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Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq

Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq founded the Tughluq dynasty of Delhi and reigned from 1320 to 1325. He sent his eldest son, Ulugh Khan, twice against Warangal. The first siege broke up when false news of the sultan's death spread through the camp. The second took Warangal and the Kakatiya king Prataparudra. Warangal was renamed Sultanpur and became the capital of a province of Delhi, and coins were struck for him at a mint called Talang. He died in 1325 when a wooden pavilion fell on him near Delhi.

Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq was sultan of Delhi from 1320 to 1325, the first king of the Tughluq family.12 He sent his eldest son, Ulugh Khan, twice against Warangal, the capital of the Kakatiya king Prataparudra.34 The second campaign ended the Kakatiya kingdom.5 Ulugh Khan later became Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq.3 See the Delhi Sultanate in the Telugu country.

Who he was

Before he became king he was Ghazi Malik, a powerful noble of the Khalji court.6 He marched on Delhi and defeated Khusrau Khan, who had murdered Sultan Mubarak Shah.7 Wolseley Haig, in the Cambridge History of India (1928), described him as an old soldier who was still vigorous in mind.1 Soon after he took the throne, he made his eldest son Fakhr-ud-din Muhammad Jauna his heir, with the title Ulugh Khan.1

The first siege of Warangal

Haig wrote that Prataparudra believed his duty to Delhi had ended with the Khalji kings.8 So in 1321 the sultan sent Ulugh Khan to bring him back to obedience.8 Barani dates the campaign to AH 721, that is 1321 (AH is the Islamic way of counting years).3 The prince besieged both the mud fort and the stone fort of Warangal.3 The defenders offered tribute, but he “would grant no terms”.3

Then false news of the sultan’s death spread through the camp.95 Several nobles fled, and the besieged came out and “plundered the baggage of the army”.9 Ulugh Khan had to fall back to Devagiri.9 He then went to Delhi and made his peace with his father.5

The fall of Warangal

The sultan sent his son back to Telangana.45 On the way Ulugh Khan took the fort of Bidar.45 Then he returned to Warangal and captured it.4 Barani writes that “Rai Laddar Deo”, that is Prataparudra, fell into the victors’ hands with his chiefs, their families, elephants and horses.4

Warangal was renamed Sultanpur, and officers were appointed to govern the country of Tilang.410 Haig wrote that the land was divided into fiefs for Muslim nobles and officers, and Warangal became the capital of a province.11 From Warangal the prince raided Jajnagar in Orissa and took forty elephants.1011 The sultan then called him back from Telangana to rule Delhi while he himself went to Bengal.11 Stanley Lane-Poole’s table of the Delhi mints (1884) lists “Talang” among the mints of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq.12

Death

On his way back from Bengal the sultan halted at Afghanpur, near Delhi, where Ulugh Khan had built a wooden pavilion to receive him.13 The pavilion fell on him and killed him.13 Haig, following Ibn Battuta, believed that Ulugh Khan had planned it.13 The sultan died in February or March 1325.2

Where the sources disagree

  • Why the first siege failed. Barani blames false rumours spread by two mischief-makers in the camp.9 Ibn Battuta says the prince himself wanted to rebel, and Haig follows him.145 Ferishta also blames a “malignant distemper” (a deadly disease) in the camp.15
  • The date of the fall of Warangal. Barani’s account places it soon after the campaign of 1321.34 Ferishta dates the retreat to AH 722 (1322) and the capture after it.16 Haig gives 1323.5
  • His death. Haig follows Ibn Battuta, who blames Ulugh Khan.13 Haig notes that this differs from the account of Barani and the Indian historians who followed him.13

Footnotes

  1. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 127 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 135 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  3. H. M. Elliot and John Dowson, The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, Vol. III (1871), p. 231, Barani, Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 233, Barani (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 131 and note 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  6. Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 124 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 125 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 130 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 232, Barani (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 234, Barani (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 132 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Stanley Lane-Poole, The Coins of the Sultans of Dehli in the British Museum (1884), p. xv and note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  13. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 134 and note 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  14. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 609, Ibn Batuta (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  15. Muhammad Qasim Ferishta, tr. John Briggs, History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, Vol. I (1829), p. 403 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  16. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. I (1829), p. 404 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

Delhi Sultanate in the Telugu country

c. 1303–1344 CE

The Khalji and Tughluq sultans of Delhi sent five armies against the Kakatiya capital Warangal between 1303 and 1323. Malik Kafur's siege of 1309–10 and Khusrau Khan's of 1318 ended in tribute. Ulugh Khan, who later became Muhammad bin Tughluq, took the city at his second attempt. He sent Prataparudra towards Delhi and renamed Warangal Sultanpur. For a little over a decade Telingana (Tilang) was a province of the sultanate. The Telugu convert Malik Maqbul governed it for a time. Then a revolt under Kapaya Nayaka, called Kanya Naik by Barani, drove the Delhi officers out.

References

Sources (4)
  1. H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (eds.), The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Vol. III (opens in a new tab), Trübner and Co., London, 1871, pp. 231–234, 609. Barani and Ibn Batuta in translation. [Public domain]
  2. Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans (opens in a new tab), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1928, pp. 124–125, 127, 130–132, 134–135. [Public domain]
  3. Muhammad Qasim Ferishta (tr. John Briggs), History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India till the Year A.D. 1612, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London, 1829, pp. 403–405. [Public domain]
  4. Stanley Lane-Poole, The Coins of the Sultans of Dehli in the British Museum (opens in a new tab), Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1884, xv. [Public domain]

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