Projects of Mohammad Bin Tughluq

Muhammad bin Tughluq

Muhammad bin Tughluq (1290 – 20 March 1351) was the

eighteenth Sultan of Delhi. He reigned from February 1325 until his
death in 1351. The sultan was the eldest son of  Ghiyath al-Din
Tughluq , founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. In 1321, the young
Muhammad was sent by his father to the Deccan Plateau to fight a
military campaign against the Kakatiya dynasty. In 1323, the future
sultan successfully laid siege upon the Kakatiya capital in Warangal.
This victory over King Prataparudra ended the Kakatiya dynasty.

Muhammad ascended to the Delhi throne upon his father's death in

1325. Accounts by visitors of the Sultan Muhammad n describe him
as an "inhuman eccentric" with bizarre character.The sultan is said to
have ordered the massacre of all the inhabitants of the Hindu city
of Kannauj. He is also known for his wild policy swings.

Muhammad bin Tughluq had an interest in medicine. He was also

skilled in several
languages: Persian, Hindavi, Arabic, Sanskrit and Turkish. Ibn
Battuta, the famous traveler and jurist from Morocco, wrote in his
book about his time at the Sultan's court. Muhammad bin Tughlaq
was one of the most remarkable rulers of his age. He was a great
scholar and a lover of Persian literature, music, fine arts, and
calligraphy. He is known for some of his schemes and policies which
failed disastrously over a period of time. The Khilji dynasty came to
an end when Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, the Governor of Dipalpur,
became the Sultan of Delhi. He was succeeded by his son Muhammad
bin Tughlaq.
 Boundary under Muhmmad Tughlaq

Projects of Mohammad Bin Tughluq

 1. Transfer of The Capital

The scheme of the transfer of capital (A.D. 1326 to 1327) from Delhi

to Deogiri was another significant plan of Muhammad-bin-Tughluq.
Deogiri was renamed as Daulatabad. The contemporary sources do
not indicate clearly the reasons for the exodus to Daulatabad. But it is
not difficult to trace the reasons for t he students of history provided
they read between the lines.

Reasons behind the Transfer of Capital

 Daulatabad was centrally located and was equidistant

from Delhi and other important places.
 Because Delhi was within the reach of the Mongols,
Daulatabad appeared to be at a safe distance from the
possible Mongol attacks in the future.
It is said that he ordered most people of Delhi to shift to Daulatabad.
There was resentment among the people as they did not want to shift
from Delhi.

Cause of the Transfer of Capital

(1)  By now the territory of Delhi had increased much and it was
not possible to control the entire region from Delhi. Since
Daulatabad was situated in the middle of the Sultanate, the issue of
transfer was taken up by the sultan. Barani remarks that Daulatabad
held a central situation. Farishta also writes, “The king was so
much pleased with the situation and strength of Deogiri and
considered it so much central them Delhi that he determined to
make it his capital.”

(2)  The tributary rulers of the Deccan were rebellious and they
often not only revolted against the Delhi Sultanate but also refused
to pay annual tributes, hence the question of transfer of capital to
Deccan arose in the mind of the Sultan.

(3)  Ibn Batuta mentions that the people of Delhi used to write
condemnatory letters to the Sultan for which the Sultan left much
offended and in order to penalize them he ordered for the transfer
of the capital.
 (4)  Yahya-bin-Ahmad feels that the people of Doab had turned
rebellious due to increase of revenue and the sultan being annoyed
with them asked for exodus.

(5)  Professor Habibullah and Dr. Mehdi Husain remark that the
Sultan wanted to make Daulatabad a prosperous town and a centre
of Muslim culture, hence he took decision to make it the capital.

(6)  Dr. K.A. Nizami’s view that he wanted to make two capitals is
not accepted by most of the historians.

(7)  Dr. A.L. Srivastava writes that the incessant invasions of the
Mongols had paralyzed the life and administration of Delhi and in
order to safeguard the capital from future attacks of the Mongols,
he shifted it to Deogiri.

