Tour of Daulatabad Aurangabad Devagiri Maharashtra

Daulatabad Fort has been tragically condemned by labelling it with the whims of the ‘Mad King’ Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq of the 14th century. We have all read about the king in the school history books who could not decide where to have his capital and kept shuttling between Delhi & Daulatabad.

According to historians, Delhites used to write him abusive letters. Apparently, we Delhites then were far more civilized than the present bunch. So to teach them a lesson, Mohd-bin-Tughlaq decided to shift the capital to Daulatabad. Also, the move was supposed to keep them safe from the frequent marauding excursions by the Mongol hordes. Though it is believed that he forced the entire population of Delhi to move to Daulatabad but it was only the upper classes that got the moving orders.

Large number of people died during the long and hot journey. Once in Daulatabad, people faced paucity of water and there was a general rebellion by the displaced populace. Tughlaq also realised that he could not control the North from Daulatabad and decided to shift the capital back to Delhi within two years. Delhites smarting from the forced relocation probably were too bored of lack of seasons and the peaceful life in the foothills of Western Ghats. They were more at home fighting the sundry invaders from the North in numbing winter and scorching summers keeping ennui in check.

Some historians call Tughlaq visionary instead of using epithets of mad king. During his reign, Delhi Sultanate expanded from Peshawar to Madurai and Sindh to Assam. The historians believe the reason for moving capital from Delhi to Daulatabad was to establish a second capital. Even the blighty British used the concept of two capitals. He also introduced copper and brass coins as token currency which could be used at par with silver and gold coins. But the ever ingenious Delhites forged the coins and the experiment failed. Another blunder was the invasion of Himachal. His misfortune was that most of these experiments failed, putting financial pressure ultimately leading to disruption of Delhi Sultanate.

Denizens of Daulatabad should have learned from the inhabitants of Chitradurga Fort inhabitants about their rain harvesting techniques. This you find odd because the same set of people like Yadavas and Rashtrakutas ruled over this general area of Maharashtra and Karnataka. So they should have had the services of the same pool of architects. Today, people in the area have still not learned anything from the Daulatabad debacle.