The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c7.22

c7.22

Even Quṭb-u'd-dīn Mubārak Shāh's profligate reign and the anarchy both preceding and following it could not undo 'Alā-u'd-dīn's great work. The harsher measures were abolished, and the peasant's burden was lightened; but it was left to Ghiyāth-u'd-dīn Tughluq to consolidate the administration, to restore the more reasonable privileges of the Muslim nobles as well as of the Hindu chiefs, and to enforce useful reforms.¹ This sultan possessed a sound political instinct; it is under him that the administrative system of the sultanate is seen at its best. So long as Muḥammad bin Tughluq did not interfere with the organization, he achieved remarkable success, and the prosperity and grandeur of his empire excited the admiration of the Muslim world; but very soon he started his disastrous experiments. Muḥammad bin Tughluq was a man of remarkable attainments; his learning was profound; but his real place was a professorial chair, not the throne of Dehlī. His ideas were brilliantly conceived, but he ignored the difficulties in their practical application. Never did a man fail more completely. His measures were attended by famines and natural disasters; bankruptcy and disaffection followed in the wake. The embittered sultan retaliated against the rebels by ruthless punishment, and the vicious circle became complete.² He lost his life in fighting the hydra-headed monster which his own indiscretion had raised.³