Firoz Shah Tughlaq

Firoz Shah Tughlaq, born in 1309, also known as Firoz III, served as the Sultan of Delhi after succeeding his cousin, Muhammad bin Tughlaq, one of the most controversial figures of Indian medieval history who died at Thatta in Sindh. Firoz Shah Tughlaq was the son of Sipahsalar Malik Rajab, brother of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq—the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty and his mother was a princess from Abohar in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. Firoz Shah reigned over the Delhi Sultanate from 1351 until his death in 1388.

He is widely credited with extensive urban development and irrigation initiatives, earning a reputation as a prolific builder. Among his most notable achievements was the establishment of cities such as Firozpur, Hisar, and Fatehabad across the regions of present-day Punjab and Haryana. His reign also witnessed several military campaigns, including expeditions against the rulers of Bengal, Sindh, and Kangra in its later years. At the outset of his rule, he successfully defended the Sultanate by repelling a Mongol invasion.

When Firoz Shah was seven years old, his father, Sipahsalar Rajab, passed away, after which he was raised under the care of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq. Ghiyath al-Din personally mentored both Firoz Shah and Muhammad bin Tughluq, instructing them in the responsibilities of governance and the duties associated with royal authority. At the age of fourteen, when Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq ascended the throne of Delhi, Firoz Shah accompanied the new sultan on his journeys, gaining firsthand experience in matters of state and public administration. Following the succession of Muhammad bin Tughluq, Firoz Shah—then approximately sixteen years old—was appointed to the rank of deputy of the lord chamberlain (Naib-i Amir Hajib), bearing the title of Naib Barbak and entrusted with the command of twelve thousand cavalry.

After the demise of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, Firoz Shah ascended the throne at the age of 45. His succession was faced with many rebellions and due to widespread unrest; his realm was much smaller than Muhammad’s. He was forced by rebellions to concede virtual independence to Bengal and other provinces like Gujarat and Warangal.

During his rule, Firoz Shah worked to improve the infrastructure of the empire. He did this by building canals, rest houses and hospitals, creating and refurbishing reservoirs and digging wells. He also founded several cities around Delhi, including Jaunpur, Firozpur, Hissar, Firozabad and Fatehabad and wrote his own autobiography called the "Futuhat-e-Firozshahi".

When Firoz Shah ascended the throne in 1351, a band of Mongols plundered a baggage train and advanced toward his camp, prompting a confrontation in which Firoz Shah emerged victorious. The Mongol captives were freed, and the defeated forces fled back to their territories, marking Firoz Shah’s first military success as emperor.

During this period, the Khwaja-i-Jahan of the empire, acting on faulty intelligence, believed that Firoz Shah was missing and presumed dead. On this mistaken assumption, he placed Mahmud, an alleged impostor claiming to be a son of Muhammad bin Tughluq, on the throne. Upon learning that Firoz Shah was alive, Khwaja-i-Jahan assembled an army of twenty thousand at Delhi, until negotiations eventually led to peace.

Firoz Shah, after consulting unanimously with his nobles, affirmed that Muhammad bin Tughluq had only one daughter. He then advanced toward Delhi, passing through Multan, Dipalpur, and Ajodhan, where he gathered a substantial force of soldiers, nobles, and commoners. His following included thirty-six rajas from the region, and during this march he also undertook a pilgrimage to the tomb of Baba Farid. According to tradition, it was during this journey to Delhi that Firoz Shah was blessed with the birth of a son, whom he named Fateh Khan. At the place of the child’s birth, he founded the town of Fatehabad in his honor.

Khwaja-i-Jahan subsequently proceeded to Fatehabad and sued for peace, admitting his error and seeking forgiveness. This reconciliation ultimately secured Firoz Shah’s authority and confirmed his rule as Sultan.

In 1353, Firoz Shah launched a campaign against Bengal, then ruled by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, and established a camp on the banks of the Kosi River with a force exceeding seventy thousand men. During this expedition, the ruler of Gorakhpur submitted to Firoz Shah’s authority and paid a tribute of more than twenty thousand tankas. After crossing the Kosi River, Firoz Shah’s advance compelled Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah to retreat with his army to Ekdala in present-day West Bengal. Firoz Shah subsequently laid siege to the fortress but deliberately staged a withdrawal, prompting Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah to leave Ekdala and pursue what he believed to be a retreating enemy. In a calculated maneuver, the Sultan’s forces were secretly divided into three divisions, which then launched a coordinated attack on the Bengal army. This engagement reportedly resulted in heavy losses for Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah and forced his eventual withdrawal.

