Muhammad bin Tughluq

Muhammad bin Tughluq was the Sultan of Delhi from 1325 to 1351. He was the eldest son of Ghiyas ud din Tughluq . Ghiyas ud din sent the young Muhammad to the Deccan to campaign against the Kakatiya king Pratapa-rudra of Warangal. He succeeded to the Delhi throne after Ghiyas ud din's death in 1325.

Muhammad was committed to maintaining the Sultanate's expansion into the newly-conquered provinces of peninsular India. To have better administration of these southern parts of the Empire, Muhammad moved the capital from Delhi to Deogiri in the Deccan in the early part of his reign, renaming the city Daulatabad. His plan was to move the entire population of Delhi to the new capital. But the plan failed due to inadequate arrangements in Deogiri and the capital had to be shifted back again to Delhi after two years.

Muhammad also had the novel idea of introducing for the first time in India the token currency, using brass and copper coins rather than silver. However due to lack of proper minting facility the plan failed and there were soon heaps of forged coins in the royal garden.

Such gradiose, unsuccessful policy experiments made Muhammad notorious in the minds of many of his contemporaries. By the end of his reign, many of the further provinces of the empire were in revolt.

Muhammad died while campaigning in Sind. He was succeeded by his cousin Firuz Shah Tughluq.