But all the reasons referred to above are not justified for there seemed
no possibility of writing the letters and throwing them into the palace
of Delhi. At the same time if the Sultan had become unpopular in
Delhi how could he be friendly with the people of the south?
Moreover, the current of Mongol invasion had slowed down by them
and there was no fear of their invasion. Dr. Srivastava in response to
all these reasons of transfer of capital remarks, “The stories are
nothing more than Bazar gossips. The fact is that the scheme of
transfer of capital was well thought a plan of Muhammad-bin-
Tughluq.”

Nature of Transfer
Having decided for the transfer of capital, the Sultan ordered all the
people to migrate to Daulatabad. The distance between the old and
new capital was about 950 kilometers. The Sultan repaired and
constructed rest-house on both sides of the road, every two or three
miles. The Sultan spent a lot of money in the execution of this plan.
The imperial court and establishment was shifted to Daulatabad along
with the nobles, scholars and saints, so that Muslim culture could
flourish there. Barani writes, “The Sultan was bounteous in his
liberalities and favours to the emigrants both on their journey and on
their arrival.”

But in spite of all the facilities provided by the Sultan, the people of
Delhi had so much attachment with the capital that they did not want
to leave Delhi, hence the Sultan has to treat them harshly as he
wanted to execute his scheme fully. Barani remarks about the
condition of Delhi after the exodus, “All was destroyed. So complete
was the ruin that not a cat or a dog was left in the buildings of the
city, in places or in its suburbs.” bn Batuta remarks, “A search was
made and a blind man and a cripple were found. The cripple was put
to death while the blind man was dragged to Daulatabad where only
his one leg reached.” He adds, In the night the Sultan mounted the
roof of his palace and looked around Delhi. When, neither a light nor
even the smoke or a lamp came into sight he remarked, “Now my
heart is pleased and my soul is at rest.”

The long journey from Delhi to Daulatabad proved very painful and a
large number of people died during the journey. Barani writes,
“Many, from the toil of long journey, perished on the road and those
who arrived at Deogiri, cold not endure the pain of exile. In
despondency, they pained away to death. All along Deogiri, which is
an infidel land, there sprang up graveyards of Musalmans.”

 Realizing this mental strain and tremendous suffering of the people,

Muhammad-bin-Tughluq realized his fault and ordered the public to
return to Delhi, their home town. Again the long and strenuous
journey caused several deaths in spite of all facilities provided to them
by the Sultan. Thus, the capital which had grown in prosperity and
rivaled Baghdad and Cairo in splendor was ruined and re-inhabited by
the beloveds of Delhi. It is correct to say that the scheme of transfer of
capital failed and the Sultan was held responsible for its failure.

Result of Transfer of Capital

The effect of Muhammad-bin-Tughluq’s scheme of transfer of capital
proved disastrous. The Sultan spent a lot of wealth for the
implementation of this scheme. It affected the royal treasury
otherwise, and later on, the sultan had to face various economic and
financial problems.
1.  The prestige and prosperity of Delhi was devastated for a while.

2.  The people of Delhi had to suffer untold miseries and they
sustained lots of inconveniences as a result of this scheme. Many
perished during the long journey.

3.  Comparatively, the Muslims suffered much because they had to

live in the south in an atmosphere entirely different from that of Delhi
as the south was mostly Hindu-inhabited region.

Criticism of the Project

Scholars have criticized this project of Muhammad-bin-Tughluq in
different ways. According to Lanepoole, “Daulatabad was a
monument of misdirected energy.” He also opines that even if this
scheme of Muhammad-bin-Tughluq had succeeded, it would not have
been possible o rule from Daulatabad. The transfer of capital had
made the north-west frontier insecure against Mongol invasion and
India would have become a center of rebellions and disorder. During
execution of this scheme, according to Ferishta, the Sultan did not pay
attention to rulers of Iran and Turan. They were Mongol rulers and
were a great menace to the Delhi Sultanate.

