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The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c20.s3: Firoz Tughluq, 1351—1388

The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c20.s3

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Firoz Tughluq, 1351—1388

His early life

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Firoz was born in 1309. He was the son of Rajjab who was the younger brother of Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq. His mother was a Bhatti Rājput and a daughter of Ran Mal, a petty chieftain of Abohar in the modern district of Hissar in the East Panjab. The marriage was a forced one. It is said that Ghazi Tughluq, when governor of Dipalpur, heard of the beauty and charm of this Rajput girl and pressed Ran Mal to give her away in marriage to his younger brother. But the proud Rajput spurned the proposal. Ghazi Malik, therefore, used coercion and reduced Ran Mal and his people to great hardship. The girl told her father that if by giving her away the family saved itself from inevitable destruction she would have no objection to the proposed marriage. Firoz was the offspring of this union. When he grew up, Firoz was trained in the art of administration and warfare; but he does not seem to have distinguished himself in either. Muhammad Tughluq had affection for his cousin and associated him with the administration of the kingdom. It is said that he intended Firoz to be his successor.

His accession

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Firoz was present in the royal camp at Thatta when Muhammad breathed his last on 20th March, 1351. The royal army, being very greatly harassed by the enemy, Taghi, and the Mongol mercenaries who had been employed by Muhammad as auxiliaries, found itself in great confusion and decided to select a leader lest it should be lost in difficulties. As Muhammad had wished Firoz to succeed him, all eyes turned towards the latter. There was, however, a small section in favour of the minor son of the Sultan's sister, that pressed this boy's claim on the ground of his more being closely related to Muhammad than Firoz. But the nobles replied that they wanted a grown-up man who should be able to lead them out of the difficulties. They urged Firoz to accept the crown. He, being a man of retiring disposition and religious bent of mind, rejected the offer. The nobles, the 'shaikhs and the *ulema*, thereupon, combined to bring pressure upon him. He yielded to their importunities. His coronation took place in the camp near Thatta on 23rd March, 1351.

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The new king restored order in the army, saved it from the enemy and set out for Delhi. Hardly had he quitted Sindh when information was received that Khwaja-i-Jahan, deputy of the late Sultan, had proclaimed at Delhi a boy as the son and successor of Muhammad bin Tughluq and carried out his enthronement. When the army reached Multan, Firoz held consultations with his nobles and the Muslim jurists. The nobles refused to admit the existence of any son of the late Sultan. The jurists pronounced their opinion that Khwaja-i-Jahan's candidate, being a minor, was not qualified to be the Sultan of Delhi. As in Muslim law sovereignty is not considered to be a matter of 'inherited right', it was unnecessary to consider whether the boy had any right to the throne from the legal standpoint. Moreover, the time required a powerful man at the helm of affairs. The cause of Khwaja-i-Jahan's nominee was doomed; so the minister submitted and was pardoned in view of his loyal service in the past. He was allowed to go to his fief of Samana; but was put to death by a follower of Sher Khan, governor of Sunam and Samana, probably at the instigation of the nobles and officers of the army. Firoz now became the undisputed sovereign of a large kingdom.

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Firoz's accession has been a subject of controversy among the scholars. Sir Woolseley Haig is of opinion that the boy raised to the throne by Khwaja-i-Jahan was not 'a supposititious son' but an issue of his body. According to him, Firoz's succession was, therefore, irregular and he may be called a usurper. Other historians differ from this view and maintain that there is no record or proof to show that the boy was Muhammad's own son. Even if the child were Muhammad's own son, Firoz's succession was not irregular. According to Islamic law sovereignty is not the monopoly of any particular individual or a class of men. It belongs to one who is competent to occupy the throne. In other words, there is nothing like ‘inherited right’ of succession to a Muslim throne. Though it must be admitted that in the Sultanate the succession of a son had come to receive some kind of recognition, yet competence and the will of the electors, that is, chief nobles and theologians, and, sometimes, nomination by the dying monarch were the decisive factors in the choice of a successor. Firoz was duly elected, he was pronounced competent and, according to Barani, he was nominated heir by Muhammad. Thus he fulfilled all important conditions. Hence, he cannot be called usurper; nor can it be maintained that his accession was irregular. Dr. Ram Prasad Tripathi says that Firoz’s accession revived the principle of election which “had been gradually receding in the background without, however, denying the right of the son to rule. The case also emphasised fitness against merely close relationship to the sovereign.” Moreover, it enunciated two new principles, namely, that it did not matter if a ruler was born of a mother who had been a non-Muslim before her marriage, and that it was not necessary that he should be a distinguished soldier. For these reasons Firoz’s accession “is as important as it is interesting.”

