On his way back to Delhi, the Sultan halted for some time at Jaunpur, and then marched against Jajnagar (modern Orissa). The Rai of this place fled, on the approach of the Delhi troops, towards Telingana, and soon tendered his submission by surrendering some elephants and promising to send to Delhi a number of elephants annually as tribute. Firuz returned to Delhi, under going great difficulties and privations, after an absence of two years and a half.
The reduction of the fortress of Nagarkot, which though conquered by Muhammad bin Tughluq in A.D. 1337 had slipped out of Delhi control during the closing years of the Sultan’s reign, engaged the attention of Firuz shortly after his return to Delhi. On reaching Nagarkot, he besieged the fortress there for six months, when its Rai submitted to him. Firuz’s Nagarkot campaign is interesting because of the fact that he caused 300 volumes of Sanskrit books on various subjects, preserved in the temple of Jwalamukhi, to be rendered into Persian verse under the title of Dala’il-i-Firuz Shahi, by a court-poet named A`azz-ud-din Khalid Khani.
In 1361-62 Firuz resumed the task of conquering Sind, which had been abandoned on the death of Muhammad bin Tughluq about eleven years back. He hatched towards Tattah, the capital of the Jams of Sind, with 90,000 cavalry, many infantry, 480 elephants, and 5,000 boats. The then ruler of Sind, Jam Babaniya, decided to meet him and formed a battle army with 20,000 cavalry and 400,000 infantry. The Delhi army suffered greatly, owing to the outbreak of famine and an epizootic disease, which carried off about three quarters of it. Intending to gather fresh reinforcements, the Sultan retreated to Gujarat. But being misled by some treacherous guides, he drifted away into the Rann of Cutch, and for six months nothing could be discovered regarding the fate of his army. Additional troops being, however, sent from Delhi by his able minister, Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul, the Sultan again attacked the Sindians in 1363 and forced them to sue for peace. The Sindians agreed to pay an annual tribute of several lacs of tankas to the Sultan and acknowledged allegiance to his authority. But his expeditions to Sind, like his Bengal campaigns, revealed his lack of military ability and tactical skill.
There were no Mongol inroads during the reign of Firuz. We are told by Yahiya that the “frontiers of the kingdom were secured by placing them under great armies and the well-wishers of the Emperor”.
But no attempt was made by Firuz to bring the Deccan under the control of the Delhi Sultanate. When his officers asked him to undertake an expedition to Daulatabad, he, as Shams-i-Siraj ‘Afif puts it, “looked distressed and his eyes were suffused with tears, and approving their arguments, he said that . . he was resolved never more to make war upon men of the Muhammadan faith”.
Firuz was a religious bigot and persecuted the Hindus. He entertained a great regard for the Khalifah of Egypt. For the first time in the history of Muslim India he styled himself as his deputy; during the first six years of his reign he twice received a patent of rulership and robes of honour from him; and on his coins his own name was associated with that of the Khalifah. He tried to conduct the affairs of the State according to the theocratic principles of his faith. He encouraged his subjects, belonging to other persuasions, “to embrace the religion” in which he himself found solace, and framed regulations which deviated from the religious policy that had hitherto been pursued by his predecessors.
Probably with a view to conciliating the nobles and the officials, Firuz revived the Jagir system, which had been abolished by ‘Ala-ud-din, and farmed out the whole kingdom among them besides granting them increased salaries and allowances. Though these measures apparently strengthened the position of the new Sultan, they ultimately served to engender a tendency to decentralisation, which undermined the authority of the central government.
But with all the above-mentioned defects, Firuz has a record of some benevolent measures to his credit, and his long reign of about thirty-seven years was a period of comparative prosperity and happiness for the people. He abolished many vexatious and unjust ceases, which had been levied upon the people during the previous reigns, and devised taxation according to the spirit of the Quranic Law. He allowed the imposition of four kinds of taxes sanctioned by the Quran-the kharaj or tenth from cultivated lands, the zakat or alms, the jizya or poll-tax on the non-Muslims and other heretics, and the khams or one-fifth of the spoil and of the produce of mines. In consultation with the canonists, he also levied an irrigation tax (sharb) at the rate of 10 per cent of the produce of the fields. The spoils of war were to be shared by the State and the soldiers, as prescribed by the Quran, the former getting one-fifth of the spoil and the latter four-fifths. The merchants were relieved from the payment of some irregular and oppressive octroi duties, which obstructed free circulation of merchandise from one part of the country to another. The State officers were strictly warned against demanding anything more than the prescribed dues, and were punished for unjust exactions. The results of these measures were indeed beneficial for trade and agriculture. Shamas-i-Siraj ‘Afif, though a panegyrist of the Sultan, with whose court he was frequently associated, writes with much truth that, as a result of these regulations, the ryots grew rich and were satisfied.
Their homes were replete with grain, property, homes and furniture; everyone had plenty of gold and silver; no woman was without her ornaments and no house without good beds and divans. Wealth abounded and comforts were general. The State did not suffer from financial bankruptcy during this reign. The revenues of the Doab amounted to eighty lacs of tankas and those of the territories of Delhi to six crores and eighty-five lacs of tankas.” Prices of the articles of common consumption also became low.
The construction of a system of irrigation canals contributed greatly towards the improvement of agriculture. Two streams are mentioned by Shams-i-Siraj ‘Afif to have been excavated under the orders of Firuz from the Sutlej and the other from the Jumna. But Yahiya, who, as an inhabitant of Sirhind, had a better knowledge of the canal system, writes of four canals being constructed during this reign: (a) one from the Sutlej to the Ghaghar, (b) a second opened in the vicinity of the Mandavi and Sirmur hills, and joined by seven creeks, was extended as far as Hansi, and thence to Arasani, where the foundation of the fort of Hissar Firuza was laid, (c) the third flowing from the Ghaghar by the fort of Sirsuti went up to the village of Hirani-Khera, (d) and the fourth being excavated from the Jumna was extended to Firuzabad and then passed further beyond it. Firuz employed skilled engineers to superintend the canals, and especially to examine and report on them during the rainy season. Another beneficial step on his part was the reclamation of waste lands, the income accruing from which was spent for religious and educational purposes.
