Delhi Sultanate moves capital to Daulatabad

Timeline

1. 1326–1327Delhi · North IndiaAfter inheriting his father's southern conquests, Muhammad bin Tughluq believed Delhi, situated in the far north of India, could not readily suppress the Deccan and newly conquered southern regions. He chose the old Yadava capital Devagiri as the new capital, planning to move the court, government offices, and capital residents south en masse to control north and south from a geographic center.
2. 1327Road from Delhi to Devagiri · IndiaThe Sultan issued strict orders compelling Delhi's officials, soldiers, artisans, and ordinary residents onto the long southern journey. Historians like Barani recorded thirst, hunger, death, and abandoned property along the way. Devagiri was granted the name Daulatabad ('City of Wealth'), and new urban districts were expanded around the old fortress to settle the northern arrivals and establish the air of a new capital.
3. 1327–1328Daulatabad · DeccanThough the new capital held a strategic position, the Deccan plateau's grain, water, and commercial networks could not support the population relocated wholesale from Delhi. Officials disliked life on the frontier, and the emptiness of the old northern capital caused administrative and tax disorder. The move failed to bring the expected north-south balance, instead draining state resources and intensifying popular resentment.
4. 1328Daulatabad and Delhi · IndiaSoon after the relocation, pressure to allow some residents to return to Delhi emerged; though the full return took several more years, the forced migration of 1327–1328 was already regarded as tyrannical. Together with the token currency reform and heavy taxes, it became central to the controversy over Muhammad bin Tughluq's reign and weakened the Sultanate's control over outlying provinces.