A mad king.
A visionary.
A despot who shifted the entire populace of Delhi to Daulatabad.
A man far ahead of his times, who experimented with coinage but could not implement it.
Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq remains an enigma 7 centuries after he ruled this land.
Last week, Delhi wallas and history lovers were in for a treat as they watched the story this 14th century Sultan enacted by stalwarts at the ruins of the Tughlaq fort Kotla Feroze Shah. The cast comprised stalwarts like Yash Pal Sharma and Himani Shivpuri- and completely riveted the audience. Some pictures from this 50-year-old play
Related articles
- Emperor in new clothes (thehindu.com)
- Tughlaq returns to Delhi after 40 years (dailymail.co.uk)
A Date With Delhi 
Oh Shit ! I had no idea about this……. Feroz Shah Kotla is across the road from my college, and I missed the play ! 😦
Ohh, sorry to hear that 😦 But keep your eyes and ears open next winter! This play was screened because last year’s Andha Yug was immensely successful. Hopefully they’ll be back next year with another great play 🙂
It almost seems like Tughlaq returned to his old fort after centuries
Actually, Puru, this fort was the one built and ruled by his cousin & successor, Sultan Feroze Shah Tughlaq. Muhammad bin Tughlaq ruled from Jahanpanah (present day Saket & Malviya Nagar area of Delhi) and very little remains of his palace.
Terrific pictures as ever and yet again I wish I could get to Delhi to see these wonderful things. It looks like this presentation was very special indeed! Magical!
Thanks Ken! The play was indeed pretty good, and the actors well-known names of Indian television. To see the workings of the mind of a king widely discredited today was quite fascinating.
I think that’s what is so important about things like this. I always encourage my history students to ask the question “why?” when looking at history. No one does things for no reason and the ability to put ourselves in that person’s place and understand why they did what they did is so important. It helps us understand why people do what they do today.
wish I had been there to see this one, it looks so very interesting 😦
Wow!! You know, the best part of staging plays in monuments etc.. is you feel a strange sense of belonging-ness to that era..and you are bound to get goosebumps..
You are right Dew! It was almost as if conspiracies were being hatched real-time.