However, there is an interesting reference to Alauddin Khalji in the ‘Sāhitya-darpana’ of Viśvanātha Mahāpātra who composed his accomplished book on poetics at Varanasi in the 14th century. While elucidating eight types of गुणीभूतव्यंग्य काव्य he has given the example of the sixth type, i.e. अस्फुटव्यंग्य;he has written in the 4th chapter:
सन्धौ सर्वस्वहरणं विग्रहे प्राणनिग्रहः।
अल्लावद्दीननृपतौ न सन्धिर्न च विग्रहः।
अत्राल्लावद्दीननृपतौ दानसामान्यादिमन्तरेण नान्यः प्रशमोपाय इति व्यङगयं व्युत्पन्नानामपि झटित्यस्फुटम्।।If there is an alliance with Alauddin, he will take away everything and if there is a discord, life will be lost. Therefore, with Alauddin, neither alliance nor discord can work.
Here the suggested sense is that there is no way to get rid of Alauddin. ‘There is no means of pacifying the king named Alauddin, except conciliation, presents, etc. It is not quickly perceived even by the erudite’.
(12) Tughlaq Sultans (1320-1414)
During the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325-51) Ayodhyā was a very prosperous and affluent town and the credit for the prosperity and affluence goes to his outstanding Governor Ainul Mulk Mahru, who brilliantly administrated Awadh for a long period. He had earned the confidence and cooperation of both the Hindus and Musalmans. He made a separate Mohammedan quarter between the ghats of Svargdwar and Shah Madar, south of the Rin-mochan ghat. The present-day Shah Madar is one such settlement testifying to the flourishing state of Ayodhyā under the Tughlaqs. Under Ainul Mulk Ayodhyā was so flourishing and prosperous that many nobles, scared of the wrath of the Sultan Muhamad-bin-Tughlaq, left Delhi and settled in Awadh. The province had so many granaries that when famine broke out in A.D. 1337 in the northern part of the empire, Ayodhyā supplied enormous quantity of provisions and money for relief with super efficiency to the distressed people of the Doab. Ain-ul-Mulk, the Governor of Awadh, used to send 50,000 mans (mounds) of wheat and rice daily to the Sultan’s Camp. In addition, he had sent 70-80 lakhs of tankas in cash and commodities to Muhammad bin Tughlaq when he was camping at Sargdwari. This Sargdwari is different from Swargadvāra of Ayodhyā. It was an encampment of thatched houses near the town of Khud by the side of the Ganga. The Sultan stayed there for two and-a-half years to carry out the relief work for famine-stricken people. Ayodhyā under Ainul Mulk was pioneer in sending provisions for relief measures.
Thus, during the tenure of Ain-ul-mulk there was communal harmony and prosperity at Ayodhyā. But on account of the over-suspicious nature of Muhammad bin Tughlaq Ainul Mulk was targeted in many ways. He was asked to send all those nobles, who had taken shelter in Awadh to Delhi in chains. Then his own transfer from Awadh to Daulatabad was in the offing. Therefore Ainul Mulk along with his brothers rebelled but they were defeated. His brothers were killed or drowned. Ainul Mulk after initial humiliation was reinstated and posted somewhere else.
Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the first Sultan of Delhi who appointed several Hindus on important posts. According to the Chunar inscription a Hindu Sai Raj was a wazir of the Sultan. Another Hindu Dhara was a naib wazir of the Deccan. Another Hindu Ratan was the Governor of Sehwan. Bhiran Rai was another Hindu who was appointed Governor of Gulbarga and the iqta of Kohir was assigned to him. In 1340’s Muhammad bin Tughlag appointed a Hindu, Kishan, the Governor of Ayodhyā. According to Barani (p. 505) he was a low-born bazran (hawk-flier) of Indri. Barani calls him the most menial amongst menial classes. Barani was against all such appointments. He has written in his Fatwa-i-Jahangiri:
“Low born people are not to be taught reading and writing, for plenty of disorders arise owing the skill of the low-born in knowledge. The disorders into which the affairs of the state are thrown are due to the acts and wards of the low-born, who have become skilled. (Advice XI)”
Apart from Barani’s accounts, no other details of this Hindu Governor of Ayodhyā are known. These appointments were resented by traditional nobles but Muhammad bin Tughlaq remained firm.
Muhammad-bin Tughlaq was the first Sultan of Delhi who participated in Hindu festivals and there is a contemporary record (Futuh-us Salatin, 515) that he participated in the Hindu festival of Holi. A large number of Jogis used to wander in his territory with many Muslim followers but Tughlaq took no step against those jogies.