Administration

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Towards the end of August, 1351, Firoz entered the capital without opposition. He appointed Malik-i-Maqbul his prime minister and gave him the title of Khan-i-Jahan. The new prime minister was a Brahman from Telingana and had recently become a convert to Islam. He was a very able administrator and his adhesion proved to be a great asset. Firoz’s first task was to conciliate his subjects by remitting all debts due to the government and by “abstaining from any endeavour to recover the treasure which had been lavished by Khwaja-i-Jahan in his attempt to establish his nominee.” The Sultan was lucky in enjoying the confidence and support of the people of Delhi, particularly of the orthodox Sunni section of its population. He was able, with public support, to effect some improvements in the administration of law and order and to give security to the people which had been sadly lacking owing to disturbances during the last years of Muhammad’s reign. Firoz looked upon himself as trustee of the state and responsible for the welfare of the people. He reasserted the principles of the theocratic system of government and considered himself to be the real sovereign of the Muslim section of his subjects for whose moral and material welfare he did all that was possible in that age. He tried to approximate to the ideal of a true Islamic monarch. Firoz, therefore, lived and worked in a dual capacity, that is, temporal ruler of all the people living in his dominions and temporal and spiritual (religious) ruler of his Muslim subjects. He succeeded in giving a certain measure of material prosperity to the people and in raising the importance of orthodox Islam.

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The second task before the new Sultan was that of "raising the Delhi Sultanate from the state of decrepitude and demoralisation into which it had fallen since the closing years of his predecessor's reign." This was not possible without spectacular military achievement and without recovering the lost provinces of the kingdom, namely, the Dakhin, Bangal, Sindh and Rajasthan. Firoz, who lacked military ability of a high order and power of domination, shuddered from the thought of recovering the Dakhin and Rajasthan. He made a half-hearted attempt, and without success, to bring Bangal and Sindh back under the control of Delhi. He made little or no attempt to increase the power and prestige of the crown. He was essentially a man of peace. His main work was directed to improving the economic lot of the people. He introduced no administrative reforms as such (except those in the revenue department); but made the administration work smoothly during his long reign. He appointed capable ministers, entrusted the work of government to them and gave them his confidence and support. This was the secret of his success as a ruler.

The revenue policy

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Firoz paid great attention to the revenue affairs of his kingdom. He found the financial and the revenue administration in a chaotic condition. The people had suffered greatly from extortion, maladministration and famine. To heal the wounds and restore confidence he wrote off the *taqavi* loans that had been advanced to the people by the late Sultan. He increased the salaries of the officers and abolished the use of physical coercion to which governors and revenue officers were subjected when they came to the court to render accounts of the income and expenditure of their jurisdictions. The most important task was that of preparing a statement of the probable income of the state. He had a rough estimate made of the public revenues of the kingdom. This task was entrusted to an experienced revenue officer, named Khwaja Hisam-ud-din. As the result of six years’ hard work, during which he made a tour of the provinces and examined revenue records, the Khwaja fixed the revenue of the *khalsa* land in the kingdom at six crore and eighty-five *lakh tankas*. These figures, which remained unchanged, represented Firoz’s annual income from the land revenue of the territory directly under the state administration throughout his reign. The estimate was not made on the basis of the measurement of land and the ascertainment on the actual produce of the soil. It was the result of guess or speculation, reinforced by local information and the past experience of the revenue department. He abandoned the more scientific method of fixing the state demand by measurement of land. Inspite of this basic defect, the fixing of the land revenue of the Sultanate on more or less a permanent basis was a great achievement for which Firoz deserves credit.

