A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c16.23

c16.23

Meanwhile important political changes elsewhere proclaimed the approaching doom of the Tughlak empire in the South. Jalal-ud-din Hasan Shah, the governor of Ma'bar, asserted his independence after doing away with the loyal lieutenants of the sultan, and began to issue gold and silver coins in his own name from Madura (1333-4). Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlak got news of the revolt and marched to Wārangal, where the outbreak of an epidemic decimated his army and the sultan himself caught the infection. He therefore had to retrace his steps, having achieved nothing, and thus destroyed what remained of the prestige of the Delhi sultanate in the South. A false rumour that the sultan had died of the plague added to the confusion, and the rebels, both Hindu and Muslim, felt greatly heartened.