Twilight of the Sultanate c6.s1: Death of Fīroz Shāh Tughlaq

Twilight of the Sultanate c6.s1

Language: English

Death of Fīroz Shāh Tughlaq

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The process of political disintegration had commenced during the reign of Fīrōz Tughlaq himself (1351-1388). He failed to reclaim the Deccan and frittered away his energies in fruitless campaigns in far-off regions—Orissa, Nagarkot and Thatta—without being able to add a patch of territory to his shrunken empire. His revival of the Jāgīrs and enrolment of an army of slaves destroyed the merits of the reforms of the Khaljīs and strengthened the forces of disorder. In his zeal for piety he lightened punishments and thereby encouraged corruption in administration and inefficiency in the army.¹

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¹ T.F.S. (A), 303, 344-45.

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To these unhappy circumstances was added an element of misfortune. During his last days he lost his faculties of decision, and after his death a ten years' war of succession made confusion worse confounded. To have a clear picture of the condition of the Sultanate on the eve of Tīmūr's invasion, it would be pertinent to make a detailed study of this decade of decline (1388-1398).

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Fīrōz Tughlaq "attained deliverance from the tortures of existence" on Sunday, 20 September, 1388 (18 Ramzān, 790H)², and was buried near the Hauz-i-Khās. Because of loss of faculties some time before his death at the age of 81,³ Prince Muhammad had assumed regal authority with the title of Nāsiruddīn Muhammad Shāh.⁴ But his incompetence and acts of injustice made the old dying Sultan nominate his grandson, prince Tughlaq Shāh, son of his elder son Fateh Khan, as his successor. On Fīrōz's death Tughlaq Shāh ascended the throne with the title of Sultan Ghayāsuddīn.

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² T.M.S., 140. Badaonī has 16 Ramzān, Ferishta 3 Ramzān.

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³ Badaonī (I, 253; Ranking, I, 336) and Ferishta (I, 150) say that he was more than 90 at the time of his death. According to 'Afīf he was born in 707 H (A.D. 1307-8). At the time of his death he must have been in his 84th lunar and 81st solar year. C.H.I., III, 184, gives his age as 83, but that must be lunar.

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⁴ T.M.S., 138-40.

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Ghayāsuddīn's first task was to strike at his disestablished uncle who was restless with discontent. He sent his Vazīr, Khwājā Jahān and Bahadur Nāhar, a converted Rajput from Mewat and a prominent figure in the Delhi politics, to the hills of Sirmur to which Muhammad had fled, but the latter escaped to Suket and therefrom to Nagarkot, about a hundred miles north of the town of Sirmur.⁵ But while Muhammad was still unsubdued and utmost caution was called for on the part of Ghayāsuddīn, the latter, being young and inexperienced, gave himself up to wine and debauchery. And when he imprisoned his real brother Salār Shāh for no ostensible reason,⁶ his cousin Abū Bakr, son of Zafar Khan and grandson of Fīrōz, rose against him, murdered the Sultan and the Vazīr and himself ascended the throne on 19 February, 1389 (21 Safar, 791 H).⁷

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⁵ Badaonī, I, 258.

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⁶ T.M.S., 143.

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⁷ *Ibid.*, 143.

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To profit by these kaleidoscopic changes the Amīrān-i-Sadah⁸ or Centurions of Samana, lying immediately to the north of the capital, invited Muhammad Shāh to make another attempt to capture the throne. The latter started from Nagarkot and marching via Jalandhar arrived at Samana, where he crowned himself a second time as the Sultan in April, 1389 (Rabiul Ākhir, 791 H).⁹ Some discontented Delhi nobles also joined him there and he started for Delhi with twenty thousand horse, which swelled to fifty thousand on the way. On occasions like these the riff-raff used to join contending armies for the love of plunder;¹⁰ for others also it was safe to be in the army than to be a mere spectator and a probable victim of its banditry.¹¹ Because of his large army, Muhammad was enabled to occupy the palace of Jahān Numā without any opposition, but at the palace of Fīrōzābād the combined forces of Sultan Abū Bakr and Bahadur Nāhar inflicted on him a crushing defeat on 29 April, and forced him to flee with barely 2,000 men.¹²

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⁸ The Amīrān-i-Sadah find mention in the Tughlaq times. These officers seem to have combined civil and military functions. They collected revenue and each had one hundred men under his command. They were Indians as well as foreigners—neo-Muslims or Mongol converts, Turks and Afghans. Like all medieval adventurers they were ever ready to profit by the difficulties of the Sultanate, and their rebellions were a chronic feature of the Tughlaq times. T.F.S. (B), 495; T.A., I, 215; Bayley: *Gujarat*, 43. Also Ind. Ant., XXVIII, 142; Ishwari Prasad, *Qaraunah Turks*, 208-9 n.

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⁹ T.M.S., 146; T.A., I, 243.

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¹⁰ T.F.S. (A), 289.

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¹¹ T.F.S. (A), 112, 122.

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¹² T.M.S., 146; Ferishta, I, 152.

