Page 26 - SST Class 07

their salary for one year in advance. However, this Firoz Shah Tughluq was a welfare-oriented ruler.
expedition was given up because this could lead
to misery to the soldiers. These new soldiers were
disbanded.
All these new ideas proved impractical, and
Muhammad-bin Tughluq became very unpopular.
As a result, he lost the confidence of the nobles.
Also, there were revolts in Bengal, Gujarat,
Warangal, Sindh and other places. The Bahmani
and the Vijayanagara kingdoms came up in the
Deccan and South India respectively. No other
Delhi sultan had faced so many revolts as he. He
had to undertake several battles only to suppress
revolts. And he died in 1351 when he was going
to Sindh to suppress a revolt.
Firoz Shah Tughluq
Firoz Shah Tughluq was the cousin of
Muhammad-bin Tughluq and ascended to the
throne after the latter’s death in 1351. He realised
that he had to win the confidence of the ulema
and the nobles, so he started to give them favours.
During the Sultanate period, the sultans gave iqtas
(land) to the nobles for the realisation of taxes and
maintenance of army. These iqtas were
transferable, that is, the sultan could take them
back whenever he desired so. On the death of an
iqtadar , the iqta went back to the sultan.
However, Firoz Shah Tughluq made iqtas
hereditary, that is, now these passed from father to
the son. To please the ulema, he introduced the
Quaranic laws and gave grants to them. As a
result, the nobles and the ulema became very
powerful.
However, these steps resulted in revolts in Bihar
and Bengal. Mewar and Marwar too seceded from
his Sultanate.
Kotla Firoz Shah Fort in Delhi
Contemporary Social Science-7
26
He built many canals, tanks, wells, hospitals and
rest houses. He founded many new towns such as
Hissar, Ferozepur, Jaunpur and Ferozabad. He
gave free medical services to the people. He set
up educational institutions. He also commissioned
the translation of Sanskrit works into Persian and
Arabic.
After the death of Firoz Shah Tughluq in 1388, a
war of succession broke out and many governors
declared their independence. Soon after his death,
the Delhi Sultanate reduced to Delhi and its
surrounding areas.
The Tughluq dyansty suffered heavily when Timur
invaded in 1398. The Tughluqs came to power for
a brief period after Timur returned, but this
dynasty finally came to an
end in 1414 due to weak
successors who were finally
defeated by Khizr Khan who
became the sultan of Delhi,
and thus the Delhi Sultanate
passed into the hands of the
Sayyid dynasty. Timur the Lame
Info Bits
Info Bits
Zia-ud-din Barani was a chronicler who wrote the
Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi. He has critically remarked
about the rule of Muhammad-bin Tughluq that he
lacked political judgement and was incapable to
rule.
Comparison between Ala-ud-din Khalji
and Muhammad-bin Tughluq
A comparison between Muhammad-bin Tughluq
and Ala-ud-din Khalji will not be out place here.
1. Delhi was attacked twice during the reign of
Ala-ud-din Khalji, so he raised a new garrison
at Siri for his large standing army. On the other
hand, Delhi was attacked by the Mongols in
the early Tughluq years, so Muhammad-bin
Tughluq ordered the shifting of capital to
Daulatabad (Devgiri) in the south. He also
ordered all citizens to vacate the city which
was then used as a garrison for his army.