The wonder that was india

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together with the enormous booty seized in Devagiri. The Sultan treated Ramadeva generously. He gave him the title Rai Rayan (leading ray or ruler). Devagiri was restored to him, and Nausari in Gujarat was also given to him as a gift. Deval Devi, the daughter of Raja Karan and Kamla Devi, who was being sent by her father to be married to Ramadeva's son, Sinhana, fell accidentally into the hands of the Sultan's troops. They sent her to Delhi, where the Sultan married her to Prince Khizr Khan.97

In November 1309 Malik Kafur set out against Telingana, where the Sultan's army had been defeated six years earlier. Marching rapidly, Kafur reached Warangal, the capital of the Kakatiya kingdom of Raja Prataparudra Deva II. The fort there was surrounded by two ramparts, each enclosed within a moat. The outer wall was built of impacted mud and the inner one of stone. The mud wall was so tough that the stones from the ballista rebounded like nuts from it; even spears could not penetrate it. Prataprudra's army stood behind these strong defences. The invading army, however, heavily bombarded the outer ramparts with stones and, after several days, seized one of the outer mud wings. Penetration into the stone rampart was difficult, but finally the Raja surrendered. An enormous amount of gold, 20,000 highly bred horses, and one hundred elephants were taken as booty. As well as this, the Raja agreed to pay regular tribute. Leaving Warangal in March 1310, the army returned to Delhi on 10 June 1310 and received a hero's welcome from the Sultan.98

After resting for about six months, Malik Kafur marched against the Hoysala kingdom of Dvarasamudra (Divaravalipura, near modern Bangalore), via Devagiri. The city was besieged on 26 February. Raja Vira Ballala III was taken by surprise and agreed to become the Sultan's vassal. Vast quantities of booty, including elephants, were seized.

Without losing any time, Malik Kafur marched against the Pandya kingdom in the extreme south of the Deccan peninsula. Raja Vira Pandya fled, abandoning the capital, Madurai. Temples were plundered, palaces were sacked, and enormous quantities of gold, 512 elephants, and 5,000 horses were collected as booty. There is no contemporary evidence that Kafur reached the famous Hindu shrine of Rameshvaram on Pamban Island or built a mosque there. On 19 October 1311 Kafur was accorded a royal welcome by the Sultan in Delhi. He was given the title malik na'ib. Kafur once again marched to Devagiri in 1313 to collect tribute from Ramadeva's son, who had rebelled after his father's death. Kafiir invaded Devagiri and subdued the new ruler. After a short stay he returned to Delhi.99 Although the gold coins plundered

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from the Deccan stabilized the price controls enforced by 'Ala'u'd-Din, they also created a surplus in the capital.

The Sultan's health had rapidly deteriorated by 1315. Kaffir, as malik na'ib, seized the reins of government. He had the heir apparent, Khizr Khan, imprisoned in Gwalior fort and Alp Khan, the governor of Gujarat, summoned to Delhi and put to death. Alp Khan's brother, who was governor of Jalor, was also killed. Thereupon Alp Khan's troops in Gujarat rebelled, the Rana of Chitor declared his independence, and Harapala Deva of Devagiri drove the Turkic garrison from his territory. On 4 January 1316 'Ala'u'd-Din, the greatest Muslim conqueror to sit on the throne of Delhi, died, helplessly watching the disintegration of the kingdom he had built.

According to Barani, 'Ala'u'd-Din was a tyrant who did not hesitate to adopt ruthless means to achieve his imperialistic and military ends. He was, however, inventive and original in devising new policies and administrative systems and formidable in implementing them. Although illiterate himself, he enjoyed the company of poets such as Amir Khusraw and Amir Hasan. His passion for immortality is reflected in his grandiose architectural monuments. At the end of his life he lost his remarkable power of independent decision and was unable to combat Malik Kafur's intrigues to seize power.100

Before 'Ala'u'd-Din's eyes were sealed in death, Malik Kaffir had nominated Shihabu'd-Din, 'Ala'u'd-Din's six-year-old son by Ramadava's daughter, Jhita'i, as ruler. Khizr Khan was blinded in Gwalior fort, as was his half-brother, Shadi Khan. Mubarak Khan, another of 'Ala'u'd-Din's sons, who like Khizr Khan was about seventeen, was imprisoned but; before he could be blinded Malik Kaffir was killed by 'Ala'u'd-Din's loyal bodyguards in order to save their late king's family from annihilation.