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Though defeated in battle, Muhammad was not defeated in spirit. He retreated into the Doab, made Jalesar¹³ his headquarters, and began preparations for another war to wrest the crown. He sent his son Humayūn Khan to Samana to enrol fresh troops. Chiefs in the vicinity of Samana such as Malik Ziyāul Mulk and Malik Kamāluddīn Maīn were already with him. Now some other important nobles like the Shahnā (Superintendent) of Delhi, and the governors of Multan, Bihar, Avadh, and Qannauj, together with Rai Sumēr of Etawah and many other Rais joined him. He gave them titles and honours befitting their positions. Malik Sarwar, the Shahnā of Delhi, was made the Vazīr and given the title of Khwājā Jahān. Nasīrul Mulk, the Governor of Multan, was given the title of Khizr Khan (by which he was afterwards to be known as the founder of the Saiyyad Dynasty). Khawāsul Mulk, the Governor of Bihar, was made Khawās Khan and Saifuddīn became Saif Khan. Thus in the imminent civil war the whole of northern India became involved.

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¹³ In Etah district, U.P., 38 miles east of Mathura. In Akbar's time this pargana was inhabited by Guhilot Rajputs. Hunter, Imp. Gaz., VII, 103.

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Having collected a force of fifty thousand horse and "innumerable" foot¹⁴ Nāsiruddīn Muhammad once again marched towards Delhi in July-August, 1389 (Sh‘abān, 791 H).¹⁵ He met the army of Abū Bakr near the village of Kandli, about 46 miles north-east of Delhi.¹⁶ "There were heavy casualties on both sides,"¹⁷ but in the end Muhammad was defeated. Shortly afterwards his son Humayūn, who had arrived from Samana, was also beaten back at Panipat.¹⁸ But in spite of these discomfitures, Muhammad's authority was acknowledged in Multan, Lahore, Samana, Hansi, Hisār Fīrōzā and most of the districts to the north of Delhi. He cleared these districts of all disaffected elements by ordering the massacre of Fīrōz Shahī slaves there. Consequently in most of these places blood-baths took place, houses were burnt down and roads closed for traffic. Taking advantage of this confusion in which stable government had ceased to exist, the zamindars of the countryside withheld the payment of taxes.¹⁹

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¹⁴ T.M.S., 146-47.

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¹⁵ T.M.S., 147; T.A., I, 244.

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¹⁶ Kandli is most probably modern Kandhla, situated about 46 miles north-east of Delhi on the Delhi-Saharanpur Light Railway. It was a Mahāl in Sarkar Delhi, Sūba Delhi. Ain., Trs., II, 287.

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¹⁷ Ferishta, I, 152.

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¹⁸ Badaonī, Ranking, I, 343; T.A., I, 245.

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¹⁹ T.M.S., 147; T.A., I, 245.

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Tired of constant warfare and encouraged by his recent victories, Abū Bakr decided to fight to a finish. He marched against Muhammad Shāh towards Jalesar in April-May, 1390 (Jamadīul Avval, 792 H).²⁰ He had hardly gone 30 miles (*20 kurohs*) when Muhammad with 4,000 light-horse arrived by another route at Delhi, stormed the Badaon Gate and entered the city. Abū Bakr returned to Delhi in all haste and chased Muhammad out. In these bloody conflicts the people suffered acutely. Muhammad did little to defend the inhabitants of Jalesar, and the population of Fīrōzābād, Delhi and the Doab suffered terribly during this civil war.

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²⁰ T.M.S., 148; T.A., I, 245.

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Successful in battle, Abū Bakr fell a victim to treachery. In the month of August some noblemen turned against him "without any ostensible reason",²¹ and opened communications with Muhammad Shāh. This so much unnerved Abū Bakr that he fled to Bahādur Nāhar's Kotla, about 8 miles south of Nūh in Gurgaon district.²² His officers, left at the mercy of Muhammad, readily joined the latter who marched into Delhi and ascended the throne (a third time) at the palace of Fīrōzābād on 31 August, 1390 (19 Ramzān).²³ Many Fīrōz Shāhī nobles and officers loyal to Abū Bakr left for the Kotla to join him there. Muhammad found it a good opportunity to finish all the "impure rebels" who like the Egyptian guards had put the crown into commission and behaved like virtual kingmakers.²⁴ Some of them managed to escape, but all others were massacred in cold blood. This struck terror into the hearts of the Delhi people, and stabilised Muhammad Shah's position.

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²¹ T.M.S., 149; T.A., I, 246.

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²² Elliot, *Races*, II, 100. Nūh is shown in Constable, 27 Ca. The Kotla is mentioned as the name of a fortified town in Tijārā in *Āīn.*, Trs., II, 193. Also Hodivala, 393.

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²³ Ferishta, I, 153 ; T.A., I, 246.

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²⁴ Ferishta, I, 153.

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Sultan Muhammad now felt strong enough to crush Abū Bakr completely. In December, 1390 (Muharram, 793 H)²⁵ he sent his Vazīr, Islām Khan, and Prince Humayūn against Abū Bakr and they defeated the latter at the village of Mahindwārī.²⁶ Meanwhile Muhammad himself arrived with reinforcements at the Kotla and compelled Abū Bakr and Bahadur Nāhar to surrender. Bahadur was pardoned, but Abū Bakr was sent a prisoner to Meerut where he died shortly after.²⁷

Cites (2)

Tārīkh-i Firishta — Muḥammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh Firishta 1606, Persian
Tārīkh-i Mubārakshāhī — Yaḥyā b. Aḥmad Sirhindī