Q. Consider the following statements with respect to ‘Ziauddin Barani’:
- He wrote Tarikh-i-Firozshahi and Fatwa-i-Jahandari
- His writing is an important source to understand various actions of Alauddin Khilji.
Which of the above is / are correct?
Answer:
Both 1 and 2
Notes: Ziauddin Barani (c. 1285- 1357 CE) was a theologian of the Tughlaq period. He was closely associated with the royal court for much of his life. He composed two works- Tarikh-i-Firozshahi and Fatwa-i-Jahandari. Tarikh-i-Firozshahi covers the period from the reign of Balban till the first few years of Firuz Shah Tughlaq. This book is a good source to understand important events during this period. e.g. market control policy and agrarian reforms of Alauddin Khilji. But, his problem was that Barani attached a religious motive/angle to every major step of the Sultans. He claimed that agrarian reforms were undertaken by Allauddin to punish the Hindus. He also blamed Hindus for the failure of token currency experiment. Barani, being an orthodox element, was much critical of the liberalism of Muhammad bin Tughlaq and he was unduly harsh in assessing the reign of Muhammad. So, both, statement 1 and 2 are correct.