Muhammad bin Tughluq

Title & tenure

2nd Sultan, Tughlaq Dynasty (1325–1351)

In office: 1325 – 1351

Predecessor:

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq

Successor:

Firoz Shah Tughlaq

Biography

Muhammad bin Tughluq succeeded his father Ghiyasuddin in 1325 and expanded the Delhi Sultanate to its greatest-ever territorial extent, covering nearly the entire Indian subcontinent, but is more remembered for a series of bold, ambitious administrative experiments that proved disastrous in practice.

Achievements

• Expanded the Delhi Sultanate to its largest territorial extent in its history, briefly bringing almost the entire subcontinent under Delhi's authority
• Hosted the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta, who served as a qadi (judge) at his court and left a detailed, invaluable account of the Sultanate
• Attempted ambitious, forward-thinking administrative reforms, including an early experiment with token (symbolic) currency

Key events

• Ordered the controversial transfer of the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in the Deccan (1327), forcing a mass, ultimately reversed relocation of the population
• Introduced token copper currency intended to represent gold and silver value, which collapsed after widespread counterfeiting, causing major economic disruption
• A harsh tax increase in the Doab region during a famine in the 1330s caused widespread suffering and rebellion
• Faced numerous regional revolts across his overextended empire, including the loss of the Deccan and Bengal toward the end of his reign

Legacy

Muhammad bin Tughluq is remembered as a paradox: a genuinely learned and innovative ruler whose administrative ambitions outpaced what the Sultanate's institutions could support, leaving the empire overextended, financially damaged and beginning to fragment by the time of his death.

How it ended

Died of illness in 1351 while campaigning in Sindh against a rebel; succeeded by his cousin Firoz Shah Tughlaq, who inherited an empire already shrinking from its peak.