When some soldiers damaged the Siva-linga and the temple of Madhukeshwar at Kalyana, Thakkura Mala, a trustee of the temple made a representation to Ahmad Ayaz to reinstate the idol. Ahmad Ayaz issued an order which is recorded in an inscription which reads as follows:
तत्र तस्मिन् प्रस्थाने पुनरपि देवस्थापनपूजनविषये सं ठक्कुरवैणपालसुत ठक्कुरमाल षौजा सं(षंड) दासः उत (षौजे) प्रसादं दत्तम्। युष्माकं कुलधर्मो वर्त्तते तत् करणीयं ठ (च) पृथ्वीसा(शा)धिपतौ महीमदसुरत्राणे महीं शासति...(line 11-14)
While Sultan Muhammad was ruling the world, Thakkura Vainapāla’s son Thakkura Māla was granted pleasure in the matter of the consecretion and worship of the deity on the ground that since it was his कुलधर्म, it had to be followed.” (Epigraphia Indica, vol. XXXII, Part IV, 1957 p. 165).
There is another inscription from Nādāyana near Indraprastha which claims that sin was effaced from Dhilli by the recital of the Vedas during the period of Muhammad bin Tughlaq dated Sa‚vata 1384 (i.e. 1327 A.D.) on the third of the wane in the month of the Bhādra. This edict is a testimony to the achievements of Śrīdhara who had excavated a pond for the gratification of his parents at Nādāyana to the west of Indraprastha. Thus, it is gratifying to learn that in the capital city of the Tughlaq dynasty the recital of the Vedas by Vedic scholars went unabated. The relevant lines of the inscription are quoted below:
तस्मिन्नियं निखिलरत्नचयोपगूढा वेदस्वनै श्रुतिविदां हृतपापपुञ्जा।
ढिल्लीपुरी सुरनदीव विभाति रम्या रम्याङगनाचरणनूपुरहंसशब्दै।।4।।
Muhammad bin Tughlaq visited the Jain Śatruñjaya temple at Palatina and the idol houses at Girnar. In the Shatrunjaya temple he is said to have performed some rituals in accordance with Jain customs. He issued a Farman for the construction of a rest house for monks. According to Batihagarh inscription he announced the construction of a shelter for cows. He was really an eclectic monarch. He patronized Jain Āchārya Jinaprabha Sūri and a number of Jogis. A very interesting anecdote has been narrated by Ibn Battuta in his account of Travels in Asia and Africa (1325-1354) in the following words:
“The sultan sent for me once when I was at Delhi, and on entering I found him in a private apartment with some of his intimates and two of these jugis. One of them squatted on the ground, then rose into the air above our heads, still sitting. I was so astonished and frightened that I fell to the floor in a faint. A potion was administered to me, and I revived and sat up. Meantime this man remained in his sitting posture. His companion then took a sandal from a bag he had with him, and beat it on the ground like one infuriated. The sandal rose in the air until it came above the neck of the sitting man and then began hitting him on the neck while he descended little by little until he set down alongside us. Then the sultan said “If I did not fear for your reason I would have ordered them to do still stranger things than this you have seen.” I took my leave but was affect
ed with palpitation and fell ill, until he ordered me to be given a draught which removed it all.” (p. 226, H.A.R. Gibb’s translation)
It shows that during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq there was, by and large, no religious prejudice against the Hindus. However, since he was having eccentric nature, he used to indulge in cruel and sadistic activities which included ruthless killings of both Hindus and Muslims and wanton destruction of temples at times as well as conversion from Hinduism to Islam. He gave good patronage to converted persons and appointed them to important posts.
However, his nephew and successor Feroz Shah Tughlaq was just the opposite. The son of a Rajput princess of Rai Ranmal Bhatti of Abohar in Hisar district, Haryana he tried to prove that he was more orthodox than a pure Muslim. He was the first Sultan to order the separate collection of jazya from that of the revenue and terminate its exemption granted to the Brāhmanas. He publicly set a Brāhmanā ablaze because he was preaching to both the Hindus and Musalmans. He got all wall-paintings of his palace erased. He tried his best to appease the Muslim theologians by convincing them that the State under him was a truly Islamic state. What the Muslim clergy could not do during the days of Iltutmish, Alauddin and Muhammad bin Tughlaq, they did accomplish during the reign of Feroz Shah Tughlaq. He used to desecrate some ancient temples to gain the applause of Muslim fanatics. He is notoriously remembered for his attack on the Jagannatha temple at Puri and throwing away the idols in the sea. But recent historians of Orissa have claimed that this attack on, and the demolition of, the Jagannatha temple related to one at Cuttack and not at Puri. In ‘Fatuhat’ he himself admits that he induced Hindus to convert and for this he exempted them from jazya and gave land grants, cash, titles, honours and government jobs to the converts. However, there is no evidence that he demolished any temple at Ayodhyā.
