No smog in Delhi then, so what made Tughlaq shift his capital

“My kingdom is diseased, and no treatment cures it. The physician cures the headache, but fever follows; he strives to allay the fever, and something else supervenes,” lamented Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq as he watched his grand plan to move his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad crumble. Daulatabad in Maharashtra was 1,200km from Delhi, and 40 days of gruelling walk.
In 1327, the Sultan had ordered his capital to be shifted to the Deccan, a bold but doomed move. Nearly 700 years later, with Delhi’s air choking and killing people, people started discussing if the national capital should be shifted. With air quality index (AQI) in severe range, an exasperated Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also questioned if the national capital should be relocated from Delhi.
Tharoor called Delhi “uninhabitable” for three months from November to January and “barely liveable” for the rest. “Should it even remain the nation’s capital?” he asked.
However, Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq, not just contemplated moving the capital from Delhi, but implemented the plan.
Tughlaq, known for his innovative yet often controversial decisions, made a historic attempt over seven centuries ago.
Given that Delhi wasn’t plagued by smog during Tughlaq’s reign (1325–1351), let’s revisit what actually drove the monumental decision to uproot thousands from Delhi and drag them 1,200 kilometres away, sparing not even the blind or the crippled. But, first let us have a look at Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s ascent to the throne and early years of rule.
Tughlaq became the sultan of Delhi in 1325, following the death of his father, Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. Ghiyasuddin met a tragic end when a hastily built pavilion, erected to celebrate his victorious return from Bengal, collapsed over him during the grand welcome.
Fingers were also pointed at Prince Jauna, who later assumed the title ‘Muhammad’, and would succeed Ghiyasuddin. Muhammad bin Tughlaq had the taint of patricide.
Two years after the inauspicious start of his reign, after securing the northwestern frontier and strengthening the Delhi Sultanate’s hold on newly annexed Warangal, Thoothukudi, and Madurai, Muhammad bin Tughlaq made his grand, controversial announcement.
In the 1327 farmaan, Tughlaq ordered the transfer of his capital from Delhi’s Aadilabad to Deogir (renamed Daulatabad), a town near Maharashtra’s Aurangabad.
He himself had spent several years in Daulatabad as a prince during his father, Ghiyasuddin’s rule. Deogir or Devagiri was the erstwhile capital of the Yadavas of the 12th and the 13th centuries, whose kingdom stretched from the Narmada to the Tungabhadra.
A wide road came up for ease, with shady trees being planted on both sides. Sarais were set up at intervals of every two miles. Food and water were provided for, but not enough. Sufi khanqah (shrine-cum-lodge) were erected along the way with at least one Sufi saint manning it. A regular postal service was established between Delhi and Daulatabad.
Slaves, nobles, servants, ulema, and Sufis, were all summoned to the new capital on foot, 1,200 kilometres away.

The journey from southeast Delhi’s Aadilabad Fort to Aurangabad Daulatabad Fort, covering 1,200 kilometres on foot, took travellers through the arid plains of northern India to the rugged hills of the Deccan. The arduous trek traversed forests, rivers, and rocky paths, making it a gruelling challenge for those who embarked on it. (Image: Screenshot of Google Maps)

“For this purpose, he ordered many of the officers and their followers and leading men, including many Sufi saints, to shift to Deogir, which was renamed Daulatabad. It seems that a good deal of official pressure was exerted on these sections to migrate. Liberal grants were also provided to them, and arrangements made for their stay at Daulatabad,” historian Satish Chandra wrote in his celebrated book, History of Mediaeval India.
The Delhi population was given a short notice of just three days to pack and move. Those who resented, were taken to task.
“Majority complied with the farmaan, but some of the population hid in the houses. After the deadline ran out, the Sultan ordered a search to be made, and his slaves found two men in the streets. One crippled, the other blind. They were brought before the Sultan. He ordered the cripple to be flung using a mangonel and the blind dragged to Daulatabad, a distance of 40 days of journey. He fell to pieces on the road and all that reached Daulatabad was his leg!,” wrote Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta in his chronicle.
A mangonel or a catapult is a war device of ropes and lever used to hurl large rocks, often at castle walls. One might recall the massive devices in action from SS Rajamouli’s film Bahubali.
In 1329, even Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s mother, along with the nobles, was compelled to move to Daulatabad. However, the whole population of Delhi wasn’t made to move.
“Coins minted in Delhi, while the sultan was at Deogir, testify to this,” wrote Satish Chandra.
Despite the meticulous planning, the transfer of the capital proved to be a disastrous experiment. The journey was arduous, and many people died due to hunger, exhaustion from the summer heat, and lack of adequate resources. The steep vertical climb to reach Daulatabad Fort only added to the challenges.
Many who arrived in Daulatabad felt homesick, having called Delhi home for generations. This led to widespread discontent.
The new capital, though well-planned, was not welcomed by the inhabitants, who were forcibly relocated. The dissent amongst the citizens was palpable, and the move drained the treasury significantly.