Some scholars like Ibn Batuta, Barani, Yahya-Bin-Ahmad and others

have condemned this scheme as the people had to face several
invasions during the execution of this scheme. The Sultan had
committed a great blunder by issuing the order of migration of entire
populace to Daulatabad, he should have carried his offices and
officials with him for the success of this scheme. In fact, the scheme
was not defective, but a strange product of the mind of the learned
Sultan. It had the seed of administrative reforms and farsightedness in
it. Had it succeeded, it would have added to the prestige and
popularity of the Sultan but it failed like his first project. The failure
of the scheme depended on its wrong implementation. The obdurate
nature of the Sultan was also a cause of the failure of the plan of
transfer of Capital. Owing to his supreme position, the Sultan never
thought over the scheme again, nor did he try unpopular and the
scholars called him a mixture of opposites, an unpractical Sultan and
a person having a touch of insanity.
2 Issue of Token Currency

 Muhammad bin Tughlaq is criticized for his failed

experiment with the token currency. The scarcity of silver
and the abundance of copper and bronze prompted the
Sultan to issue copper coins bearing the same value as that
of silver coins.
 However, the new copper coins bearing the same value as
the silver coins did not have any complicated designs and
they could be easily forged.
 People started minting coins in their houses. The forged
copper coins flooded the markets. The situation became
worse when the traders and merchants refused to accept
these coins. The economy came to a standstill.
  Realizing his folly, Muhammad bin Tughlaq issued
genuine silver coins in place of the copper coins. This
further drained the royal treasury.

The age of Muhammad-bin-Tughluq is considered a very significant

epoch in the history of Indian coinage. He introduced various reforms
and improvements in manufacturing, valuation and types of coinage.
Edward Thomas has aptly called him the ‘Prince of Moneyers’
because of his advanced measures in the field of coinage. The
introduction of token currency was a most significant innovation of
Muhammad-bin-Tughluq in the history of Medieval Indian coinage.
Earlier, token currency was issued by Kublai Khan (A.D. 1260-94) in
China and Gai Khatu (A.D. 1393) in Persia. Sultan Muhammad-bin-
Tughluq, therefore, also issued bronze Tankas and declared their
value at par with the silver Tankas.

Muhammad Tughlaq orders his brass coins to pass for silver, 1330 C
Cause of Issue of Token Currency

(1)  From the very date of his accession Sultan Muhammad-bin-

Tughluq spent a lot of money for giving rewards, grants, charity and
gifts. Besides, he devised some significant schemes and spent a huge
amount on their execution. He also emptied his treasury in
suppressing the rebels, conducting military campaigns and in facing
famines and droughts. It shook the very foundation of the financial
structure and the Sultan was forced to issue a token currency. But Dr.
Ishwari Prasad does not agree with this opinion. 
(2)  The description of Barani and Nizamuddin Ahmad indicate that
the Sultan was in need of immense wealth for the conquest of the
entire world, hence he issued token currency.

(3)  The sultan needed extra wealth for the execution of his other
projects and for suppressing the revolts in future, hence, it became
inevitable for him to issue token currency.

(4)  Haji Uddabir thinks that the Sultan wanted to confiscate the
costly metals and issue of token currency was one of his tricks to
collect the costly metals, i.e. gold and silver but this opinion does not
hold against the fact that the Sultan later changed all the copper coins
into silver ones from the royal treasury.
(5)  Ishwar Topa and others are of the opinion that the shortage of
silver was the root cause of the issue of token currency.

(6)  Sultan Muhammad-bin-Tughluq who was a man of fertile mind

was fond of devising new schemes and introducing them. The scheme
of token currency was also a product of his fertile mind. Taking
inspiration from the paper currency prevalent in China and Persia, he
thought of issuing bronze coins in India. Though the scheme was
introduced with all the best intention, yet its wrong execution led to
its failure.