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The Sultan abolished as many as twenty-four vexatious taxes, including the much hated grazing and house taxes. He lowered the State demand as far as land revenue was concerned. He further lightened the cultivator’s burden by putting an end to the pernicious custom of imposing benevolences on the governors at the time of their appointment, and also annually, which really used to fall upon the shoulders of the people. In conformity with the Quranic law, Firoz charged only four taxes, namely, *kharaj*, *khams*, *jizya* and *zakat*. *Kharaj* was the land tax; *khams* meant one-fifth of the booty captured during war. Ala-ud-din and Muhammad Tughluq used to appropriate four-fifth of the booty, leaving only one-fifth to the army. But Firoz followed the Islamic custom of taking one-fifth and leaving four-fifth to the soldiery. Firoz was quite strict in realising *jizya* from the non-Muslims. He even extended its scope by charging it from the Brahmans who had either been exempt from this tax or had managed to evade it. *Zakat* was a 2½ per cent tax on property realised from the Muslims and was spent on certain specific religious purposes only. In addition to these four taxes, the Sultan later on added, with the approval of the *ulema*, irrigation tax levied on those cultivators who made use of the waters of the State canals for irrigating their fields. Its rate was one-tenth of the produce of the irrigated area. Officers and revenue collectors were warned not to charge more than the prescribed dues. Those who violated these instructions were punished. Revenue officers and collectors were paid liberally by grants of land, and also allowances, so that they might not harass the cultivators.

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The Sultan took steps to make internal trade free by abolishing a number of duties that had greatly hampered the circulation of merchandise and retarded commercial prosperity. This wise measure revived the already dwindling trade.

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The great interest that Firoz paid to revenue administration brought him considerable income. His enhanced revenues were due to (1) improved quality of cultivation and superior crops, (2) water tax, and (3) gardens. Firoz was very fond of gardens. He laid out 1,200 fruit gardens in the neighbourhood of Delhi which yielded an annual revenue of one lakh and eighty thousand tankas and enabled him to solve the problem of food shortage in Delhi.

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The result of the above measures was extension of cultivation, progress of trade, general prosperity of the people and increase in the revenue of the State. Grain, cloth and other necessities of life became very cheap. We are told by contemporary writers that no village lay waste and no land fit for cultivation remained untilled. This seems to be an exaggeration; but there is no doubt that cultivators toiled hard and their fields produced much more than they had done for many years in the past. Shams-i-Siraj Afif sums up the effect of Firoz's beneficial revenue reforms in these words: "Their (people) homes were replete with grain, property, horses and furniture; everyone had plenty of gold and silver; no woman was without her ornaments and no house without good beds and *divans*. Wealth abounded and comforts were general. The State did not suffer from financial bankruptcy during this reign. The revenues of the Doab amounted to eighty lakhs of tankas and those of the territories of Delhi to six crores and eighty-five lakhs of tankas."

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Firoz's revenue policy was marred by three main defects. The first was the extension of the farming system which had been in existence throughout the period. Both Ala-ud-din and Muhammad bin Tughluq had discouraged it and preferred direct management. Firoz, on the other hand, gave great impetus to this system. The work of revenue collection was given to the highest bidders who tried to extort as much from the cultivators as they could. The second defect was his *jagir* system. Both Ala-ud-din and Muhammad Tughluq were against the grant of *jagirs* to military and civil officers.

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Firoz, however, made it a rule to pay his military commanders, and even soldiers and civil officers, by assigning land to them. The assignment deeds were sold at a discount to professional revenue collectors with the result that the state suffered, the people were harassed and the assignees also got less than their legitimate share of the revenue of the assigned land. The third defect was the extension of the scope and rigours of collection of the *jizya*. Being a religious tax and a charge from the non-Muslims, it was already very unpopular. But, as Firoz was religiously inclined, he rigorously collected this tax. To him it was an anomaly that the Brahmans, who were the 'citadel of infidelity', should be free from it. So he imposed this tax upon the Brahmans for the first time in the history of the Sultanate.