Mubarak was released from prison. For some weeks he worked as regent for his brother, Shihabu'd-Din, but then he sent him back to prison in Gwalior, where his eyes were put out.101 On 18 April, Mubarak Shah ascended the throne. Some 17,000 to 18,000 political prisoners from 'Ala'u'd-Din's reign were released. Grants to the 'ulama' were increased, villages earlier resumed to the khdlisa were restored to their owners,102 and 'Ala'u'd-Din's economic laws were abolished. Mubarak Shah could have ruled for many years without much problem but, although he was fond of pretty girls, he was also passionately homosexual. He fell deeply in love with two Islamicized Baradus brothers, Hasan and Husamu'd-Din. According to Amir Khusraw, the Baradus belonged to the Hindu military caste and had served as 'commandos' under the Hindu Ra'is.103

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Mubarak Shah gave Hasan the title Khusraw Khan and transferred Malik Kafur's iqta' and army to him.

The first two years of the Sultan's reign were very successful. Peace was restored in Gujarat. In 1319 Mubarak conquered Devagiri and, departing from his father's policy, made an Islamicized slave officer, Yaklakhl, governor there. Khusraw was sent to Warangal, where he collected the arrears and obtained a bond guaranteeing regular tribute payments. The Sultan waited for him on the Deccan border. They returned to Delhi together. There, the discovery of a conspiracy to kill the Sultan so deeply alarmed him that he had all his brothers and near relations murdered. He then sent Khusraw to Devagiri again to suppress Yaklakhi's rebellion and to march against Ma'bar (the coastal area of what is now Tamilnadu). Yaklakhi was taken captive and handed over to the imperial army. Khusraw's invasion of Ma'bar yielded little booty, and the army commanders would not co-operate with him. The unsuccessful army returned empty-handed, but the Sultan, who had grown impatient at his separation from Khusraw, was overjoyed to see him. At Khusraw's request about 10,000 Baradus were recruited from Malwa, Rajasthan, and Gujarat to act as palace guards. They obtained full control over the Sultan's palace. On 9 July 1320 Khusraw killed Mubarak with the help of his Baradu chiefs and had himself proclaimed Sultan, assuming the title Nasiru'd-Din.104

Barani and, following him, other historians, including modern Muslim scholars, accuse Khusraw of introducing idolatry into the palace and insulting Islam and the Qur'an, but this view is unfounded. A section of the leading Turkic nobles and commanders supported Khusraw enthusiastically. Only Ghazi Malik, the governor of Dipalpur, and his son, Fakhru'd-Din Jauna, who was At that time in Delhi, were strongly opposed to him. Jauna managed to flee with the son of Bahram Ayba, the governor of Uch, to Dipalpur. Ghazi Malik wrote letters to the neighbouring Turkic commanders and noblemen at Delhi, but the majority remained loyal to Khusraw. Beside his own family and Bahram Ayba, the Khokkhars and the Mewatis were Ghazi Malik's main supporters.

Khusraw sent an army to Sirsa to fight Ghazi Malik. The Khokkhars in Ghazi Malik's army broke Khusraw's ranks, and his soldiers fled in panic. In the second battle, however, Khusraw's mixed Hindu and Muslim army fought fiercely near Delhi and dispersed Ghazi Malik's forces. While the victorious troops were looting the baggage they had captured, Ghazi Malik reassembled his army and turned the tables on Khusraw Malik. Khusraw fled out was discovered lurking in a garden. He was brought before

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Ghazi Malik and beheaded. In 'Ala'u'd-Din's palace Ghazi Malik Wept after seeing the scenes of the Khalji family's destruction. After showing formal reluctance, Malik ascended the throne in September 1320 under the title of Sultan Ghiyasu'd-Din Tughluq Shah.

THE TUGHLUQ DYNASTY

Barani correctly credits Ghiyasu'd-Din Tughluq's reign with moderation. The Sultan recovered the treasure which Khusraw had squandered in buying support. This brought him into conflict with Shaykh Nizamu'd-Din Awliya', the most influential sufi in Delhi.105 Like many other notable sufis, the Shaykh had been given money by Khusraw to pray for his success. The rest had kept the money safely, intending to return it to the next ruler if Khusraw lost, but the Shaykh, according to his custom, had distributed it among the needy townspeople and dervishes. Naturally he could not return it. He told the Sultan that the money belonged to the treasury of the Muslims, and he had himself distributed it to poor Muslims. He had kept nothing for himself. The Sultan was not appeased.