Two years after this first Bengal campaign, Firoz Shah founded the city of Hisar. Prior to his second invasion of Bengal, he also established the city of Firozabad on the banks of the Yamuna River.

In the period leading up to the second campaign, the ruler of Sonargaon was killed by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, prompting his son-in-law, Zafar Khan, to flee to Firoz Shah’s court at Hisar. Preparations were soon made in Delhi to support Zafar Khan’s claim and seek redress. Upon learning of Firoz Shah’s military preparations, Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah abandoned Ekdala and moved further east to Sonargaon in search of a more secure position. In 1358, Firoz Shah marched toward Bengal with an army of approximately seventy thousand men, and during this expedition he founded the city of Jaunpur, naming it in honor of Muhammad bin Tughluq, the second sultan of the Tughluq dynasty.

During the course of this campaign, Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah died and was succeeded by his son, Sikandar Shah, who was subsequently besieged at Ekdala by the Delhi forces. The conflict concluded with a peace treaty under which Sikandar Shah agreed to restore Zafar Khan’s dominion over Sonargaon, a condition that was accepted by both sides.

On his return from Bengal, Firoz Shah encountered resistance from the Rai of Jajpur in present-day Odisha. In 1360, he invaded the region, capturing prisoners and seizing spoils of war, including horses and cattle. The Rai of Odisha ultimately surrendered and sued for peace, agreeing to pay an annual tribute of twenty elephants.

Firoz Shah received reports that the Rai of Kangra had raided his territories and plundered several districts, prompting him to march toward Nagarkot. While passing through the city of Sirhind, he undertook significant public works, including the construction of a canal linking the Sarasvati River with the Markanda River, and founded a fort that came to be known as Firozpur. The Rai of Kangra took refuge in the fort at Nagarkot, and during this period the Sultan’s forces ravaged the surrounding countryside. The fort was besieged for six months, after which the Rai surrendered. He was, however, allowed to retain his kingdom as a fief under the suzerainty of Firoz Shah.

The kingdom of Nurpur, centered in the regions of present-day Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and ruled by Kailas Pal (1353–1397), remained a notable ally of the Tughlaq dynasty during this period. Contemporary accounts suggest that Nurpur embraced Islam during the reign of Firoz Shah. It is also recorded that Firoz Shah oversaw the conversion of the Chauhan Rajputs from Hinduism to Islam.

In 1362, Firoz Shah set out on an expedition for Thatta in present-day Sindh, assembling a large fleet of boats to accompany his army along the Indus River. During the campaign, a severe disease afflicted his cavalry, resulting in the loss of nearly three-quarters of his horses. Faced with these setbacks, Firoz Shah ordered a retreat toward Gujarat to restore his strength and procure fresh mounts. The withdrawal proved arduous, as the army suffered acute shortages of food, leading to widespread starvation among the troops. The situation deteriorated further when unreliable guides deliberately led the force into regions devoid of fresh water. Several of these guides were executed, after which the remaining ones directed the army toward the fertile plains of Gujarat.

By 1363, having reconstituted his forces, Firoz Shah resumed the expedition and launched a surprise attack on Thatta. In response, the local population adopted a scorched-earth strategy, destroying their crops and retreating into mud forts situated west of the Indus River. Firoz Shah dispatched two contingents across the river to besiege the town, but these efforts met with limited success, forcing a withdrawal and the summoning of additional reinforcements from Delhi. Meanwhile, the Delhi forces harvested crops from the occupied territories, replenishing their own supplies while depriving the defenders of sustenance. This strategy ultimately compelled the rulers of Thatta to submit, agreeing to pay an annual tribute of 400,000 tankas to Delhi.

Unlike Muhammad bin Tughlaq, Firoz Shah was indiscriminately benevolent and lenient as a ruler. He refused to re- conquer provinces that had broken away from Muhammad’s annexation. He stopped all kinds of harsh punishments such as cutting off hands and lowered the land taxes that Muhammad had raised.

Firoz Shah Tughlaq sought advice from the Ulemas and ruled as per the Shariat. He imposed a number of taxes like the Kharaj, Zakat, Kham and Jaziya, which was levied on the non- Muslim subjects, particularly the Hindus. He also imposed irrigation tax after getting it sanctioned from the Ulema.

