Was Muhammad-bin-Tughluq a Mad Ruler?

Was Muhammad-bin-Tughluq a Mad Ruler?

Elphinstone is the first historian who has blamed Muhammad-bin-Tughluq that he had a touch of insanity of some degree. His view has been further supported by European writers like Dr.V.A.Smith and E.B. Havell. Indian historian S.R. Sharma also mentions, “There could be but little doubt that Muhammad-bin-Tughluqwas a great enigma to his own age and has remained the same to this age.” Dr. A.L. Srivastava feels that the above-referred scholars are misled by the remark of Ibn Batuta and Barani that some dead bodies were always found lying in front of the palace of the Sultan. The fact is that Muhammad-bin-Tughluq awarded death punishment even for small crimes, not because he was fond of shedding blood but because he was unable to differentiate between the natures of crime.

The view point of these historians is very well rejected by Gardener Brown and Dr. Ishwari Prasad. They describe him to be the most learned and scholarly personality, who ever took the throne of Delhi. A mad man cannot be a learned one. The truth appears to be that in his early age he was assailed by doubts but some years after his accession he left skepticism and always behaved like a true Sunni. Thus the charge that he was a mad ruler, has no justification. Gardener Brown has observed in this connection, “That he was mad is a view of which contemporaries give no hint: that he was a visionary, his many-sided practical and vigorous character forbids us to believe; to call him a despot may be true, but no other form of government was conceivable in the middle ages.”

Milan Tomic

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