Was Muhammad-bin-Tughluq a Mixture of Opposites?

Was Muhammad-bin-Tughluq a Mixture of Opposites?

The charge against Muhammad-bin-Tughluq was that he was a mixture of opposites. Barani also refers to some conflicting habits of the Sultan. Dr. V.A. Smith writes, “Notwithstanding that Muhammad-bin-Tughluq was guilty of acts, which the pen shrinks from recording, he was not wholly evil. He was a mixture of opposites as Jahangir was in his later age.”

Dr. Ishwari Prasad does not agree to this view of Dr. V. A. Smith. He writes, “Only when viewed superficially, Muhammad appears to be an ‘amazing compound of contradictions’ but he was not really so.” K.A. Nizami also does not accept him as a mixture of opposites. He stresses that the opinion that he was a mass of inconsistencies, was floated by Barani who himself never stuck to one point and always made vague remarks. In the words of Nizami, “When Barani is in the present, he has love for Muhammad-bin-Tughluq : when he is in the past, he has nothing but hatred for him.”

Dr. Mehdi Husain also writes that he was not a mixture of opposites. He stresses that his contradictory qualities appeared at different stages of his career and there were specific reasons for it. Hence it would be a wrong estimation to call him a mixture of opposites.

But at some occasions we see that Muhammad-bin-Tughluq acted in a contradictory manner. He disliked low and mean persons and yet he appointed them on high posts. He was quite humble and at the same time extremely arrogant. He was generous, yet cruel. Therefore, he is compared with James I of England and called the ‘wisest fool’; hence some of the scholars like Dr. A.L. Srivastava agree that Muhammad-bin-Tughluq was a mixture of contradictions. Dr. R.C. Majumdar has also written, “He was not a monster or a lunatic, as has been suggested by some, but there is no doubt, he was a mixture of contradictions, or his many good qualities of head and heart seem to be quite incompatible with certain traits of vices in his character, such as, revolting cruelty, frivolous caprice and an excessive belief in his own view of things.” Thus if Muhammad-bin-Tughluq was not a mad Sultan, he was a person having contradictory qualities.

In spite of these shortcomings he has been praised by Sir Wolseley Haig, “He was one of the most extraordinary monarchs who ever sat upon a throne.” Dr. Ishwari Prasad, Gardener Brown etc, have also praised him for his scholarly caliber and personal characteristics.

Milan Tomic

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