He restored the privileges of the Qazis and was himself a scholar and patronised learning. Zia- ud- din Barani and Shams- i- Siraj Atif wrote their works under his patronage. Firoz Shah established a large library at the temple of Jvalamukhi which consisted of 300 volumes of Sanskrit texts. He encouraged education and learning and the literature of his time was influenced by Islamic faith.

Firoz Shah paid attention towards the internal affairs of his state and put forth the domestic policies for the betterment of the people and state. He abolished nearly 24 taxes which were, certainly, burdensome to the people. He also abolished a number of internal trade taxes which resulted in reduction of prices of goods and enhancement of trade. He adopted measures for improvement of quality of cultivation and better crops. The measures he adopted were successful and resulted in the growing prosperity of both the subjects and the state.

Firoz Shah’s religious policies were based on the pre-eminence of Islamic laws. Firoz Shah Tughlaq was the first Sultan of Delhi whose religious policies were based on the pre-eminence of Islamic laws. Other Sultans supported Islam and were prejudiced against the Hindus but none of them accepted Islamic laws as basic means of governing their administration. Firoz Shah Tughlaq proved an exception and accepted Islamic laws as basic principles in administering the state. Firoz Shah depended on the Ulema for interpretations and thus the religious policy remained intolerant towards people of every faith except the Sunnis.

Firoz Shah was intolerant towards the Shiahs, the Sufis, the Ismaili group of Shias and also other sects. He remained fanatically intolerant towards the Hindus. He encouraged the Hindus for conversion. His biography gives a clear impression that regarded the rulers of the Muslims only. He destroyed the temple of Jvalamukhi in Kangra and one of the prime aims in attacking Puri was to destroy the Hindu temple so that, like Mahmud of Ghazni, he could claim to be an Idol breaker. He imposed Jizya on Brahmanas who were either left from this tax or neglected while collecting it by all previous Sultans. Thus, Firoz Shah practiced severely intolerant policy towards the Hindus.

Firoz Shah got recognition of his title of Sultan from the Khalifa. He called himself the Naib of the Khalifa and inscribed his own coins. He did all this because he wanted to capture the loyalty of the Ulema and reactionary group of Muslims who all supported him in capturing the throne. The religious policy of Firoz Shah was reactionary in principle and did positive harm to the state in practice. The Hindus who constituted the majority became disloyal to the state, and his religious policy also participated in bringing about the disgrace of the Tughlaq Empire.

Thus, the religious policies adopted by Firoz Shah were certainly the weak part of his administration which in a way resulted in the downfall of his empire.

Some of the other popular works of Firoz Shah Tughlaq are the renovation of the Qutb Minar and replacing the top storey after it was knocked off due to lightning. He also set up one of the two Ashokan Pillars at Firozabad, which he removed from their original sites. He cut a canal from the Sutlej River in 1355 and the following year, excavated another canal from the Yamuna River to Hansi, near which he built the Hissar Firoza. He even established a city called the Firoz Shah Kotla in Delhi, which was unfortunately destroyed in the later period by other rulers.

Other than these, he also planted numerous gardens near Delhi, entrusted the construction of canals to skilled engineers, levied on the cultivators a special water rate and reclaimed large areas for cultivation. His works were well appreciated by the people but historians often described his rule as the greatest age of corruption in medieval India.

In 1387, Firoz Shah abdicated the throne in favor of his son, Muhammad Shah III. However, Muhammad soon devoted himself to personal indulgence and neglected the responsibilities of kingship, prompting opposition from the nobles of Delhi. In response to this unrest, Firoz Shah withdrew his support and conferred the royal titles upon his great-grandson, Tughluq Khan, the son of his deceased grandson and former heir, Fateh Khan, who had died in 1376.

In 1388, Firoz Shah passed away at the age of seventy-eight or seventy-nine, ending a reign that had lasted thirty-seven years. He was laid to rest at Hauz Khas in Delhi, near the reservoir constructed by Alauddin Khalji. Adjacent to his tomb stands a madrasa commissioned by Firoz Shah in 1352–53, which exemplifies his architectural legacy.

The lenient attitude of Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq had strengthened the nobles but in turn had weakened the ruler’s position. So, after the demise of Firoz Shah Tughlaq in 1388, a war of succession broke out, coupled with nobles rebelling to set up independent states. The Mughal army had become weak, the empire had shrunk in size and his successor Ghiyas- ud- Din Tughlaq II could not control the slaves or the nobles. Firoz Shah’s tomb is located in Hauz Khas, New Delhi, close to the tank built by Alauddin Khilji.