Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq
THE dynasty of Ghazi Malik may be regarded as an indigenous one. His father came to Hindustan in the time of Balban and married a Jat girl of the Punjab. From a humble position, Ghazi Malik gradually rose to the highest position in the empire by dint of his merit. We have already noted how ably he guarded the frontiers of the Delhi Empire against Mongol invasions till Providence placed him on the throne at an advanced age.
The choice of Ghazi Malik as the ruler of Delhi by the nobles was amply justified. The situation on his accession was one of difficulty, as the authority of the Delhi Sultanate had to command obedience in its outlying provinces, and its administrative system had disintegrated during the period of confusion following the death of ‘AIa-ud-din. But he proved himself equal to the occasion. Unlike his predecessors, he proved strength of character, largely due to his early training in the school of adversity. A devout and god-fearing man, he had a mild and liberal disposition. He” made his court more austere than it had ever been except probably in the time of Balban”. He acted with moderation and wisdom. Amir Khusrav thus praises him:
“He never did anything that was not replete with wisdom and sense.
He might be said to wear a hundred doctors’ hoods under his crown.
Soon after his accession, Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq set himself to the task of restoring administrative order by removing the abuses of the preceding regime. The extravagances of Mubarak and Khusrav had brought the finances of the State to a deplorable condition. Ghiyas-ud-din therefore ordered a strict enquiry to be made into all claims and jagirs. Unlawful grants were confiscated to the State. The little unpopularity that he incurred by this measure was soon removed by his wise liberality and beneficent measures for the welfare of his subjects. He appointed upright governors in the provinces, and considerably lightened the burden of revenue by limiting the dues of the State to one-tenth or one-eleventh of the gross produce and providing against official rapacity and extortion. Agriculture, the main industry of the people in this land, received special encouragement. Canals were excavated to irrigate the fields, gardens were planted and forts were built to provide shelter for husbandmen against brigands. But some of the regulations of the Sultan were not marked by the same spirit of benevolence. We know from Barni that certain sections of the people were to ” be taxed so that they might not be blinded with wealth, and so become discontented and rebellious; nor, on the other hand, be so reduced to poverty and destitution as to be unable to pursue their husbandry “.
Reforms were introduced in other branches of administration, like justice and police, so that order and security prevailed in the country. The Sultan devised a system of poor-relief and patronised religious institutions and literary men; Amir Khusrav, his poet laureate, received from the State a pension of one thousand tankas per mensem. The postal system of the country was reorganised to facilitate communications and the military department was made efficient and orderly.
Ghiyas-ud-din was not unmindful of asserting the authority of the Sultanate over its different provinces. He pursued the Khalji policy of military domination and imperialism, a reaction against which began in fact with the failure of his successor, Muhammad bin Tughluq. This is strikingly illustrated by what he did in the Deccan and Bengal.
In the Deccan the Kakatiya ruler Prataparudradeva II of Warangal, who had increased his power during the period of disorder following the death of Ala-ud-din, refused to pay the stipulated tribute to the Delhi Government. So Ghiyas-ud-din sent, in the second year of his reign, an expedition against Warangal under his eldest son and heir-apparent, Fakhr-ud-din Muhammad Jauna Khan. The invaders besieged the mud fort of WarangaL which was, however, defended by the Hindus with strong determination and courage. Owing to intrigues and the outbreak of pestilence in the army, prince Jauna had to return to Delhi without effecting anything. But again, four months after Jauna’s return to Delhi, the Sultan sent a second expedition against Warangal under the same prince. The second attempt met with success. After a desperate fight the Kakatiya ruler surrendered, with his family and nobles, to the enemy. Prince Jauna sent him to Delhi and subjugated the whole country of the Kakatiyas, Warangal being renamed as Sultanpur. The Kakatiya kingdom, though not formally annexed by the Delhi Sultan, soon lost its former power and glory.
A civil war in Bengal among the sons of Shams-ud-din Firuz Shah, who died in A.D. 1322, led Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq to intervene in the affairs of that province. Among the five sons of Shams-ud-din Firuz Shah, Ghiyas-ud-din Bahadur, who had ruled independently in Eastern Bengal with Sonargaon as his capital since 1310, Shihab-ud-din Bughra Shah, who had succeeded his father on the throne of Bengal with his capital at Lakhnauti, and Nasir- ud-din, contested for supremacy in Bengal. Ghiyas-ud-din Bahadur defeated Shihab-ud-din Bughra Shah and seized the throne of Bengal, which was also coveted by Nasir-ud-din, who thereupon appealed to the Delhi Sultan for help. The Sultan availed himself of this opportunity to bring under his effective control the distant province of Bengal, the allegiance of which to the Delhi Sultanate was always loose. He marched towards Lakhnauti in A.D. 1324, captured Ghiyas-ud-din Bahadur, who was sent as a prisoner to Delhi, and placed Nasir-ud-din on the throne of Western Bengal as a vassal ruler. Eastern Bengal was also made a province of the Delhi Sultanate. On his way back to Delhi, Ghiyas-ud-din reduced to submission the Raja of Tirhut, which became henceforth a fief of the Delhi Sultanate.
But the days of Ghiyas-ud-din were numbered. On returning from Bengal he died in February-March, 1325, from the collapse of a wooden structure which his son, Jauna, had built at Afghanpur, at a distance of five or six miles from Tughluqabad, the fortress-city founded by Ghiyas-ud-din near Delhi. He was interred in the tomb which be had built for himself at Tughluqabad. There are two accounts about the Sultan’s death. Barni attributed the collapse of the structure to a crash caused by lightning striking it; and Yayiha bin Ahmad Sarhindi also writes that the structure gave way ” by divine preordination “. But according to Ibn Batutah, the death of the Sultan was due to a premeditated conspiracy of his son, who got the pavilion so constructed by the royal architect (Mir ‘Imard), Ahmad, son of Ayaz, that it would collapse on being touched by elephants. Some later writers like Abul Fazl, Nizam-ud-din Ahmad and Badauni suspect such a conspiracy, and most of the modern writers consider the evidence of Ibn Batutah’s statement to be conclusive, as his informant, Shaikh Rukn-ud-din, was in the pavilion on the occasion of the Sultan’s tragic death. Barni’s account is evidently partial, and his reticence is due to his desire not to displease Firuz Tughluq, who had a great regard for Jauna and during whose reign he wrote his work.
