Muhammad Bin Tughlaq

In the Indian History of politics, it can be seen that Mohammad Bin Tughlaq plays an important role. He had not invented much and all of his actions were not as heroic as other sultans but some of the things that he had done are remarkable. He was a complex person and his decisions were confusing but they were effective. These things have been discussed in this study to maintain relevance. 

Description of Mohammod Bin Tughlaq

Mohammad Bin Tughlaq was the Sultan of Delhi; His reign extended from 1325 to 1351. He was the son of Ghiyas-Ud-Din-Tughlaq, he was his eldest son. He was considered as one of the interesting sultans of the Delhi Sultanate. He had ruled over different parts of India, he had mainly ruled over the subcontinent of India. His characteristics portray that he was a complex person, but he was more kind, generous and humble as a human being. On the other hand, he was narrow-minded, stubborn and partly cruel. These mixed natures of Tughlaq made him a complex person. He was very much into politics at that time; he has taken certain steps that affected the politics of that time. He tried to achieve many things but got success in few. He was the most controversial ruler in Indian History, because the way he removed his father from the throne and took that, made him a controversial ruler. Indian history referred to him as a wise fool because he tried several administrative changes and got success in very few, it is only because of his lack of judgement. 

Reason Tughlaq changed his capital

In the history of politics, the most controversial step taken by the ruler Mohammad Bin Tughlaq was the transfer of the capital or change of the capital. Shifting the capital Delhi to Deultabad is one of the worst decisions of Tughlaq’s reign. He shifted the capital to Daulatabad because he wanted to rule the whole Indian sub-continent. He ordered the whole citizens of Delhi to move to the new capital. This is considered the worst decision of Indian history. When he got to understand his mistake it was too late for him. History says that he took this decision after coming back from Daulatabad. In that time two of the major states got out of control, Tughlaq was unable to manage Mewar and Dwarasamudra, he had to sacrifice them. He feared that the northern borders of the sultanate couldnot keep the attack away, they were exposed to attack. That is the time when he again shifted the capital back to Delhi. He again ordered the citizens to move back to Delhi. He is more of a confused ruler of Indian history, which made his decisions worse.

Defining Tughlaq’s Token currency

In his ruling period, he has done several things, some of them were good and most of them were worst. One of his doings included token currency; Tughlaq issued token currency in the year 1330. This move was taken by him after his unsuccessful expedition in Deogiri; he thought this token move could add a little support to his reign. He claimed coins as token money; the coins were of brass and copper. The worth of those coins was equivalent to gold and silver coins. He mainly introduces this token currency because there was a shortage of silver coins at that time. So he decided to introduce a copper currency, which is one of the positive steps taken by Mohammad Bin Tughlaq. He invented token money in India or else it can be said that he was the one who started the trend of token currency in India. 

Mohammad Bin Tughlaq’s impact on the politics at that time

There are very few great things that Mohammod Bin Tughlaq has done in his ruling period. Some of his political achievements need to be discussed, like the annexure of several kingdoms in his territory or owned lands. Another political achievement was defeating the Mongols who attacked the Delhi sultanate once. Shifting Delhi to Daulatabad was not a very good idea, but after he re-shifted the capital, that was somehow an effective action by him. Apart from this, he has very actively done some financial changes in Indian history like bringing token currency. He took the initiative to create different federal financial offices. It was created to keep a check on the financial activities. These are some of the effective political moves of Mohammad Bin Tughlaq. 

Conclusion 

This assignment has portrayed that Mohamad Bin Tughlaq somehow became a part of the political history of India. His deeds were not that heroic or commendable but few things were effective for the time being. His character has been portrayed in this assignment briefly, apart from that some of his decisions have been discussed in the assignment too. For example, discussion of his token currency and his capital transformation, from the discussion of these topics, it has been understood that he was not a great ruler but he was an effective king.