The Sultan modified 'Ala'u'd-Din's revenue regulations so that they benefited both farmers and headmen without undermining treasury interests. His officials encouraged the farmers to extend cultivation and kept taxes down to a reasonable level. He was kind and affectionate to his subjects.

In 1321 he sent his heir apparent, Jauna Khan, who was given the title Ulugh Khan, to, reassert Delhi's authority over the rebellious Prataparudra Deva, the Kakatiya ruler of Warangal. Ulugh Khan was not satisfied with imposing suzerainty and collecting tribute. He wished to annex the country. The Hindu garrison resolutely defended the fort. The villagers cut off all supplies to the army and destroyed postal centres. The siege was protracted, and news from Delhi ceased. The troops were struck with panic; wild rumours that the Sultan had died began to circulate in the imperial camp. Ulugh Khan was forced to raise the siege and marched to Devagiri, much harassed by the local chiefs. There be was reassured of the Sultan's safety.106

Ulugh Khan returned to Delhi. In 1323 the Prince marched out again to strengthen the communication line and postal centres to the south. Prataparudra defended Warangal for about five months, but then had to surrender. He was sent to Delhi and imprisoned, and Telingana became part of the Delhi sultanate. The Hindu

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officials there were retained, but Delhi's hold on Telingana was still precarious. On his way back to Delhi, Ulugh Khan invaded Jajnagar in Orissa and seized fifty elephants.107

During Ulugh Khan's absence in the Deccan, a Mongol invasion was repelled at Samana, and a Gujarat rebellion was suppressed. Bengal was torn by civil war between the various contenders for the throne. Appointing a council of regents, including Ulugh Khan, the Sultan himself marched against Bengal, where he was victorious. On his return from Bengal the Sultan attacked Raja Har Singh Deva of Tirhut (north Bihar). The Raja fled, and the Sultan, appointing a governor there, returned to Delhi. His son Ulugh Khan hastily built a temporary wooden pavilion in the Afghanpur village near Tughluqabad, now New Delhi. He received his father and took him to the pavilion. After lunch the Sultan ordered that the elephants he had captured be paraded there. The wooden pavilion, however, was not strong enough to bear the vibrations caused by the elephant race and collapsed. Both the Sultan and his younger son were crushed to death. The story is described in detail by 'Isami108 and Ibn Battuta.109 Both accuse Ulugh Khan of parricide. Barani is cryptic and laconic.110 The fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Persian historians agreed with 'Isami and Ibn Battuta,111 but some later writers consider Ulugh Khan to have been innocent. Modern scholars are also divided, but the delay in rescuing the Sultan does suggest Ulugh Khan's guilt. Also the fact that the pavilion collapsed at all, and that Ghiyas was killed, is suspicious. If it were really a light pavilion, it is surprising that its fall should have killed anyone. Barani's ambiguity is quite understandable in the circumstances.

After Ghiyasu'd-Din Tughluq's death in July 1325, Ulugh Khan Succeeded his father under the title of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq. According to his contemporaries, his character was a heterogeneous combination of arrogance and piety, pride and humility, cruelty and kindness, generosity and greed. Historians were unable to assess his personality and left their readers confused. Of the three authors of this period, 'Isami was an avowed enemy of the Sultan; Ibn Battuta was continually amazed at his actions; and although Barani basked in the sunshine of the Sultan's patronage, his ideal monarch was Muhammad's successor, Firuz. in fact neither Barani nor Ibn Battuta took pains to examine all aspects of the Sultan's personality in the correct perspective.

Of all the Delhi sultans, Muhammad bin Tughluq was the only ruler who had received a comprehensive literary, religious, and philosophical education, as well as military training. He believed that the time was ripe to replace the local tributary chiefs with

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centrally appointed governors and iqta' holders, but unfortunately for him there were not enough competent officials. Disappointed with the continuous rebellions by trusted officers such as Sayyids, Shaykhs, Afghans, and Turkic governors, he promoted to high positions intelligent administrators whose ancestors had been vintners, barbers, cooks, gardeners, musicians, and weavers.112 The offended nobles refused to co-operate with him. The Sultan had invited foreigners from all over the world to his court, but they did not understand Indian conditions and were of no real help to him.

