The Khaljis and the Tughlaqs

(a) Jalaluddin

(b) Alauddin Khalji

(a) Malwa

(b) Mewar

(a) Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq

(b) Muhammad Bin Tughlaq

(a) Department of Charity

(b) Department of Slaves

Jalaluddin Kalji was known as a 'benevolent despot' because he tried to win over his enemies by love and affection. He gave high posts and titles to his sons, friends and relatives. He wanted to rule without any bloodshed.

Alauddin Khalji did not annex the Deccan kingdoms after conquering them because of the following reasons:

1. He realised that it would be practically difficult to control these distant lands from Delhi.
2. He was more interested in acquiring the wealth of these Deccan kingdoms for the maintenance of his huge army. The rulers of Deccan were forced to accept the overlordship of Allauddin Khalji and had to pay annual tribute to him.

Steps taken by Alauddin Khalji to prevent Mongol invasions were:

1. He repaired old forts and built a new garrison town named Siri for his soldiers.
2. He appointed his best generals on the frontiers.
3. He raised huge army. To keep the army efficient he introduced regular parades, inspection of troops and branding of horses.
4. To frighten the Mongols, the Mongol captives were tortured ruthlessly.
5. He started annual raids into the territory of the Mongols.

When Alauddin Khalji came to the throne, he had to face a series of rebellions by the nobles. That is why he took stern measures against the nobility. Two such measures were:

1. The nobles were not allowed to hold parties or festivities or to form marriage alliances without the permission of the Sultan.
2. He established an efficient spy system to Keep a check on the activities of the nobles.

The market regulations started by Alauddin Khalji were:

1. The soldiers were fed from the produce collected as tax from lands between Ganga and Yamuna, which was fixed at 50 percent of peasant's yield.
2. He fixed the prices of all commodities from food grains, sugar, cooking oil, horses to elephants.
3. He appointed special officers to keep a strict watch on the prices, weight and the activities of the traders.
4. Those merchants who charged more than the prescribed rates or weighed less were severely punished.

Alauddin Khalji had to maintain a huge army to expand his empire and as a safeguard against Mongol attacks. To maintain such a large army, huge amount of money was required. Therefore, he reduced the salaries of the soldiers and imposed heavy taxes on the peasants. But to enable them to meet their expenses within their limited means, he took a number of steps to ensure that the prices did not register much increase. These were the causes of market regulations started by him.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq regarded as one of the most remarkable rulers of his times. He was a great scholar and had a keen interest in religion and philosophy. He had mastered mathematics, astronomy, logic and physical sciences. He was a lover of Persian literature, music, fine arts and calligraphy. He took a number of bold steps, some of which were far ahead of his time.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq transferred his capital from Delhi to Devagiri (Deogir), which he renamed Daulatabad. This he did for two reasons. First, Daulatabad was centrally located from where he could have control over the Deccan territories. Second, he wanted to protect his capital from the continuous raids of the Mongols. Daulatabad was situated 1500 km away and was at a safe distance from the invaders. He did not shift the entire population but ordered his officers and leading men to shift to Daulatabad .

Muhammad bin Tughlaq introduced the token currency to overcome the shortage of silver. He introduced a bronze coin having the same value as the silver tanka. This scheme would have succeeded had Muhammad bin Tughlaq taken care to see that only the government was issuing the token currency. But that did not happen and every household turned into a mint. As a result, gold and silver coins disappeared from the market and their place was taken by bronze coins. People began to pay their taxes in token currency and trade suffered. Finally, Muhammad bin Tughlaq decided to withdraw the token currency and promised to exchange silver pieces for bronze coins. This caused a great loss of wealth to the royal treasury.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq took a number of bold steps like transfer of capital and introduction of token currency. These steps were far ahead of his time. His projects were well conceived but failed probably due to faulty implementation. That is why some historians call Muhammad bin Tughlaq 'a mixture of opposites'.

Firoz Shah Tughlaq is known in the history for the number of steps taken by him for the general welfare of his subjects. Following were the welfare measures introduced by Firoz Shah Tughlaq:

1. He reduced the land tax and abolished some other taxes.
2. He started new irrigation schemes and built new canals and repaired the old canals.
3. He built hospitals, dispensaries, guest houses and mosques.
4. He set up a department of charity (Diwan-i-Khairat) and gave financial help to the poor.
5. He established an employment bureau to provide jobs to the unemployed.
6. He set up different department to look after the slaves.
7. He banned inhuman punishments like cutting of hands, feet, nose, etc.