Character of Mohammad-Bin-Tughlaq

                       Character of Muhammad

          Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq next to Alluddin Khilzi was the greatest sultan of Delhi who is best remembered for his bold experiments and innovative thought in the field of administration as well as in agriculture.he also known as Jauna Khan. He is famous for many reasons in Indian history. He was one of the most remarkable rulers of his time. He was highly educated and was well versed in Arabic and Persian language.He was a very talented person but due to impatience and lack of judgement he did not turned into a good emperor.

 Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the son of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, and the founder of Tughlaq dynasty. He became the sultan after the death of his father in 1325. He ruled for about 26 years till his death on 20 March 1351. He was a genius and had interest in astronomy, logic and mathematics. He learnt many languages like Persian, Arabic, and Turkish. He also had knowledge in Medicine. Historian Lane Pole believed that he was a man beyond his age.

He was also a good calligraphist. Further from military point of view, he was an excellent commander and during the time of Sultan Mubarak Shaha Khiliji he was promoted to the rank of the master of the horse from an ordinary soldier. And again during the time of his father Sultan Giyasuddin Tughlaq he led the imperial forces to Telengana and Warrangal                       

He was an open minded king. During his time people had the freedom to choose any religion.he lavishly distributed gold and silver among his subjects and high offices to his loyal officers. Whatever might be the role of Muhammad Tughlaq in the death of his father but none opposed him when he ascended the throne. The character and achievements of Muhammad Tughlaq have provoked such a large scale controversy among historians as no other ruler of medieval Indian history has claimed. It is not that contemporary records are not available regarding his reign.

Muhammad Tughlaq is an attractive figure of medieval Indian history. Not only his character and works but also his ambitious schemes and their successes and failures too have been regarded attractive and surprising. He inherited a vast empire from his father and extended it further so much so that no other Sultan of Delhi ruled over such vast territories as he did. He was very much faithful to his own religion and obeyed the religious rites and was regular at his daily prayers. He abstained himself from drinking in public.

Yet, with ten years of his accession on the throne, his empire began to disintegrate and he failed to keep intact even those territories which he had inherited. The same way, though he inherited an overflowing treasury and enriched it further, yet, he faced economic hardships. Besides, he innovated liberal principles and policies which were ahead of his age. He was liberal in religious affairs, developed diplomatic relations with distant countries like China. Iran and Egypt, neglected all class and race distinctions, assigned offices strictly on merit and carried out certain new schemes of reforms. Yet, he displeased his subjects, faced the largest number of revolts of his subjects and nobles and, ultimately, failed.

The theory of kingship of Muhammad Tughlaq was divine theory of kingship. He believed that he became Sultan because of the will of God. Therefore, he believed in absolute powers of the Sultan. Like Ala-ud-din, Muhammad Tughlaq did not permit any individual or any class to interfere in his administration. His ministers and officers were simply his subordinates to carry out his orders. None of them wielded any independent power or dared to advise him. The Ulema class enjoyed monopoly over administration of justice. He broke up that monopoly and appointed Qazis outside this class of people. He used to change the decisions of Qazis whenever he found them unjust and discriminating. If a religious man was found guilty of corruption or rebellion, he was punished like any other ordinary person. Thus, nobody was above laws of the land.

Muhammad also increased the land tax to increase the revenue in Doab but it led to major discontent among the subjects. Muhammad took a very modern step in introducing bronze coins as the token currency. Nevertheless, the absence of a central mint created a huge problem as the Government was not able to prevent forgery of coins.

Dr Irfan Habib has expressed that the nobility of Muhammad Tughlaq consisted of not only nobles of high families but also of other different groups particularly the Mongols, foreign Muslims, the Hindus, etc. Another novelty of Muhammad Tughlaq was that he maintained diplomatic relations with several foreign countries like China, Iraq, Syria, etc. and exchanged ambassadors with some of them. Thus, there is no doubt that Muhammad Tughlaq pursued several innovations in different fields. It is another matter that how far he succeeded or failed in carrying out chose innovations.

Muhammad Tughlaq was tolerant towards his Hindu subjects. He was the first Sultan of Delhi who distributed offices on merit and gave respectable offices to the Indian Muslims and the Hindus also. In this field, he was ahead of his time. Probably, this was one reason why contemporary Muslim historians commented against him.

While the Sultan marched towards Sindh, he fell ill. Hardly had he reached near Thatta, when he died of sickness on 20 March 1351 A.D. Badauni commented- “The king was freed from his people and they from their king.” 

    Thus, Muhammad Tughlaq remained busy throughout his reign in suppress­ing revolts and even died while suppressing one of them. Probably, no other Sultan of Delhi faced such a large number of revolts which made their headway right from early period of his reign. Most of them were because of his faulty policies, their faulty execution and attitudes of the Sultan himself.

    The Sultan succeeded in suppressing a large number of them but during later years of his reign failed to suppress some of them because of lack of money, loss of military strength due to continuous warfare and increasing dissatisfaction among the people and nobles which enlarged the area and number of revolts. It, ultimately, resulted in disintegration of his empire. His coronation ceremony was duly performed in the Red Palace of Balban.

                      Submitted By
                      Jenophin Jini
                      1st M.A English literature[Aided]