Irrigation

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Another measure undertaken by the Sultan for the encouragement of agriculture was the introduction of a series of canals for irrigational purposes. Five such canals were constructed at the Sultan's orders. The most important of them was the canal which carried the waters of the Yamuna to the city of Hissar. It was 150 miles long. The second canal, 96 miles long, ran from the Satlaj to the Ghaghara. The third started from the neighbourhood of Mandavi and Sirmaur hills and connected it with Hansi. The fourth ran from the Ghaghara to the newly established town of Firozabad and the fifth ran from the Yamuna to Firozabad. The remains of some of these canals are seen to this day. Firoz sunk 150 wells, both for irrigation and for the use of travellers.

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A large area of land covering over 160 miles was served by two of the biggest canals. In the Doab alone there sprung up 52 colonies. In the area watered by the canals, superior crops, such as, wheat, sugarcane, lentils, etc., were grown. Fruits were also cultivated.

Public works

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Firoz was a great builder of works of public utility. He is said to have founded 300 towns which cannot be true unless we include in this the number of villages that had decayed or disappeared but were repopulated as a result of the Sultan's kindly policy of encouraging agriculture. The important towns of Firozabad (the Kotla Firoz Shah in Delhi), Fatehabad, Hissar, Jaunpur and Firozpur (near Badaun) were founded by him. He built "four mosques, thirty palaces, two hundred caravan-sarais, five reservoirs, five hospitals, a hundred tombs, ten baths, ten monumental tombs, and a hundred bridges." He had two of Asoka's pillars brought to Delhi; one from Khizrabad and the other from near Meerut. Besides, he laid out many gardens. As has already been given, he laid out 1,200 gardens in the vicinity of Delhi which produced so much fruit that it brought to the treasury an annual income of one lakh and eighty thousand tankas.

Justice and other humanitarian measures

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Firoz was guided by the Islamic law in the administration of justice. There was a chief qazi at the capital and several subordinate qazis in the provinces and in important towns in his dominions. According to the Islamic practice, the *mufti* expounded the law while the qazi delivered the judgment. The Sultan abolished torture which was commonly practised as a means of ascertaining the truth. But, as Firoz was kind-hearted, sometimes he imposed very mild punishment on criminals. Some culprits got no punishment at all. The result of his clemency was, on the whole, not very wholesome.

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Firoz introduced some benevolent measures for the welfare of the people. He established an employment bureau and placed an officer in charge of it. The names of unemployed persons were registered in this office and they were given suitable appointments according to their qualifications and fitness. He established a charity bureau which was called *Diwan-i-Khairat*. The department gave pecuniary help for the marriage of Muslim girls and for the benefit of widows and orphans. The Sultan established a charitable hospital, *Dar-ul-Shafa*, which was placed under the charge of skilful physicians. Patients were supplied free medicines and diet.

Promotion of learning

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Firoz was greatly interested in learning. He was a patron of scholars and granted them liberal subsistence allowances. He established many schools, colleges and monasteries, placed these institutions in charge of learned men and endowed them handsomely. There was an educational institution attached to each mosque. The Sultan was specially fond of history. Zia-ud-din Barani and Shams-i-Siraj Afif wrote their works under his patronage. Two other important works of history, namely, *Fatwah-i-Jahandari* by Barani and *Tarikh-i-Firozshahi*, were written during his reign. The Sultan wrote his autobiography which is entitled *Fatuhat-i-Firozshahi*. He was interested in medicine also. After the conquest of Kangara a great library containing Sanskrit works fell into his hands. Firoz caused some of the Sanskrit works to be translated into Persian. One of these was given by him the name of *Dalayal-i-Firozshahi*. Firoz's personal interest and the state patronage of learning encouraged the study of theology, jurisprudence and other branches of Islamic learning. It must, however, be confessed that the outlook of most of the scholars of the time was rather narrow and vitiated by religious fanaticism.

