2017-02-22 Wed

Muhammad bin Tughluq was sultan of Delhi. He was eldest son of Ghiyath-ud-din Tughluq of the Tughluq dynasty. He came to power in AD 1325. He was a brilliant ruler. He was the man with innovative thoughts that were far ahead of his time.

He was skilled in various languages like Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Sanskrit. He was the most controversial ruler for having shifted his capital from Delhi to Deogiri and renamed it as Daulatabad. He also switched the currency from silver to brass and copper tokens. Some historian also thinks that he was influenced from the paper currency which was used in china during his rule.

One of his gold tanka minted in Hadrat Delhi in the year AH 727, which weighs around 11g was sold for INR 80,000 at Todywalla Auction held in Mumbai on 18th November 2016. Obverse of the coin reads as ‘Al Sultan Al-Ghiyath Al-Ghazi Ghiyath Al-Dunya Wa’l Din Abul Muzaffar. And reverse of the coin reads as ‘Tughluq Shah Al-Sultan Nasir Amir Al-Mu’minin with the number 421 written at the bottom (it could be a chronogram), within circle date and mint name written in the margin.

To view similar coin click here.