Muhammad bin Tughlaq 13251351

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Muhammad bin Tughlaq1325-1351

• Madman or misunderstood Genius?

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Background and Motivations

• 1320 the first Tughlaq Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din
  Tughlaq rises to the throne after subduing the
  choas arising from the Khilji succession.
• Moderate rule that kept many of Ala-ud-dins
  reforms, but attempted to reconcile and win back
  the favor the Chehelgan
• His son and heir Ulugh Khan is deputed to crush
  out rebellion in the Deccan (Warrangal) and
  Bengal in the east
• Suspicions about Ulugh Khans succession and
  Ghiyas deathcollapse of the wooden pavillion

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Areas Claimed by Tughlaqs
Rebellious Areas
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Character of Mohammad b. Tughlaq

• Sources are very dividedIsami hated the King,
  Barani wrote for his successor and cousin Firuz
  Shah Tughlaq, Ibn Batuta implies the kings
  mental instability
• Extremely well educated, particularly
  well-trained in Islamic Fiqh, history, and South
  Asian administrative practices
• Interested in Ala-ud-dins reformist legacy, also
  in the reforms being carried out in the Middle
  East and China
• Moody, often paranoid of insubordination. Could
  be generous to a fault, prone to anger and
  violence

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Controversial Reforms

• 1327-30 moving the central capital to Daulatabad
• 1328-9 doab taxes
• 1329-30 token currency in copper
• 1341-43 creation of a new legal code or asalib
• Each reform had logical goals, but was poorly
  executed

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Moving the Capital

• Done with poor planning
• Extreme heat, lack of provisions
• Forced move of nobility and artisans
• Logistics of information/travel in this period,
  Mongol attacks lead to failure

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Increase in Doab Taxes, 1328-29

• Doab was the most productive, however, no
  measures were takes to phase the taxes in
  gradually, or target more profitable crops
• Peasants rebel and leave villages
• Grain becomes expensive, revocation of taxes and
  release of grains from city granries comes as too
  little to late
• Widespread famine in 1330s causes further problems

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Currency Reform, 1329-1330

• Introduction of copper coins an attempt to copy
  the chao of the Chinese-Mongol empire
• Not a bad idea, however, its value made 11 with
  silver tanka coins
• Coin easy to forge, causes collapse in currency
  value, foreign merchants refuse to accept it
• Treasury has to buy back all copper coins

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New Legal Code, 1341-43

• Attempt to create a unified legal code based on
  sharia
• New judges, many foreigners, hired to try
  casesoffends local ulema
• Did not recognize that the flexibility and
  diversity of local custom was favorable to most
  local communitiesuniformity only of use to
  government and certain elites

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Why did his reforms fail?

• Bad timing in terms of weather and politics
• The personality of the Sultan, lack of diplomacy
• An inability to carry out one reform at a time
• Inability to fit a theoretical model of empire to
  local conditions
• The support of the Chehelgan, Sufis, Ulema, and
  peasant communities were still important, and the
  Sultan undermined them.

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Firuzs restoration, 1351-88

• First peaceful succession1351 his cousin and
  heir Firuz is crowned with popular support
• Quickly attempts to restore confidence in the
  government by giving generous gifts to nobility,
  local leaders, Religious figures
• Foreign judges pensioned off, local one hired
• Compensation give to M. B. Tughlaqs victims
• Massive public works and charity undertaken for
  common people
• No attempt made to re-establish control over
  Deccan
• Wages rise, but the Iqta system with all its
  problems is re-asserted

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Evaluating the Sultanate period

• Both at the elite and popular level a hybrid
  culture mixing Indian and Islamicate ideas and
  culture was beginning to emergemost notably in
  literature, religion, dress, manners
• An Indian version of Islam, heavily influenced by
  Sufism, local customs, and local pilgrimage sites
  became rooted in South Asiavery different from
  Middle Eastern Islam
• Politically leadership however, remained
  fragmented since the iqta system and other forms
  of segmentary rule favored local nobility not a
  centralized authority
• Trade continued to grow and expand connecting
  far-flung parts of South Asia and serving as a
  conduit for the movement of culture and ideas,
  also appears to have led to forms of social
  mobility for some groups.

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Transition to Mughal Era

• After the Tughlaq period no other major empires
  would form until the arrival of the Mughals in
  1526
• Stable regional kingdoms, however, such as that
  of the Lodis (NW), Sharquis, Bengal, Vijaynagar,
  and Deccani Sultantes do appear and last until
  1526
• Each of these regimes showed considerable
  cultural borrowingIslamic sultanates gradually
  became indiginized to some degree, while Hindu
  Kingdoms borrowed from Islamicate forms

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