In 1327, the Sultan of Delhi, Mohammad bin Tughluq, suddenly announced that every man, woman and child in the capital must pack up and walk more than six hundred miles to Daulatabad, a location nearer the centre of his hoped-for empire. In a matter of hours, the city was utterly deserted, but the decision brought ruin on the Sultanate.

The experiment proved disastrous. Despite the Sultan’s largesse, many died on the long road and many of those that survived pined away in exile. The Sultan tried to repopulate Delhi by drafting in wealth-creators from neighbouring towns, but not surprisingly this artificial community failed and he was unable to undo the mischief of his earlier decree.

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