Daulatabad Fort is regarded as one of India’s most formidable mediaeval strongholds, perched atop a 200-metre-high conical granite rock formation. (Image: Marathwada Tourism Development Chamber)

“… He soon found that just as he could not control the south from Delhi, he could not control northern India from Daulatabad,” noted Satish Chandra.
Realising the folly of his decision, Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted the capital back to Delhi in 1335. The subjects were asked to start the long walk back. The return journey was equally traumatic, leading to further suffering and resentment amongst the people.
But Tughlaq had to pay a price also for his U-turn on the national capital.
“His decision to return to Delhi was taken as a sign of weakness and independent states arose in the South, noted historian Vipul Singh in his book, Interpreting Mediaeval India.
Historian Satish Chandra, who called Muhammad bin Tughlaq “one of the most remarkable rulers of his age”, wrote, “unfortunately, he was inclined to be hasty and impatient. That is why so many of these experiments failed, and he has been dubbed an ill-starred idealist”.
Scottish historian William Dalrymple, in a History TV documentary, held that the Sultan was a “psycho” and “a borderline-crazy”, citing Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta’s chronicles. Battuta reached Delhi in the early 1300s and documented the (mis)happenings of Sultan Tughlaq’s court.
That Muhammad bin Tughlaq was labelled a “psycho” and “a borderline-crazy” is noted, but historians have attempted to analyse the various reasons behind his decision to shift the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad.
It wasn’t just Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s farmaan to transfer the capital that failed; his token currency system backfired, and excessive taxation sparked rebellion, adding follies like feathers to the Sultan’s crown.
Muhammad bin Tughluq, unlike his expansionist predecessor from the Khilji Dynasty (1290-1320), Alauddin Khilji, “was deeply interested in the idea of territorial expansion”, against the latter’s “policy of indirect rule in the more distant regions”, noted historian Vipul Singh in his book, Interpreting Medieval India.
“To attain greater political and administrative efficacy, Muhammad bin Tughluq made Devagiri the second administrative seat of the Sultanate,” wrote historian Vipul Singh.
Daulatabad had earlier served as a strategic base for the expansion of Turkish rule (Mamulks and Khiljis) in South India, according to Satish Chandra.
According to Ibn Battuta’s accounts, Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted the capital to protect it from Mongol and Afghan invasions.
The Mongols launched several invasions, raids and attacks on the northwestern Indian subcontinent in the 13th and the early 14th century.
Delhi Sultans Ghiyas ud din Balban, Jalal-ud-Din Khilji, and Alauddin Khilji, fought them off too, according to Semitic scholar Herbert Loewe.
“Although the Mongols had by then become weak due to their internal dissensions, they were still strong enough to threaten the Punjab and the areas near Delhi,” wrote Satish Chandra.
Years later, however, the Mongols, under Chagatai ruler Taimur, would invade Delhi and massacre the population during the reign of the last Tughlaq ruler, Nasiruddin, in 1398.

The painting depicting the defeat of Nasiruddin Mahmud Tughlaq by Timur in the winter of 1397–1398, from Sharaf Al-Din Ali Yazdi’s Zafarnama. (Image: Public Domain/Minneapolis Institute of Arts)

Batutta also mentioned a seven-year-long famine starting in 1335, which killed many people near Delhi. This could have been another reason to leave Delhi. Coinciding with the famine in and around Delhi, refugees had started to flock into the Sultanate’s capital before Tughlaq made the move southward.
Unpopularity among the local populace could have been another reason for shifting the capital from Delhi.
Upon the Sultan’s return from Daulatabad, Delhi was still aabaad with all its glory. In the centuries that followed, it remained the capital of India, serving as the seat of power for the Sayyids, Lodhis, Mughals, the British, and eventually the modern Indian Republic.
Tughlaq’s attempt at shifting the capital from Delhi and bringing it back to the city after three years is brought back to mind by Shashi Tharoor’s question, though made in exasperation, whether the national capital should be moved out of Delhi.
Delhi is a resilient city that has withstood dozens of invasions and experiments. The capital continues to thrive, at least, for now. It is time for a big, bold decision to combat its air pollution, but not the Tughlaq way.