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Firoz Tughluq was elevated to the throne by prominent nobles and the *ulema*. By temperament and training, too, he was attracted towards religion. Moreover, as he was born of a lady who had been Hindu at least in her early life, the Sultan must have thought it necessary to show that he was no less a Musalman than those who were born of parents of pure Turkish lineage. For these reasons, he followed the policy of restoring the prestige and power of the *ulema*. Unlike Ala-ud-din and Muhammad Tughluq, he consulted Muslim divines and accepted their advice even in political and secular matters. Owing to this policy the separation between the church and the state and the conflict between the Sultan and the clerical order of the previous reign came to an end. As the *ulema* were orthodox Muslims with narrow and cramped outlook on life, their interference in state affairs produced injurious results. Under their influence, Firoz behaved as a true Islamic monarch and considered it to be his duty to stand forth as a champion of 'the faith' and to repress Hinduism and put down idolatry. The Sultan himself writes in his autobiography that he encouraged his subjects to embrace Islam by various methods. He exempted those Hindus from *jizya* who became converts to this religion. He encouraged conversion by giving jagirs, rewards in cash, titles and honours and state employment. He demolished temples and broke their images to pieces, and ordered a Brahman to be put to death on the charge that he was seducing Muslims to give up their religion.

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The Sultan was very intolerant towards the Shias and other non-Sunni Musalmans who were considered to be heretics by orthodox Sunnis. The Shias were punished and their religious books were publicly burnt, the Mulhids were similarly persecuted, and so also the Mahdwis. Even the Sufis were not spared.

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Such a ruler was bound to entertain great regard for the nominal Khalifa of Egypt. From him he twice received the investiture and robes of honour as Sultan. For the first time in the history of the Sultanate of Delhi, Firoz described himself as the deputy of the Khalifa. The Khalifa's name was included in the coins and was read in the *khutba* along with that of the Sultan.

The slave system

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The slave system received great impetus during the reign of Firoz who was very fond of them. He issued standing instructions to his governors and other officers to send him slaves from all parts of the kingdom. These slaves numbered about one lakh and eighty thousand out of whom forty thousand were enlisted for service in the Sultan's palace. They were placed under a separate officer with a regular staff of subordinates and clerks. A large sum of money was earmarked for the expenditure of this department. Most of the slaves were posted in various provinces. Firoz made a good arrangement for their education and employment; but the system became very pernicious. Like the *ulema*, the slaves interfered with the administration. The slave system became an important cause of the disintegration of the Sultanate of Delhi.

Army

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The army was organised on a feudal basis. The standing army established up Ala-ud-din Khalji seems to have gone into disuse and its place taken up by contingents of troops furnished by nobles and provincial governments, though, of course, the old bodyguards remained as before. The troops were generally paid by grants of land. A small number of irregulars were paid direct from the royal treasury. A majority of the armymen were paid by transferable assignments on the revenue. The assignments were purchased at Delhi by a professional class at one-third of their value. These were sold to the soldiers in the districts at one-half. This practice led to great abuse and the army discipline suffered considerably. The second defect was due to the rule that when a soldier became old, his son or son-in-law or even slave could succeed him. Service in the army, thus, became hereditary and considerations of merit and fitness were thrown to the winds. Thirdly, leaving aside a small section of eighty or ninety thousand cavalry, which remained at the capital, the rest of the army consisted of quotas supplied by the nobles. This part of the army could not be properly controlled by the central government, as the recruitment, promotion and discipline of the troops was in the hands of the nobles and not in that of the army minister. The military establishment became weak and ceased to be a great instrument of force.

