Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/41

 The eccentric tyranny of Muhammad bin Tughlaq produced its inevitable result in the form of rebelHons in almost every quarter of the empire save that in which the presence of the ferocious despot cowed all opposition. In 1341, when a rebellion broke out in the southern peninsula, the emperor set out in person to punish the rebels, but his army had marched no further than Warangal when it was attacked by a pestilence, possibly cholera or small-pox, and was unable to proceed. Muhammad himself was smitten, but made his way back to Daulatabad. At Bid, on his way thither, he suffered from toothache and lost a tooth, which he buried in that town, erecting a domed tomb over it. In Daulatabad he rested until he had recovered from the effects of his illness, and in 1343-44 returned to Delhi, leaving his brother Qutlugh Khan as governor of Daulatabad. Before his departure he issued a proclamation to the effect that those who had been driven from Delhi to Daulatabad might now, if they wished, return. The result of this order was that Daulatabad, after being the capital of the empire for seventeen years, ceased to be so, for even this period had been insufficient to reconcile the wretched exiles to their new abode, and most of them elected to return, despite the prevalence of famine in the country between the two cities, the probability that a large number of those who set out would never reach their destination, and the certainty that those who succeeded would arrive at Delhi empty-handed and destitute.

The history of the troubles of the empire during the period which followed the return to Delhi, and of Muhammad's tyranny in other parts of the empire, forms no part of the history of Daulatabad, which, though largely depopulated and probably far from prosperous, was relieved of the immediate presence of the tyrant.

Shortly afterwards the emperor divided the Maratha country into four provinces under provincial governors, all worthless men. Imad-ul-Mulk, of whom more will be heard, was appointed Vazir at Daulatabad and Commander-in-Chief of the Deccan, Qutlugh Khan being removed from his post in 1 346. Later in the same year a lowbred adventurer, Aziz Himar (^' the ass ") was appointed viceroy of Daulatabad, Malwa, and Dhar with instructions to watch closely the centurions of Daulatabad and other cities, who were the originators of all the insurrections which, from time to time, broke out in the Deccan. A rebellion broke