What your textbooks never taught you. A comprehensive, source-backed encyclopedia chronicling the atrocities, catastrophic experiments, and civilizational damage inflicted during the 26-year reign of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325–1351 CE) — the man who emptied Delhi, collapsed India's economy, and caused suffering on a scale unmatched by any Delhi Sultan.
Documented by medieval chroniclers, archaeological evidence, and primary sources — the catastrophic scale of Muhammad bin Tughlaq's 26-year reign over India.
Born as Jauna Khan, Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the son of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq — whom he allegedly had killed to seize the throne. He is paradoxically described by contemporaries as both supremely intelligent and catastrophically cruel. He spoke multiple languages, debated theology, wrote poetry — and ordered mass executions on a whim.
Ibn Batuta, the Moroccan traveler who served in his court for years, recorded that bodies piled outside the palace so frequently that it became ordinary. Ziauddin Barani — who served him for seventeen years — documented his whims, his violence, and his failed experiments in vivid detail.
He was called Muhammad the Mad by some contemporaries. Modern historians debate whether his policies were visionary or simply catastrophic. This website provides the documented record — and leaves the verdict to the evidence.
Uncover the Truth →Nine chapters that take you from the sanitized textbook version to the full, documented truth of what Muhammad bin Tughlaq actually did to India.
How Indian textbooks portray Muhammad bin Tughlaq as an "eccentric visionary" while systematically concealing his documented mass executions, religious persecution, and catastrophic governance failures.
Uncover the truth →An interactive, chronological account of every major documented event during Muhammad bin Tughlaq's reign — from his accession in 1325 to the empire's disintegration and his death in 1351.
Walk through time →In 1327, Muhammad bin Tughlaq forced the entire population of Delhi — India's largest city — to march 1,500km to Daulatabad. Thousands died en route. Ibn Batuta witnessed the aftermath. This chapter documents it all.
Read the accounts →The documented persecution of Hindus, Jains, and even Muslims who disagreed with him. Barani records executions so frequent that the palace grounds were permanently stained. Temple desecration across Bengal and the Deccan.
Read the accounts →The documented destruction of Hindu temples across Bengal, Bihar, the Deccan, and Gujarat. The erasure of indigenous artistic traditions. How the Sultanate systematically uprooted the cultural fabric of Indian civilization.
Understand the loss →The token currency experiment that crashed India's economy. The Khorasan expedition that wasted the treasury. The Deccan famine that killed millions. A comprehensive accounting of the economic catastrophe of his reign.
See the collapse →Numbers, statistics, and documented figures that put the scale of destruction into perspective — deaths, temples destroyed, treasury losses, provinces lost, famines caused, and the long-term demographic impact.
See the numbers →How Muhammad bin Tughlaq's catastrophic reign fatally weakened the Delhi Sultanate, directly enabling Timur's devastating 1398 invasion. How his legacy is whitewashed today and why this matters for India's present.
Connect past to present →Every claim on this site is backed by primary sources — Barani's Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi, Ibn Batuta's Rihla, Isami's Futuh-us-Salatin, and modern scholarship. Explore the complete, verifiable bibliography.
Verify the sources →Muhammad bin Tughlaq is still taught in Indian textbooks as an "eccentric but visionary" ruler. His mass executions, forced displacement of millions, catastrophic economic experiments, and systematic religious persecution are either minimized or entirely omitted. Meanwhile, the physical evidence — the ruins of Daulatabad, the deserted quarter of medieval Delhi, the demographic collapse of the 14th century — speaks for itself. This website restores what the textbooks deliberately erased. This project is part of the Bharat Files Initiative.
One version lives in school textbooks. The other is documented in primary historical sources written by men who served in his own court.
Muhammad bin Tughlaq was not an isolated figure. Explore how other rulers of the Delhi Sultanate era caused similar damage to India's civilization, culture, and heritage.
The father who founded the dynasty — and whom Muhammad bin Tughlaq possibly had killed to seize power.
ghiyasuddintughlaq.com →The successor who reimposed Jizya, enslaved 180,000 people, and personally boasted of temple destructions.
firozshtughlaq.com →The predecessor who sacked Chittor, crushed Hindu kingdoms, and established the system of oppression Muhammad inherited.
alauddinkhilji.com →This website exists because every Indian has the right to know their true history. Every claim is backed by primary historical sources. Every fact is verifiable. Begin your journey through the chapters that textbooks left out.