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Firoz's foreign policy was marked by vacillation and weakness. He made no attempt to recover the Dakhin that had torn itself off from the Sultanate and had become absolutely independent during the later years of Muhammad bin Tughluq's reign. When pressed by his advisers to reduce the Bahamani kingdom, he evaded it on the plea that he was altogether against shedding the blood of the Muslims. Though he had no such scruples in regard to Rajasthan, he showed no desire to bring Mewar, Marwar and other states back under the suzerainty of Delhi. His feeble attempts to reduce Bengal failed ignominiously. In fact, his expeditions revealed the lack of military talent on his part and brought little or no gain to the Sultanate.

Bangal

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Bangal had asserted its independence as early as 1338. By 1352 Haji Iliyas, who styled himself as Shams-ud-din Iliyas Shah, had brought the whole of that province under his rule. Next, he invaded Tirhut with the object of conquering the south-eastern part of the Delhi Sultanate. Such an aggression could not be tolerated even by Firoz who invaded Bangal in 1353 with 70,000 horse and a large number of foot soldiers. Iliyas, abandoning his capital, Pandua, fled to Ikadala which Firoz failed to subdue. Fearing the approach of the rainy season, the Sultan gave up the campaign and began his return march to Delhi. Iliyas attacked him on the way but was defeated, and the Delhi army returned safely to the capital.

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In 1359 Firoz again invaded Bangal on the pretext of helping Zafar Khan, a son-in-law of a previous Sultan of East Bangal, to vindicate his claim to that province. Iliyas's successor, Sikandar, like his father, fled to Ikadala and Firoz had to recognise his independence and return to Delhi without achieving his object.

Expedition to Puri

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On his way back from Bangal Firoz halted for sometime at Jaunpur from where he marched against Jajnagar (modern Orissa). His objective was the famous Jagannath temple of Puri. The Raja of Jajnagar fled. The fanatical Sultan desecrated the temple and threw the idol into the sea. The Raja offered his submission and agreed to send twenty elephants as tribute, whereupon Firoz returned to Delhi.

Conquest of Nagarkot

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In 1360 the Sultan led an expedition to Nagarkot in Kangara which had passed out of the control of Delhi during the closing years of Muhammad bin Tughluq's reign. The Raja submitted after six months' siege and was honourably received. Among the booty acquired were 1,300 Sanskrit manuscripts some of which were translated into Persian on the Sultan's orders.

Conquest of Sindh

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In 1361-62 Firoz invaded Sindh at the head of 90,000 horse, numerous infantry and 480 elephants, besides many boats. The ruler, Jam Babaniya, opposed him with an equally powerful force. The Delhi army suffered greatly in the contest and Firoz was obliged to retreat to Gujarat for reinforcement. But he was misled by the guides into the Ran of Kutch from where he emerged after six months, during which period great anxiety was felt at Delhi on account of the absence of news about the Sultan and his army. In 1363 Firoz reattacked Thatta with the help of an additional army sent from Delhi by his prime minister, Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul. The Jam agreed to pay a tribute, whereupon the Sultan returned to his capital.

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The country was remarkably free from Mongol invasions during Firoz's reign. Only two Mongol raids are said to have taken place. They were, however, repelled without difficulty.

Suppression of rebellions

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During the early years of his reign an unsuccessful plot was formed against the Sultan's life by his cousin, Khudavandzada, the sister of Muhammad bin Tughluq. His later years, also, were disturbed by a few rebellions. The first rebellion occurred in Gujarat. There the new governor, Damaghani, raised the standard of rebellion as he could not collect the huge sum for which the revenues of the province had been farmed out to him. He was, however, defeated and killed and his head was sent to the court. The second rebellion occurred in Etawah in 1377 where revenue could hardly be collected except at the point of the bayonet. This, too, was suppressed. The third took place in Katehar where the Raja, Kharku, put two Sayyids to death. Firoz, anxious to punish the crime, marched to Katehar in 1380. He ordered a general massacre of the people. Kharku fled into the hills of Kamaun and the Sultan's wrath fell upon the people of the province. Under the Sultan's orders the Delhi army perpetrated great cruelty. Thousands of innocent people were slain and 23,000 were taken prisoners and converted into slaves. He appointed an Afghan governor of the province and, during the next five years, visited it annually to supplement the Afghan's bloody work. The result was that, in the words of the historian, "the spirits of the murdered Sayyids themselves arose to intercede."

