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The barmy tyrant Muhammad bin Tughluq

There is a story about how Tughlaq had a special fondness for the eighteen letters (probably the letters in his name). There are many other stories about the stupid deeds of Tughlaq. One of them is about preparing his army. One morning, the sun was shining on Tughlaq’s eyes as he was getting dressed in his room beside a closed window. Tughlaq was very annoyed and his anger gushed out given orders to his generals that if anyone entered his room, they would destroy it. Determined to capture and destroy the enemy i.e.; the Sun, Tughlaq set out with his vast army, only after finding the sun hidden in the high dust due to army movement. The king then returned, satisfied that the enemy had fled. There is another example of Tughlaq’s misadventures. When he was in the country of Charamaodel, he was told that certain league distance the sea there is an island of gold and the houses in the island floored by rubies and diamonds. There is also a temple there in which Angels who came down from heaven danced there. Tughlaq decided to set out for the island with the ambition of becoming the ruler. He had avoided sailing with many people, decided to make a road to that island. Cart filled with stones and mud was dumped into the sea in an attempt to reach the island. The overwork of countless workers was behind this seemingly improbable construction. There are now a remnant of the sea-going walkway over time.it was a miserable plight for the workers. Tughlaq's commander, Melliquiniby seeing how much effort of laborer was being used in an impossible task, made ready two ships in the port of Charamaodel which he loaded with so much gold and precious stone and forged some documents and dispatches as of an embassy sent in the name of the king of the island in which he alleged his compliance. After this Tughlaq did not proceed any further with his construction. He then built a huge temple tower to commemorate this. It is now a place of pilgrimage. Nunis mentions that Muhammad Tughlaq, who invaded Gujarat, fought with Bengal and clashed with the Turkomans on the Persian border. Early in the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq, a large section of the Mughals invaded Punjab and advanced on Delhi without any resistance. Tughlaq gave them money and set them aside. He then invaded Bengal. Prior to his reign, the province was under attack and riotous. At the same time, Ghiyasuddin Bahadur, the Viceroy of Delhi, smashed them with his iron fist. He soon sought it as a self-proclaimed independent state. In imitation of Bahadur Shah, he issued his own independent coin. 
The printing of these coins in 1327 profess the supremacy of the lords in Delhi. But two years later Ghiyasuddin was portrayed as an independent "King of Bengal". In 1333, Tughlaq issued his own coin, severely attacked and subdued the rebel, and ordered his army to skin him alive and display the skin stuffed with straw in the streets throughout the provinces as a warning to his ambitious governors. There is a small flaw in Nunis' reference to Gujarat. Muhammad Tughlaq had gone there but it was only in 1347 that it was for the invasion of the Deccan. When Firishta mentions the invasions of Dwarasamudra, Malabar, Anegundi and Warangal, he says that all these countries had effectively incorporated in the empire as villages near Delhi.
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