History - The Reassertion Of State-Based On Benevolence-Disintegration Of Delhi Sultanate - UPSC 2020

Updated on 15 February 2020

By UPSC & State PSC

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Updated on 15 February 2020

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UPSC exams 2020 is getting nearer. As the syllabus of this exam is quite vast and covers many subjects, history can be a bit intimidating if not studied properly. In such a situation, students may worry about UPSC 2020 history.

Today we are going to talk about ‘the reassertion of state-based on benevolence-disintegration of Delhi Sultanate.

After the decline of Muhammad Bin Tughaq during his last days was no less than a logical decline of the Delhi Sultanate as the steps and decisions taken by Mohammad Bin Tughalq didn’t seem to go well with the common people.

Firuj Tughaq, the cousin of Muhammad Bin Tughalq, succeeded him. However, the reign of Firuj Tughaq is no less than a watershed in the history of Delhi Sultanate.

As soon as Firuj Tughlaq came into power, he started working on reimbursing the state-based benevolence tradition and working for the welfare of people in a way that was introduced during the reign of Jalaluddin Khilji.

Firuj Tughlaq wasn’t a perfect warrior as he was neither trained nor had any such temperament of becoming a ruler and a warrior.

He focused on reconciling with the left out nobles, soldiers, administrators, peasants, clergy and other important section of the society. These were reportedly left out and ignored by Mohammad Bin Tughaq during his reign.

But there were some major problems raising their heads at that time. Such as the southern part of the Tughalq kingdom was falling away with Daulatabad being already lost and rebellion wars in Sindh and Gujarat. In fact, Bengal too declared its freedom from the Tughlaq kingdom.

During this time, Firuj Tughlaq led two separate campaign in Bengal and Sindh. He raided Nagarkot and Orissa. But these didn’t seem to be fruitful and couldn’t make any difference as these territories didn’t add to the Delhi Sultanate.

One of the steps taken by Firuj Tughlaq for ensuring people’s welfare was abolishing the system of torturing and mutilating humans, especially Muslims. In his book

Fatuhat-i-Firuj Shahi, he mentions that some of the common tortures were plucking the eyes, cutting down the fingers, hands, legs, breaking bones, flaying and burning people.

Firuj Tughalq talked about how the punishments and tortures techniques were introduced in history and were intended to instill a sense of fear among the people to stop them fro committing any crime or going against the Sultan. He wanted the people to accept him and trust his decisions.

One of the steps taken by Firuj Tughlaq for reconciliation was to destroy the documents of the advance amounting that was introduced by Mohammad Bin Tughlaq which compelled people to submit two crore tankas. It was abolished by Firuj Tughlaq to motivate people towards cultivation and business. However, it didn’t become successful.

He went on to repair the damaged Mosques and Madarsas during his reign and promote education. The pay scale of teachers was increased. In order to ensure the welfare, he introduced the law of helping in the marriage of girls from reputed families.

But the hunger of power among the sons of Firuj Tughlaq and the rise of small princely states led to the disintegration of Delhi Sultanate.

The rebellion wars in Gujarat and Punjab were also some of the major reasons for the disintegration of Delhi Sultanate. The Khokhars of Punjab, people from Malwa and Khandesh were also raging the war and asserted their independence.