Last days and death

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The later years of Firoz's life were clouded by sorrow and misery. The death in July 1374, of his eldest son, Fateh Khan, whom he had nominated his heir-apparent, administered a severe blow to him. He was already very old and, owing to the grief, his power and judgment began to fail him. He now nominated his second son, Zafar Khan, his successor; but he, too, died. The Sultan's choice now fell on his third son, Muhammad Khan; but he was not formally appointed heir. Power now passed into the hands of the prime minister, Khan-i-Jahan, the son of the great Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul who had died sometime before. The prime minister fomented trouble and persuaded Firoz to believe that the prince was conspiring with Zafar Khan and other nobles to seize the throne for himself. The deluded Sultan authorised Khan-i-Jahan to punish the prince's partisans. Zafar was consequently arrested and imprisoned in the prime minister's house. But prince Muhammad managed to enter the royal apartments in the disguise of a woman, threw himself at his father's feet and explained to him that Khan-i-Jahan was a traitor and intended to pave his own way to the throne by bringing about the destruction of the royal family. Firoz permitted the prince to punish Khan-i-Jahan, whose house was now besieged. But Khan-i-Jahan managed to flee by a back door to Mewat where he took shelter. Prince Muhammad was now associated with the administration and was allowed to share the royal title. He was formally declared heir-apparent in August 1387. The prince had Khan-i-Jahan killed. He then appropriated all power in the State; but, instead of looking after public business, he devoted himself to pleasure. The administrative machinery became lax and there was confusion. Some of the royal nobles tried to rouse Muhammad to sense of responsibility, but without success. Being disappointed, they organised a rebellion against his authority. Muhammad was obliged to fight. He was on the verge of victory when the nobles brought the Sultan into the field. The appearance of Firoz at the head of the army brought about a debacle. Muhammad was defeated and fled for his life. Firoz now appointed his grandson, Ghiyasuddin Tughluq Shah, son of the deceased Fateh Khan, as his heir and conferred upon him the royal title. The old Sultan died on September 20, 1388, aged about eighty.

Personality and character

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Historians hold different views about the personality and character of Firoz Tughluq. Contemporary writers, such as, Barani and Shams-i-Siraj Afif, praise him as the most just, merciful and benevolent ruler since the time of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud. Henry Elliot, the editor of *History of India as told by its own Historians*, and Elphinstone, author of *History of India*, have described Firoz as Akbar of the Sultanate period. Dr. V.A. Smith differs emphatically and says that it is absurd to compare Firoz with Akbar. Dr. Ishwari Prasad maintains that "Firoz had not even a hundredth part of the genius of that great-hearted and broad-minded monarch who preached from the high platform of public interest the gospel of peace, goodwill and toleration towards all sects and creeds." Sir Woolseley Haig's considered opinion is that "the reign of Firoz closes the most brilliant epoch of Muslim rule in India before the reign of Akbar." The truth lies between these extremes.

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There are no two opinions about the fact that Firoz possessed qualities of the heart, though not of the head. He was honest and sincere in his convictions and professions, and he really wished the welfare of his people. No Sultan of Delhi before or after him did so much for the material prosperity of his subjects. His revenue policy fostered agricultural prosperity and gave comfort and happiness to the vast majority of the people. He did whatever was possible in that age to free the trade and commerce which resulted in cheapening the prices of things. Dr. R. P. Tripathi rightly observes : “The masses judge a ruler by the material prosperity that they can see and feel……..” It is no wonder, therefore, that Firoz has won golden opinion from historians, both contemporary and modern.