During the days of Feroz Shah Tughlaq the capital of Awadh was shifted from Ayodhyā to the newly established city, Jaunpur in 1359. During the Sharqi rulers also Ayodhyā enjoyed comparative non-interference and prosperity because they ruled from Jaunpur.
There is a Sanskrit inscription dated 15th May, 1296 which is now fixed to the Lal Darwaza Masjid at Jaunpur. It commemorates the construction of a temple of Padmeśvara (Vishnu), which was to the north of the famous Viśveśvara temple at Varanasi by Padma Sādhu who was the grandson of Sadhe Sādhu of Ayodhyā. This inscription is quoted in the chapter one.
Sufi saint Raushan Charagh (bright lamp), who was born at Ayodhyā, became a famous sufi saint of the country. He was killed by a qalandar in A.D. 1356 and lies buried near Delhi. His mother’s tomb is at Ayodhyā.
(13) Lodi dynasty (1451-1526)
Nothing notable happened at Ayodhyā during the period of uncertainity under the rule of the Saiyyids, but when Bahlol Lodi became the Sultan of Delhi he appointed his nephew Mian Muhammad Farmuli alias Kala Pahar, the Subedar of Ayodhyā in 1489 A.D. which was the last year of Bahlol’s reign. Farmuli was so avaricious that in Tarik-i-Shershahi the author Abbas Khan Sarwani has written thus about him:
“…During all this time he gave his attention to nothing else except the accumulation of wealth. I have heard from persons of veracity that he had assumed three hundred ‘mans’ of red hard gold and he did not purchase any other but golden jewellery. Thus Ayodhya has been a perpetual source of getting gold at each level.”
There is an interesting incident related to Miyan Muhammad Farmuli. It is mentioned in ‘Waqiat-i Mushtaqi’ by Shykh Rizqullah Mushtaqi. After an expedition against Hindu chiefs who were supporting the Sharqi ruler Husain when Muhammad Farmuli returned to Awadh, he was welcomed by Muslim clergymen and singing Hindu women carrying water-pots on their heads. The Muslim clergymen were standing on the one side and the Hindu women on the other. There were many officials with Muhammad Farmuli. When these officials first turned to the Hindu women to take water from pots as a sign of good omen, the Muslim clergymen, who were expecting to be given first priority, got so enraged that they left the place giving curses. The good gesture to the Hindu women shows that the Muslim officials were not only concerned with the Hindu sentiments but were prone to derive some omens from the Hindu customs also. If they had started inculcating such beliefs at Ayodhyā, how could they demolish temples there?
Bahlol Lodi shifted the capital of Awadh from Jaunpur to Ayodhyā. The famous poet Kalyāna Malla, also called as Kalyāna Bhatta, the author of ‘Anan¢ga-ran¢ga’, composed ‘Sulaimach-charitra’ at Ayodhyā in the second quarter of sixteenth century in the court of Lāda Khān, the son of Ahmad Khan. The Sulaimān-charitra is published by Rastriya Sanskrit Sansthan in the third volume of ‘Malaya-Maruta’, an anthology of Sanskrit poems edited by Dr. V. Raghavan, in 1973. Its manuscript was found at Goverment Oriental Manuscript Library, Madras as no. D 12175. Thereafter, Dr. C. Minkowski, Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University, made a detailed assessment of this work in his Boden lecture in 2006. Penguin U.K. brought out an English translation of the work in 2006.
Sulaimāna-charitra is based on the story of Soloman. For the delectation of Prince Lad Khan Kalyãna Malla composed Anan·ga-ran·ga and Sulaimach-charitra. Ahmad Khan has been called Ayodhyādhipatih अयोध्याधिपतिः in the Sulaimach-charitra in the following verse:
आसीदयोध्याधिपतिर्बलवान् बलभित्समः।
वैभवे विक्रमे तस्य नास्ति तुल्योऽपरः प्रभु।। (1.2)
In the colophon of each patala Kalyāna Malla calls Lad Khan as ‘श्रीमदयोध्यापुराधिनाथ’.The poet mentions his patron king Lad Khan as ‘Ayodhyā-purādhinātha’ in colophon of the first patala of this work.
