The word ‘Sultan’ is derived from the Arabic abstract noun which means strength, authority, and power. During the medieval period, this word came into the use with the title of rulers who claimed full sovereignty, or it also refers to the powerful governor of a province within the caliphate. The word ‘Sultanate’ refers to the dynasty and the land ruled by the sultan. India had been a place ruled by many sultanates like Delhi, Bengal, Malwa, Jaunpur, Kashmir, Ahmednagar, Madhura, Gujarat etc; all these ruled India and issued their own coins. Today we will discuss about the coins of Bengal Sultanate. The coins issued by the Bengal Sultanate were lasted for almost 350 years, when it was replaced by rupee. The coins of Bengal Sultanate are unique among all the coinages issued in the Indian subcontinent.
At the end of 12th Century, Muhammad Bin Sam successfully captured Delhi Sultanate; he placed Qutb-ud-Din Aibak as viceroy of Delhi Sultanate and asked Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji- his military general to lead his army eastward-to the province of Bihar and Bengal. Later, the western part of Bengal; both the city and the district of Gaur (Lakhnauti) was captured and the government was set up in the name of Ghurid Sultanate.
In this way, Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji became the first governor of Bengal Sultanate. Later till the year 1338, Bengal was ruled on the behalf of Delhi Sultans by the official appointed by them. During this period, around 25 governors were appointed by Delhi Sultanate and six of them issued coins in their name. Hence, these six governors had contributed their part towards coins of Bengal Sultanate. The names of these six governors who issued coins in their names are:-
Ghiyas Al-Din Iwaz
Mughith Al-Din Yuzbak
Rukn Al-Din Kaikaus
Shams Al-Din Firuz Shah
Shihab Al-Din Bughda Shah
Ghiyath Al-Din Bahadur
The coins of Bengal Sultanate issued by all these six governors were mostly in Silver metal, but, some very scares gold coins of Shams Al-Din Firuz Shah can also be found. All the coins issued by first two governors bear the name and title of the king on the obverse side and Kalima and date on the reverse side of the coin. The coins issued by subsequent rulers substituted the Kalima with the name of last Kalifa of Baghdad, Al-Mustasim.
Ghiyas-Al-Din-Iwaz
Ghiyas Al-Din Iwaz ruled Bengal for two times in Indian History, his first reign begins in the year 1208 CE; when he had a conflict with Khalji Maliks, and who later assumed the throne of Bengal Sultanate. The Khilji Malik ruled Bengal for two years till 1210 CE until he was overthrown by Ali Mardan Khalji.
After the death of Ali Mardan Khalji in the year 1212 CE, Ghiyas Al Iwaz again got the hold of Bengal Sultanate for the second time and at this time he ruled Bengal Sultanate for almost 15 years until 1227 CE. In these 15 years of his reign, Ghiyas Al-Din Iwaz tried to maintain peace in Bengal. He also transferred his capital from Devkot to Gaur and had tried to prepare a powerful navy. He carried out invasions into neighbouring regions and made Vanga (Easter Bengal), Kamarupa (Assam), Tirhut (Northern Bihar) and Utkala (Northern Orissa) his tributary states. The coins of this Bengal Sultanate were mostly in silver and he coins he issued are known as Tanka.
The coin depicted in the image above (a) is a coin of Ghiyas Al-Din Iwaz. The legends of the coin are as follows:-
Obverse: – ‘Al-Sultan Al-Muazzam Ghiyath Al-Dunya Wa’l Din Abul FathIwad Bin al-Hussain Nasir Amir Al-Muminin.
Reverse: – La ilala illaillah Muhammadun rasuluIlah
Mughith Al-Din Yuzbak
Mughith Al-Din Yuzbak came to Bengal as a governor in the year 1242 CE and he made himself independent in the year 1254 CE.
In the Beginning, Mughith Al-Din Yuzbak issued coins with the title “Kunya Abul Fath” (father of victory). He issued these coins from the mint Nudiya; which is about 50 miles away to the north of present-day Calcutta. Later, he started issuing all his coins from the mint written as Laknu; it is unclear whether this is Lakhnauti or Laknur.
The coin depicted in the image above (b) is coin of Mughith Al-Din Yuzbak. The legend of the coins is:-
Obverse: ‘Al-Sultan Al Azam Mugheeth al-dunyawa al-Din Abu al-Muzaffar Yuzbak Sultani’ within an ornamental border.
