History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c11.289

c11.289

owing to incessant exertions and on the 21st Muharram 752 A.H. (March 20, 1351 A.D.) he expired on the bank of the Indus, leaving his friends and followers in the desert of Sindh to mourn his loss.¹⁵⁸ There is nothing to show that a clerical plot was hatched to dethrone the Sultan and Barani's chronicle furnishes no clue to the fact.¹⁵⁹ Dr. Vincent Smith feels horror at the long duration of the reign and writes: "It is astonishing that such a monster should have retained power for twenty-six years and then have died in his bed."¹⁶⁰ If the reader bears in mind that Muhammad was a capable man who was as munificent in his rewards as he was inexorable in his punishments, as brave and high-spirited in war as he was impartial and stern in times of peace, he will feel no surprise. Greater tyrants than Muhammad Tughluq have swayed the sceptre for longer periods both in the east and west and often the length of the regime depends upon the personal qualities of the despot and the circumstances in which he is placed. But we may readily concur in the historian's judgment that politically he destroyed the hard-won supremacy of the Dihli Sultanate with the necessary reservation that the circumstances in which he was placed were of an exceptionally difficult character. The Deccan was lost to the empire and all the provinces became practically independent. The Bahmani Kingdom was firmly established with its capital at Kulburga and the kingdom of Vijayanagar on the Coromandel coast had brought a large area under its control. The Sultanate of Madura enjoyed *de facto* sovereignty and carried on wars with the Hindus until the year 1365 A.D. The large empire which had once extended from Dihli, and Lahore to Dwarsamudra and Ma'bar in the South and from Lakhnauti and Gaur in the east to Thatta and the confines of Sindh on the west was reduced to incredibly small proportions. Gujarat continued nominally as a province of the Dihli empire, but in other places the imperial authority had ceased to exist.