 1320 when Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq defeated and killed Khusrau, and its first two rulers governed almost the whole country.

After Alauddin’s death Malik Kafur was killed and a convert, Khusrau, took the throne. In 1320 officers led by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq rebelled and defeated and killed Khusrau outside Delhi. The dynasty gave three competent rulers: Ghiyasuddin, his son Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1324 to 1351) and his nephew Firoz Shah (1351 to 1388). Ghiyasuddin sent Muhammad to the Deccan, where Warangal was taken after a first reverse, Mabar was annexed and Orissa raided, and Bengal was subdued. By 1324 the Sultanate reached Madurai, and Kampili in south Karnataka, the last Hindu principality there, was annexed in 1328. Ghiyasuddin died when a hastily built wooden pavilion collapsed during a reception for him, which led to rumours against his son.

What Were Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s Experiments?

The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta, who reached Delhi in 1333, saw no lasting harm from the early experiments. Muhammad also welcomed people of low birth and foreigners into the nobility, which angered old noble families and Barani, so the nobility had no cohesion.

Why Did the Doab Revolt and the Empire Weaken?

Early in his reign a serious peasant revolt broke out in the Ganga doab. The state share stayed at half, as under Alauddin, but it was fixed arbitrarily and not on actual produce, and prices were fixed artificially, while a famine lasting about six years worsened matters. The sultan camped at Swargadwari near Kanauj for two and a half years. Rebellions then broke out in Bengal, Mabar, Warangal, Kampili, Awadh, Gujarat and Sindh. A plague killed two-thirds of the army in the south. Harihara and Bukka set up the principality that became Vijayanagara, and foreign nobles near Daulatabad began what became the Bahmani kingdom. Bengal also became independent. Muhammad died in Sindh while pursuing rebels. His reign marked the zenith of the Sultanate and the beginning of its disintegration.

What Did Firoz Shah Tughlaq Do?

Firoz did not try to reconquer the south and the Deccan and lost Bengal after two failed campaigns. He raided Jajnagar and Kangra and suffered hardship in the Rann of Kutch while quelling rebels in Gujarat and Thatta. His reign was peaceful. He made nobles’ posts and iqtas hereditary, ended torture of officials over audit balances, and extended heredity to soldiers, whom he paid by land assignments and not in cash. This pleased the nobles but made the army lax and the centre dependent on a narrow oligarchy.

Firoz said his state was a truly Islamic one. He made jizya a separate tax and refused to exempt Brahmans, banned women from visiting saints’ tombs, and persecuted sects the theologians called heretical, and he burnt a Brahman for preaching. He also had Hindu works on music, medicine and mathematics translated from Sanskrit into Persian. He banned punishments such as cutting hands and noses, set up free hospitals, kept lists of the unemployed and gave dowries to poor girls. A department of public works dug canals, including one of about 200 km from the Sutlej to Hansi, and founded Hissar-Firuzah and Firuzabad. He gathered about 1,80,000 slaves, trained some in workshops and some as soldiers.

How Did the Tughlaq Power End?

After Firoz died in 1388, nobles, slaves and local rajas fought for power, and the sultans Muhammad and Nasiruddin Mahmud (1394 to 1412) could not control them. A wit said the sultan’s dominion extended from Delhi to Palam. In 1398 Timur, a Turk related to Changez, raided India to seize the wealth of the sultans of Delhi. His army sacked towns on the way and then Delhi, killing Hindus and Muslims, and took away wealth and many artisans to Samarqand. The invasion marks the end of strong Delhi rule, though the Tughlaq line lingered until 1412.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Zenith and decline The empire reached Madurai, then split
• Experiments Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s failures are standard Prelims and Mains material
• Contrast of two rulers Ambition versus appeasement

What Came Next?

The next topic covers the provincial kingdoms and the Indian chiefs who resisted the Sultanate. Next topic: Provincial Kingdoms and Resistance by Indian Chiefs Against the Sultanate.

Key People and Terms

• Token currency Bronze coin valued as silver tanka
• Daulatabad Deogir, renamed
• Diwan-i-amir-i-kohi Department to extend cultivation
• Qarachil Himalayan expedition
• Hissar-Firuzah Town founded by Firoz
• Firuzi slaves Slave corps raised by Firoz

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions on the Tughlaqs ask whether Muhammad was a visionary or a failure. These points add depth.

• Muhammad Bold ideas, hasty execution, over-extension
• Firoz Welfare, canals, but weak army and hereditary posts
• Decline Provincial revolts, nobles and Timur