Tughlaq Dynasty (1320-1412 CE)
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq was the founder of the Tughlaq Dynasty. He killed the last ruler of the Khalji Dynasty and sat on the throne. So, now will we read about Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq in brief.
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq
He also called as Saihshta Khan. He was the Turkish Commander in Alauddin Khalji’s Army. After eliminating Nasiruddin Mahmud, he was successful in maintaining law and order. He also placated the nobles and people through his different policies like:
- He implemented Shariat. So, this was the cause of happiness for Muslim nobles.
- He demanded 1/10th of the Land Revenue. So, this became the cause of happiness for the farmer community.
But, before he could be established Sultanate, he died in accidental death in Allahabad after returning from the Bengal Campaign. So, he was succeeded by the Wisest Fool of the Medieval India ie Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq.
Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq
Juna Khan is also known as Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq was the only Delhi Sultan, who had received a comprehensive, literary, religious and philosophical education. He was the man of paradoxes. Though he did novel experiments. But the experiments were far from time.
Contemporary writers like Isami, Barani, and Ibn Battutah gave an account of the reign of Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq. There are some following experiments done by the Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq.
Token Currency
During his time, the dynasty faced some storage of precious metals. It was evident by the coins of that era. But during the reign of Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq economy and Empire reached its peak. So, it increased the demand for Gold and Silver to maintain trade and commerce; Administrative order.
As the Silver coins of his period have less weight, so it showed that Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq (MBT) faced an acute shortage of Silver. In this scenario, he introduced Token Currency ie Biranj. It was currency made up of Bronze having the value on par with a Silver coin.
Though it was a big step of MBT. then he committed the mistake of issuing token currency without precaution. This proved harmful for him because people started minting the coins which increased inflation in the economy. So, finally, he stopped his movement of Token Currency and did one more blunder by exchanging the currency of people with the Silver present in Royal treasury.
Transfer of Capital
A large part of the Indian Subcontinent was under the control of MBT. So, in this background, he wanted to have two capitals to keep his eyes on the entire Empire. His courtiers advised him for Ujjain as the second capital. But he neglected the advice of nobles and moved towards Daulatabad.
Though the decision of having two capitals was good. But the choice of capital was wrong. Still, he moved ahead with his plan. He moved to Daulatabad and after some time when he understood his mistake. So, he silently returned back to Delhi. But then he invested a huge amount of money to transfer the Capital.
This step proved harmful to the MBT. But in the long run, it led to a new development in South India ie Bahmani Kingdom was established.
Khurasan Expedition
Qurachil Expedition
The area of Kumaon and Garhwal Himalaya was Qurachil. Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq decided to secure this frontier of India. So, his army under the command of his son-in-law Khusrao Malik was sent in Qurachil. But the army got destroyed in Tibet.
He sent Ibn Battutah to China as his Ambassador.
Agricultural Reforms of Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq
The above-written mistakes of Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq created the financial crisis for the Tughlaq Dynasty. As the land revenue was the most important source of State. So, possible to increase land revenue and to improve the condition of agriculture Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq established a department called Diwan-i-Amir-Kohi.
Diwan-i-Amir-Kohi
It was a research and development department for agriculture, especially to work on mixed farming. The department failed to give the result. So, he closed the department after 3 years. To overcome the financial crisis he increased land revenue in Ganga-Yamuna Doab. But for his bad luck, this area became the victim of a famine in the same year. So, people revolted against him.
Finally, he retreated and paid compensation to the people. But, till now he has lost the confidence of people and bureaucracy. This prepared the ground for revolt against Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq in different parts of the country. He started moving here and there to suppress revolts. Finally, while chasing Taghi, Governor of Sindh Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq died in Sindh (1351).
One of the important outcomes of these revolts was the birth of the first Muslim state in Deccan ie Bahmani Kingdom by Alauddin Bahman Shah in 1343.
After Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq, Tughlaq Dynasty had a new ruler and it was Firoz Shah Tughlaq. He was the cousin of Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq.
We will discuss reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq in next coming post.
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