After his accession the Sultan was confronted almost immediately by a Mongol invasion. The enemy camped near Meerut, before being repulsed. There were no more Mongol invasions during his reign. The Sultan's armies conquered Kalanaur and Peshawar and transformed them into a bulwark against the Mongols.113 In 1326-7 his cousin, Baha'u'd-Din Gurshasp, governor of Sagar (near Gulbarga), rebelled. The imperial army defeated him and he fled. He was captured, and the Sultan had him flayed alive.

Gurshasp's rebellion prompted the Sultan to make the centrally located Devagiri his second capital. In 1327 he made extensive preparations for the transfer of his mother, the royal household, and the 'ulama' and sufis from Delhi to Devagiri, which he named Daulatabad. The Sultan intended to transform Daulatabad into the well-planned Muslim capital of the east. Meanwhile, Bahram Kishlu Khan, the governor of Multan, rose against the Sultan. The Sultan marched from Devagiri to Delhi, defeating Bahram at Abohar. At roughly the same time another rebellion by Ghiyasu'd-Din Bura, governor of Bengal, was also crushed.

In 1328-9 the Muslim upper classes and the 'ulama' and sufis were ordered to move to Daulatabad. Comfortably settled in Delhi's social and cultural life, however, they resisted the order. The Sultan considered the sufis' refusal to emigrate treasonable, for he believed that their prime duty was the spread of Islam.114 The sufis, for their part, saw themselves as custodians of their ancestral traditions; staying in Delhi was essential for maintaining this. The Sultan enforced his orders relentlessly, causing great hardship to the Delhi populace. The cultural and social life of the capital's elite received a set-back, but no mass exodus, as described by some of the historians, ever took place. In fact, the two capitals flourished simultaneously.

In 1327-8 the Sultan had started building a new town in Delhi called Jahan Panah, intending to unite the earlier townships within a single wall. The scheme was, however, too expensive to fully materialize.

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The Sultan's order for the transfer of the Delhi elite to Devagiri coincided with his plans to extend his boundaries beyond Peshawar in order to prevent further Mongol incursions. This project is described by Barani as the Sultan's ambition to conquer Khurasan and Iraq. A tent was pitched in Delhi to arouse enthusiasm among the people for jihad (religious war) against the Mongols, but the leading sufis refused to co-operate.115 The Sultan nevertheless enlisted 37,000 men and spent vast sums purchasing war materials and making advances of one year's salary to the soldiers. Stiff opposition to the invasion forced the Sultan to abandon the project, however. He disbanded the army, thereby incurring great financial losses.116

In the early years of his reign the Sultan was informed that the Chinese were making incursions into the Himalayan kingdoms. In a bid to secure his northern frontiers he dispatched an army of 10,000 troops to the Kangra region in order to annex it to his empire. The contemporary historians refer to it as the Qarachil expedition. It seems to have taken place during 1329-30. After some initial victories in Kangra, the imperial army pressed on to Tibet, where the local hillmen annihilated it.117 This was a major catastrophe, for which the commander, who had exceeded the Sultan's orders to confine the invasion to Kangra, was responsible. Nevertheless in 1337-8 Nagarkot was conquered and the Raja made tributary.118

In 1329-30 the Sultan introduced a token currency, which remained in circulation until 1331-2. Imitating the chao, or the paper money of Qubilay Khan (1260-94) of Mongolia and northern China, the Sultan issued bronze coins at par with the value of the silver tanka coins. The scheme was designed to fill the gap in the gold and silver reserves which had widened as a result of the two frontier expeditions and a shortage of silver. The goldsmiths, who were generally Hindus, began to forge the token coins on a large scale. Following Gresham's law, bronze coins replaced gold and silver ones completely. Land tax was paid in the token currency, and other commercial transactions also utilized it. Foreign merchants naturally stopped all business dealings with India. In order to combat the mounting economic chaos, the Sultan stopped the circulation of the token currency and was forced to pay genuine gold coins in exchange, even for the forged ones. According to Barani, the heaps of bronze coins rose like mountains near Tughluqabad.119 Despite the distressing loss of royal treasury suffered, it had no difficulty in honouring the Sultan's orders.

The Sultan had in 1328-9 inordinately increased the land tax on the doab farmers. Additional cesses were also levied. Barani says

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that the Hindus (farmers) set fire to their grain barns and drove their cattle from their houses. Baran (Bulandshahr), Barani's home town, was the scene of a terrible uprising. The rebellion was ruthlessly crushed, but the Sultan himself laid waste large areas of land during the fighting. Grain became increasingly scarce. In March 1334, when Ibn Battuta reached Delhi, the doab was prostrated with famine. The Sultan soon realized that adequate relief measures and the promotion of agricultural production were the only solution to the problem. He sold six months' supplies from the royal granary to the Delhi populace at cheap rates. Large sums were advanced to enable the cultivators to buy seed, to sink wells, and to extend cultivation. This was not state farming, as a modern historian claims,120 but the traditional system of famine relief.