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The Sultan’s numerous acts of charity added to his popularity. The employment bureau, the charity department, the state endowed schools and colleges, subsistence allowances and stipends to scholars and holy men, the comfort and convenience given to travellers and his mild and generous treatment towards State employees—all combined to contribute to a feeling that the Sultan was the real trustee of the people’s welfare. Measures like the above had not been undertaken by any previous Turkish ruler. That they were sorely needed after the great sufferings and harassment of Muhammad bin Tughluq’s reign hardly needs emphasising. Hitherto the activity of the ruler was confined to making fresh conquests, to the maintenance of law and order and collection of revenue. Firoz widened the sphere of State activity in the interests of his subjects. He must get credit for it.

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But there is the other side of his character which is disappointing to those who believe in military exploits and in the prestige of the monarch. Far from being a military genius, Firoz was not even a seasoned soldier or a successful commander. He was timorous and his expeditions brought him little prestige and no gain. Secondly, sometimes his generosity and benevolence were indiscriminate and, as such, injurious to the interests of order and discipline without which no administration can ever be successful. In fact, Firoz was sometimes over-lenient which marred the efficiency of administration and stood in the way of proper enforcement of the reforms which he himself had devised. Many instances of Firoz’s misplaced generosity are on record in the pages of his court historians. It is said that once he gave a gold *tanka* to a trooper to bribe the clerks of the military department who would not pass an unfit horse at a military review without illegal gratification. At another time, he connived at the fraud committed by his mint master who deliberately allowed an undue proportion of alloy in the coins in order to misappropriate a large sum of money. He was aware that the transferable assignment deeds given to the soldiers in lieu of their salaries were sold at one half of their face value and yet he did not take any steps against the malpractices. Similar other instances of the Sultan’s injurious leniency can be multiplied; but the above are enough to show that interested persons took undue advantage of his mildness. Thirdly, he organised his army on a feudal basis which impaired its discipline and solidarity as a fighting force. Fourthly, his fondness for slaves, whose number rose to one lakh and eighty thousand, led to undue interference in the work of administration and caused great embarrassment to honest officers. Fifthly, Firoz's religious policy, which was based on the principle of active interference with the religious beliefs and practices of the overwhelmingly vast majority of his subjects, was ill-advised, unjust and injurious. Under him, for the first time in the history of the Sultanate, the State became a proselytising agency. He did everything to convert Hindus to Islam. "I encouraged," says Firoz in his autobiography, "my infidel subjects to embrace the religion of the Prohphet, and I proclaimed that every one who repeated the creed and became a Musalman should be exempt from *jizya* or poll tax. Information of this came to the ears of the people at large, and great numbers of Hindus presented themselves and were admitted to the honour of Islam." Such a policy was bound to alienate the people's sympathy. He restored the *ulema* to their former place of ascendancy. Although it made him popular with them, the policy eventually proved injurious to the best interests of the Sultanate. Firoz won the good opinion of orthodox Sunni public by subscribing to their narrow fanatical views. This, too, in the long run, sapped the foundation of his kingdom. Dr. Tripathi is right when he says : "The irony of history reflects itself in the unfortunate fact that the very qualities that had contributed to the popularity of Firoz were also largely responsible for the weakness of the Sultanate of Delhi."

Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul

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The credit for whatever success was achieved by Firoz Tughluq goes mostly to his prime minister, Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul. He was originally a Brahman of Telingana and was in the service of the raja of the place. After the conquest and annexation of the kingdom, Maqbul turned a Muslim. He was employed by Muhammad bin Tughluq and was given the fief of Multan. When Firoz became king, Maqbul was raised to the exalted post of the prime minister. He was illiterate, yet a very talented politician. Firoz reposed confidence in Khan-i-Jahan and left him in charge of the capital whenever he had to go on a distant expedition. The prime minister managed the affairs of the government so efficiently that nothing went wrong during the absence of the king. Like most well placed men in that age, Khan-i-Jahan was addicted to sensual pleasures. His harem is said to have comprised two thousand women of different nationalities and he had many children from them. He died in 1370 at a ripe old age. He was succeeded in the office of prime minister by his son, Jauna Shah, who was given his father’s title of Khan-i-Jahan.

Cites (1)