History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c6.20

Language: English

c6.20.1

The dynasty is known by the name Tughluq.¹¹ What does the cognomen Tughluq signify? Sir Wolseley Haig had once expressed the opinion,¹² which he informed me in a private letter he had abandoned, that Tughluq was not the name of Sultan Ghiyas-al-Din Tughluq but a tribal cognomen, and argued that it was not necessary to describe the second ruler of the dynasty as Muhammad Bin Tughluq.¹³ But on this point the testimony of contemporary authorities is conclusive. Tughluq was not an unfamiliar name in the middle ages. Such names were common among the Mughals as appears from the *Tarikh-i-Rashidi*, and sometimes dynasties were called after the names of their founders. The suggestion of the *Muhlaqāt* alluded to by Firishta that Qutlugh became Tughluq through frequent use by Indians seems to be incorrect. If it had been so, Muhammad Tughluq, who was a well-educated scholar, would have restored the original spelling of the word, as there is evidence to show that he was very careful about his coin legends. Besides, Tughluq and Qutlugh seem to have been carefully distinguished from each other, for Qutlugh Khan was a recognised title which was conferred upon Amirs by these Sultans. Muhammad Tughluq's tutor enjoyed the title of Qutlugh Khan. Ibn Batūṭah and Barani both write Tughluq (تغلق) and they are supported by ‘Afif, Yaḥyā, Nizam-al-Din, Abul-Fazl, Badaoni, Hajji-ad-Dabir and many others.

c6.20.2

Firishta in speaking of the origin of the dynasty writes that Malik Tughluq was the name of the father of Ghiyas-al-Din Tughluq who was a slave of Sultan Balban. Now Firishta differs from other writers in one important particular. He alone speaks of the father of Ghiyas as a slave of Balban, while others (S. S. ‘Afif included) say that the three brothers Rajab, Abu Bakr and Tughluq came from Khorasan and entered the service of Sultan ‘Ala-al-Din Khilji.¹⁴ If Tughluq (Ghazi Tughluq) came with his brothers from Khorasan, how are we to explain the tradition that he was born of a Jat woman of the Punjab whom his father had married? The tradition need not be doubted, for among the Tughluqs there seems to have been no prejudice against such intermarriages, and we have the instance of the marriage of Sultan Ghiyas’s brother Rajab with Rana Mal Bhatti’s daughter at the suggestion of the former. There is no mention of Tughluq or even Ghazi Malik in Barani’s lists of the officers of Balban, Kaiqubad and Jalal-al-Din Khilji.¹⁵ In Barani’s history we hear of him for the first time in the reign of ‘Ala-al-Din Khilji, leading expeditions against the Mughals, Barani mentions Fakhr-al-Din Jūnā as occupying the office of Dādbaḳ¹⁶ at the opening of the reign, and we read of his father Ghazi Beg Tughluq driving out of India the Mughals under Aibak Khan, an officer of Amir Daud Khan, ruler of Transoxiana, in 1305 A.D. eight years after ‘Ala-al-Din’s accession to the throne.

c6.20.3

It does not seem probable that both father and son should have secured ‘Ala-al-Din’s favour so quickly after their arrival from Khorasan, and then, neither Barani nor Ibn Batūtah, nor any other writer says that Tughluq also brought his son with him. The office of Dādbaḳ was a highly responsible one, and ‘Ala-al-Din would not have entrusted it to Juna, if he had been a newcomer. It appears that Ghazi Malik or Ghazi Beg Tughluq, for he is so variously styled by Muslim historian, had been in India for some years and had given proof of his abilities. Hajji-ad-Dabīr, relying upon a certain history of which he does not give the name, writes that the three brothers Sipahsalar Rajab, Abu Bakr and Ghazi came from Khorasan in the reign of Sultan ‘Ala-al-Din Khilji. Ghazi was the eldest, and by virtue of his abilities rapidly rose in the Sultan’s favour and finally became governor of Dipalpur.¹⁷ He gives neither the date of this work nor the name of its author, though after some discussion regarding internal evidence furnished by the work itself he concludes that the author was neither an ‘Arab nor a Persian. Hajji-ad-Dabīr is supported by Ibn Batūtah and ‘Afif. How are we to reconcile the discrepancy between these authorities and Firishta and the author of the Khulāsat-ut-Tawarīkh?

c6.20.4

Barani and Afīf are contradicted by Amir Khusrau, another contemporary writer, who in his Tughluqnamah, which has now become available to us, writes that Ghazi Malik was in the service of Jalaluddin Khilji and Prince ‘Ulugh Khan prior to entering the service of Sultan Alauddin Khilji. When the crown of Delhi was offered to him after his victory over Khusrau, he reviewed his past career before the assembled nobles and told them that he had received great favours at the hands of Sultan Jalaluddin Khilji. This is not a mere casual mention for the nobles in recounting the brave deeds of Ghazi Malik made a special mention of his gallant fighting during the siege of Ranthambhor in the time of Jalaluddin Khilji. It appears from this account that Ghazi Malik who was a veteran warrior in 1320 was holding high offices long before Alauddin's time. Now that Barani's statement that Tughluq came from Khorasan in the reign of Alauddin Khilji is wrong it is possible that his father may have come in the time of Balban and married a Jat woman of the Punjab.