श्रीमदयोध्यापुराधिनाथ-सकल-कला-सनाथ-विद्वज्जनजेगीयमानगानावधान- दानजितकानीन-लाडखान- प्रमोदाय कुकविहृद्भल्ल-कल्याणमल्ल-कविराज विरचिते सुलैमच्चरिते दावूदुमोहाभिर्भावो नाम प्रथमः पटलः।।
Lād Khān was the king of Ayodhyā, protector of all arts and his fame was sung by scholars. He excelled Karna in attention and donations. For his pleasure poet Kalyāna-malla, who was a spear in the hearts of bad poets, composed the first ‘patala’,‘The Birth of Dāvūdu’ in his epic ‘Sulaimachcharitram’.
We are aware of the historical fact that Muhammad Farmuli alias Kala Pahar was appointed Governor of Ayodhyā in 1489 A.D. by Bahlol Lodi. He was succeeded by his son-in-law Mustafa Farmuli. After Mustafa’s death his younger brother Bāyazīd was made the Governor by Ibrahim Lodi. Bāyazīd fought in favour of Ibrahim Lodi at the battle of Panipat. But after Babur’s victory Bāyazīd met the Mughal warrior who confirmed his continuance at Ayodhyā. Thus, from 1489 to 1528 A.D. the governors at Ayodhyā were Muhammad Farmuli, Mustafa Farmuli and Shaikh Bāyazid. Now the question arises as to how Ahmad Khan and his son Lād Khan were called the Lord of Ayodhyā by Kalyāna Malla. According to the historical workWaqiat-i-Mustaqi of Saikh Rizkuila Mushtaqi one Ahmad Khan, son of Juman Khan Lodi Sarangh-Khani, was appointed Governor of Jaunpur by Sikandar Lodi. Lād Khan was his son who succeeded his father. Lad Khan belonged to Lodi dynasty (लोदी-वंशावतंस) But how and why he is called अयोध्यापुराधिनाथ and अयोध्याधिपति is not clear. Aditya Narayan Dhairyasheela Haskar, the editor of the book Suleiman Charitra published by Penguin (UK), writes in the Introduction to the book:
“Some details of the two chiefs named by Kalyana Malla as his patrons are available in the not much later Persian chronicle Waqi’at-e-Mushtaqui of Rizq Ullah Mushtaqul (1495-1581). Ahmad Khan was the muqta or administrator of the former Sharqi kingdom of Jaunpur in modern Uttar Pradesh, which had earlier been subjugated by the Lodhis. He was appointed t
o this office, succeeding his father, Jamal Khan, by Sultan Sikandar Lodhi (r. 1489-1517), the second ruler of the dynasty, and was succeeded by his son Lad Khan during the reign of the next and last Lodhi, Sultan Ibrahim (r. 1517-1526). All the three potentates hailed from the Afghan-origin Lodhi clan and held from their sultans the high title of Khan-i-Azam. The title, Lord of Ayodhya, in the prologue and the chapter endings is readily explained by its evocation for Sanskrit readers of that region’s most venerable site in terms of culture and memory.” (Introduction)
But this last observation is not correct because it is based on mere presumption and is against the following assertion of the author in the Sulaimach-charitra:
त्वमस्मदास्थानकविस्सर्वशात्रार्थपारगः ।
पुरा ह्यनङगरङगाख्यं कलाशात्रं कलास्पदम्।। (I.11)
Here, Lad Khan calls Kalyāna Malla his आस्थान कवि, i.e. the poet who lives in his jurisdiction. Lad Khan addresses him as an expert in all scriptures and reminds him that in past (पुरा) the poet had composed the superb work of artistic beauty Ananga-ranga by name. When the poet emphatically and repeatedly calls Lād Khan the king of Ayodhyā, it has to be accepted. Though Ahmad and Lad Khan could not be Governors of Ayodhyā between 1489 and 1528 A.D., yet the possibility that they were Governors at Ayodhyā between 1540 and 1555 A.D. cannot be ruled out because of the following facts gleaned from the internal sources of the two works:
(i) From the Anan¢garan¢ga it is clear that when Kalyāna Malla composed this treatise, Ahmad was the king and Lad Khan was merely his son, and not King or Governor. The fifth verse of this book translated by Sir Richard F. Burton, reads as follows:
“The great princely sage and arch-poet, Kalyana Malla versed in all the arts, after consulting many wise and holy men, and having examined the opinions of many poets, and extracted the essence of their wisdom, composed, with a view of pleasing his sovereign, a work which was called Ananga Ranga. May it ever be appreciated by the discerning, for it hath been dedicated to those who are desirous of studying the art and mystery of man’s highest enjoyment, and to those who are best acquainted with the science and practice of dalliance and lovedelight.”
Ayodhya Revisited Page 64