most controversial of all the sultans ever to rule India

Muhammad bin Tughluq (Arabic: محمد بن تغلق) (c.1300– 1351)

Muhammad bin Tughluq was the Sultan of Delhi from 1325 to 1351. He was the eldest son of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq. Ghiyath al-din sent the young Muhammad to the Deccan to campaign against the Kakatiya dynasty king Prataparudra of Warangal. He succeeded to the Delhi throne after his father's death in 1325.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the most controversial of all the sultans ever to rule India. He was the most cruel, cold-blooded and crazy sultan yet. At the same time, he was also brilliant, philanthropic and an endearing person. Muhammad was also exceptionally well educated and he was the patron of arts that would rival the Mughals later. He was an authority on medicine and mathematics. He possessed formidable intelligence and superb penmanship. This dichotomy in his character, perhaps would be diagnosed as a psychiatric disorder today of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Whether he was a genius or a maniacal lunatic, an idealist or a visionary, a tyrant or a benevolent king are unanswered questions. However, all these characters were apparent at one time or another in his actions. Was he a devout Muslim or a heretic? A complex man, he remains an enigma. He went against the ulema, the Muslim scholars who are experts in Muslim law and religion.

In those days Delhi, the capital city was continuously under the threats of foreign invasions. So moving the capital down South might reduce this treat to some extent. Also he had some success in Deccan and Devagiri was under his firm control. He renamed it Daulatabad and ordered his capital moved there, fourteen hundred kilometers from Delhi! Tughluq was committed to maintaining the Sultanate's expansion into the newly-conquered provinces of peninsular India. Instead of moving just his government offices there, he forcibily moved the entire population of Delhi to the new capital. When the pampered citizens of Delhi showed reluctance to move so far away, the sultan resorted to brutal force. People were evicted from their homes in Delhi and if they refused to go they were immediately put to death. Cripples were tied to the catapult and slung towards Daulatabad. A blind man was tied to a horse and dragged all the way and only one of his legs reached the final destination in Daulatabad. However, all these accounts of brutality may be exaggeration by the ulema, which were waging an acerbic war of words with the sultan in Delhi. The military expenses incurred with foolish adventures and the move to Daulatabad cost him dearly. To raise funds, additional taxes were levied on the poor farmers, who ran to the jungles to escape from the reprisals of a cruel sultan. The land went un-cultivated and this added further to the problem of the treasury. The resulting famine on top of an existing drought killed thousands. At this juncture the sultan turned very compassionate and distributed large amount of grains form the stocks and showed enormous concern. The plan failed due to inadequate water supply arrangements in Daulatabad; after only two years, the capital had to be shifted back again to Delhi. Large numbers pf people died during the moves due to the inadequate travel arrangements. It was said that Delhi was a ghost town for years after the move back. "When I entered Delhi, it was almost like a desert", wrote the North African traveller ibn Batuta.

Muhammad Bin Tughlaq is known for his active interest in experimenting with the coinage. He implanted his character and activities on his coinage and produced abundant gold coins compared to any of his predecessors. He overtook them by executing a fine calligraphy and by issuing number of fractional denominations. An experiment with his forced currency places him in the rank of one of the greatest moneyers of Indian history though it wasn't successful in India.

The large influx of gold due to his southern Indian campaign made him to adjust the weight standard of coinage which was in usage all the while. He added the gold dinar of weight 202 grains while compared to the then standard weight of 172 grains. The silver adlis weighed 144 grains weight and was his innovation aiming to adjust the commercial value of the metal with respect to gold. Seven years later, he discontinued it due to lack of popularity and acceptance among his subjects.

All his coins reflect a staunch orthodoxy. The coins stuck at both Delhi and Daulatabad, were curious and was issued in memory of his late father. The Kalima appeared in most of his coinage, the title engraved were "The warrior in the cause of God", "The trustier in support of the four Khalifs - Abubakkar, Umar, Usman and Ali". He minted coins in several places such as Delhi, Lakhnauti, Salgaun, Darul-I-Islam, Sultanpur (Warrangal), Tughlaqpur (Tirhut), Daulatabad(Devagiri), Mulk-I-Tilang etc., More than thirty varieties of billon coins are known so far, and the types show his numismatic interests. The copper coins are not as fascinating as the billon and gold coinage, and many were minted in a variety of fabrics.

Unique among his coinage was the "forced currency". Tughluq had two scalable versions, issued in Delhi and Daulatabad. The currency obeyed two different standards, probably to satisfy the local standard which preexisted in the North and in the South respectively. Tughluq's skill in forcing the two standards of currency is remarkable. He engraved "He who obeys the Sultan obeys the compassionate" to fascinate people in accepting the new coinage. Inscriptions were even engraved in the Nagari legend, but owing to the alloy used, the coinage underwent deterioration.

Tughluq also introduced token currency for the first time in India, modelled after the Chinese example, using brass or copper coins, backed by silver and gold kept in the treasury. However, very few people exchanged their gold/silver coins for the new copper ones. As well, the Copper and Brass coins could easily be forged, turning every house into a mint. Tughluq subsequently withdrew the forged currency by exchanging it with bullion and gold. This led to heavy losses. It is said that after the plan failed, there were heaps of copper coins lying around the royal offices for years.

For all his brilliance, he also undertook bizarre unachievable campaigns like trying to reverse Alexander’s march into India and capturing Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan (what used to be called Khorasan). After spending vast sums of money the project was abandoned before it even got started. Another folly, an expedition into China got bogged down in Kulu with resistance from Hindus. Only ten out of a staggering force of sixty thousand horsemen returned to Delhi following this fiasco. Such grandiose, unsuccessful policy experiments made Muhammad notorious in the minds of many of his contemporaries.

Despite the mind-boggling idiocy of the experiments that failed miserably, Muhammad bin Tughlaq managed to stay in power for twenty-six years. His empire covered the regions from Peshawar in the north and Madurai in the South, and from Sindh in the west to Assam in the east. Unlike some of his predecessors he ought to be admired for the absence of religious bigotry and his successful administration with minor reforms of merit. He did not busy himself with temple destruction neither did he indulge in nurturing his libido. He was a genius when it came to military strategy. Muhammad bin Tughluq died while campaigning in Sind. He was succeeded by his cousin Firuz Shah Tughluq.