Reverse: ‘Fi Ahd al-Imam al-Muta’asim Amir al-Momineen’, date and mint details in the margin.
Rukn Al-Din Kaikaus
Rukn Al-Din Kaikus sat on the throne of Bengal Sultanate in the year 1290 CE and ruled it till 1300 CE. After sitting on the throne of Bengal Sultanate he had divided Bengal Sultanate into two parts Bihar and Lakhnauti. From the reference of several inscriptions and his coins, it is found that he had styled himself as ‘Sultan-bin-Sultan’ meaning ‘the sultan, son of Sultan’ and ‘Sultan-us-Sultan’ meaning ‘the Sultan of Sultan’.
The coin depicted in the image above (c) is a coin of Rukn Al-Din Kaikaus;the legends of the coin are as follows:-
Obverse: Al-Sultan Al-Asam Rukn Al-Dunya Wa’l Din Abul Muzaffar Kaikaus Al-Sultan Bin Al-Sultan Bin Sultan
Reverse: Al-Imam Al-Mustasim Amir Al-Muminin.
Shams Al-Din Firuz Shah
Shams Al-Din Firuz Shah seized the throne of Bengal in the year 1300 CE and ruled it till 1316 CE. In the year 1316 CE, he was overthrown by his son Shihab-Al-Din Bughra. Later in the year, 1319 Shams-Al-Din Firuz Shah came in action and again captured the throne in his name.
Shams Al-Din Firuz Shah sat on the throne of Bengal with the title ‘Al-Sultan Al-Azam Shams Al-Duniya wa’l Al-Din Abu Al-Muzaffar Firuz Shah Al-Sultan’ and also invoked the names of Abbasid Caliph Mustasim Billah on his coins. The coins of this Bengal sultan are found in both gold and silver.
The coin depicted in the image above (d) is a coin of Shams Al-Din Firuz Shah. The legends of the coin are as follows:-
Obverse: Al-Sultan Al-Azam Shams Al-Dunya Wa’l Din Abul Muzaffar Firuz Shah Al-Sultan’
Reverse: Al-Imam Al-Mustasim Amir Al-Muminin
Shihab Al-Din Bughda Shah
Shihab Al-Din Bughda ruled the Bengal Sultanate for one year. He sat on the throne of Bengal Sultanate in the year 1317 CE and ruled it till 1318 CE. Coins issued by him are scarce and it is very difficult to find them with a clear mint and date inscribed. He issued silver tanka in both Lakhnauti and Sunargaon.
The coin depicted in the image above (e) is a coin of Shihab Al-Din Bughda Shah. The legends of the coin are as follows:-
Obverse: Al-Sultan Al-Azam Shihab Al-Dunya Wa’l Din Abul Muzaffar Bughda Shah Al-Sultan Bin Sultan
Reverse: Al-Imam Al-Mustasim Amir Al-Muminin
Ghiyath Al-Din Bahadur
Ghiyath Al-Din Bahadur Shah was the son of Shamsuddin FirozShah; he sat on the throne of Delhi after the death of his father in the year 1322 CE. Later in the year 1324, he lost the battle against Ghiyasuddin Tughluq. Ghiyasuddin Tughluq captured Ghiyath Al-Din Bahadur Shah and imprisoned him. In the same year Muhammad bin Tughlaq, son and successor of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq release Bahadur Shah and appointed him as the governor of Sonargaon as provinces. Bahadur Shah established a new city of Ghiyaspur; which is about 24 Kilometre southwest of present-day Mymensingh.
The coin depicted in the image above (f) is a coin of Ghiyath Al-Din Bahadur. The legends of the coin are as follows:-
Obverse: Al-Sultan Al-Azam Ghiyath Al-Dunya Wa’l Din Abul Muzaffar Bahadur Shah Al-Sultab Bin Sultan
Reverse: Al-Imam Al-Mustasim Amir Al-Muminin
The Bengal Sultanate was the strategic Islamic power in South Asia. The Bengal Sultanate was the Muslim state and was based on the Indian Subcontinent on the coast of Bay-of-Bengal. Today we discussed about issued by the governors of Bengal Sultanate. The Coins of this Bengal Sultanate were generally in silver metal. In the next blog we will discuss about how Bengal Sultanate got its first sultan, the first independent dynasty who ruled Bengal and their coinage.
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