The rebellion of Sayyid Ahsan Shah, the governor of Ma'bar, however, prompted the Sultan himself to leave the capital even though the famine had now assumed dreadful proportions. It spread to eastern Panjab; human skins were cooked and sold in the bazaar, the people roasted and ate the limbs of corpses. At Bidar many of the Sultan's army officers died of the bubonic plague which was raging there. The Sultan himself fell seriously ill. He was taken back on a litter to Daulatabad. The Ma'bar rebels remained undefeated, and Sayyid Ahsan Shah founded the independent Madurai sultanate.12 The Sultan appointed new governors to Daulatabad, Telingana, and Bidar. During his absence from the Deccan from January 1335 to July 1337 five rebellions broke out, only four of which were suppressed. The foundation of the Hindu Vijayanagara kingdom in 1336 and the subsequent independence of Warangal and Kampili were the most severe blows to the Sultan's prestige. His dreams of founding a central Delhi sultanate, controlling the whole of India, came to an end.

After his return to Delhi the Sultan stayed from the close of 1338 to the middle of 1341 at Svargadvari near Kanauj, where supplies could be obtained from Kara and Avadh. Famine was still raging. Four different governors broke into revolt in succession. The most serious uprising was that of'Aynu'1-Mulk Multani, the governor of Avadh, Zafarabad, and Lucknow, in 1340, but he was finally defeated.122

Between 1338 and 1341 both eastern and western Bengal became independent. During his stay in Delhi the Sultan introduced new regulations to improve farming. An agriculture ministry called the Dlwan-i Amir-i Koh was established to bring barren land under cultivation. Opportunists and adventurers signed written bonds promising to cultivate barren land. They were richly rewarded and given loans to farm with but they spent the money on personal,

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needs - only a very small fraction of the fallow land was cultivated.123

Not only were the governors rebellious, but the amiran-i sada (controllers of one hundred villages), who performed both military and civil duties, also revolted. Like the governors they did not belong to any organized factions but, like other Muslim leaders, they hated the Sultan for his ruthless persecution of his opponents and savage use of capital punishment. Cries of 'War against the tyrant!' were heard everywhere. The Sultan believed that the root cause of the widespread rebellion was the amiran-i sada. He appointed his favourite, 'Aziz Khammar ('the Vintner'), governor of Malwa, granting him absolute powers to crush the amiran-i sada. 'Aziz executed some eighty of its members at Dhar. The Sultan's admiration and rewards for 'Aziz's atrocities extinguished all hope of survival in the amiran-i sada from Daulatabad to Gujarat. They felt that only rebellion could save them. As well as plundering the royal treasury, they seized all the merchandise in Dabhoi and Baroda. Then they moved to Cambay, set free a rebel officer -Taghi by name - and made him one of their leaders. 'Aziz Khammar hastened to quell the uprising but was killed.124

In January 1344 Sultan Muhammad left his capital to personally crush the amiran-i sada's rebellion, ignoring his loyal commanders' advice. In Delhi he appointed a council of regents to control the administration. He marched to Broach and seized several centres of insurrection. In Daulatabad a number of competent amlrdn-i sada had organized a formidable force. The Sultan raised a huge army, but the rebel ranks were reinforced by more leaders. The Sultan met the rebels at Daulatabad and defeated them, but they fled to Gulbarga and set up new headquarters there. The Sultan reorganized the Daulatabad administration, but Taghi's rebellion in Gujarat impelled him to rush to that region. On his way to Anhilwara he was informed that Hasan Kangu and other rebel leaders had defeated the army sent against them at Gulbarga and that, on 3 August 1347, Hasan Kangu had established an independent kingdom, known as Bahmani, from the family name of its founder.125 The Sultan's health was deteriorating rapidly; he was unable to stop the disintegration of the sultanate he had dreamt of centralizing. In an impassioned speech he told Barani that wicked and evil-minded people had become predominant. Now, on the merest suspicion of rebellion or conspiracy, he relentlessly executed people. He added that he was determined to pursue his policy until either he himself perished or the people reformed and stopped rebelling. He strove to win support by distributing largess, but that too failed to win his subjects' hearts. His people were estranged