Execution of Scheme and its Consequence

In A.D. 1330 bronze coins were struck and it was declared that they
should be treated at par, in value with the silver coins. For some time
the scheme of token currency continued properly but soon people
began to feel the difference between the bronze coins and the silver
coins. They doubted that the Sultan intended to store the entire silver
in his treasury. So everybody stored away the silver and gold coins
and the market was flooded with the bronze coins. The number of
counterfeit coins was even greater than the original ones issued from
the royal mint. Barani writes, “The houses of Hindus were turned into
mints.” This remark of Barani is not impartial. There seems to be no
reason as to why the contemporary Muslims were deprived of the
greed of making counterfeit coins. Every person began to hoard the
gold and silver coins. The excess of the counterfeit coins devalued the
bronze coins, and it affected the trade and commerce adversely. The
feeling of revolt and dissatisfaction began to develop in the hearts of
the people against the Sultan.The sultan felt his intervention to be
essential as his beloved scheme of token currency was also leading
towards failure. He declared the bronze coins illegal and ordered the
people to exchange their bronze coins with silver coins for the royal
treasury. Such a number of coins were exchanged that there was a
huge heap of bronze coins in Thghlukabad. Thus the royal treasury
had to suffer heavily as a result of this scheme of token currency.

Cause of Failure of the Scheme

 (1)  The people of the fourteenth century failed to understand the

utility of token currency which scheme was much in advance of their
times. Hence they did not cooperate with their Sultan.
(2)  Muhammad-bin-Tughluq failed to take steps to make the mint the
monopoly of the state nor could he be successful in getting standard
coins struck. Hence everybody made artificial coins and thus led the
scheme towards failure. Edward Thomas observes, “There was no
special to mark the difference of the fabric of the royal mint and the
handiwork of the moderately skilled artisan. Unlike the precautions
taken to prevent the imitation of the Chinese currency notes, there
was positively no check on the authenticity of the copper token and no
limit to the power of production by the masses at large.”

(3)  Elphinstone writes that unstable government and bankruptcy of

the Sultan was also a significant cause of the failure of his scheme of
token currency. But this view does not seem worthwhile.

(4)  The Sultan had no patience at all. He wanted immediate positive

result and the failures disturbed him so much that he rejected the
schemes altogether. Thus haste and impatience of the Sultan was also
the root cause of the failure of his various projects.

Criticism of the Project

It was an original and new scheme ever planned by a Sultan. Its aim
was not to befool the people but to add to the prosperity of the
kingdom and to ensure the public welfare. The utility of issuing
bronze coins was not doubtful but unfortunately the people of the
fourteenth century failed to understand its significance and his ideal
scheme ended in smoke. Wrong implementation of the scheme was
the main cause of its failure but he is praised by scholars of history for
this scheme. Dr. A.L. Srivastava has written, “The reign of
Muhammad Tughluq is an important landmark in the history of
Indian coinage.” Dr. Ishari Prasad also observes in this respect, “He
wanted to found coins which might facilitate exchange and from
convenient circulating media.” To sum up, we may say that the
scheme of token currency was started with all the good intentions, but
it failed as the Sultan could not foresee the forgery and fabrication in
the making of coins.

3 Heavy Taxation in the Doab

 Doab is a fertile alluvial tract lying between Rivers Ganga and
Yamuna. Muhammad Tughlaq increased the taxes in the Doab
region as he was in need of money for raising a large army.
 Unfortunately, the increase in taxes coincided with a severe
famine in the region. The tax collectors however showed no
signs of mercy and ruthlessly collected taxes.
 Unable to pay the taxes, peasants abandoned their lands and fled
to forests.
 When the plight of peasants reached Muhammad Tughlaq, he
ordered several relief measures. He opened free kitchens and
 distributed free grains. However, these measures came too late
and agriculture greatly suffered in the region. Thus, his scheme
of taxation in Doab failed.

4 Proposed Khurasan Expedition

The Sultan had a vision of universal conquest. He decided to conquest

Khursan and Iraq and mobilized a huge army for the purpose. He was
encouraged to do so by Khurasani nobles who had taken shelter in his
court. Moreover, there was instability in Khurasan on account of the
unpopular rule of Abu Said.
5 The Quarajal expedition

This expedition was launched in Kumaon Hills in the Himalayas

allegedly counter Chinese incursions. It also appears that the
expedition was directed against some refractory tribes in the Kumaon
Garhwal region to bring them under Delhi Sultanate. The first attack
was a success, but the invaders suffered terribly when the rainy
season set in.