2017-11-28 Tue

Ala al-Din Husain Shah was an independent late medieval Sultan of Bengal, who founded the Hussain Shahi dynasty. He became the ruler of Bengal after assassinating the Abyssinian Sultan, Shams-ud-Din Muzaffar Shah, whom he had served under as Wazir. He was elected as the Sultan by the leading nobles in 1494 AD.

He was considered as the greatest of all the Sultans of Bengal for bringing a cultural renaissance during his reign. He extended the sultanate all the way to the port of Chittagong, which witnessed the arrival of the first Portuguese merchants.

He issued three different categories of coins, which have different types within it.

1- Coins with the name of the legend on the obverse and Shahada on the reverse.
2- ‘Victory Coins’.
3- Coins in which rulers name is spread on both the sides.
This Gold Tanka of Ala Al-Din Husain Shah which weighs around 10.62g, minted at Husainabad, is listed at INR 3,50,000 to 4,50,000 at Classical Numismatic Gallery. The obverse of the coin is inscribed with Persian legend ‘al-Sultan al-Fatih al-Kamru Wa al-Kamta wa Jajnagar wa Urisa Ala al-Dunya wa al-din Abu al-Muzaffar’. The reverse of the coin is inscribed as ‘Husain Shah al-Sultan ibn Said Ashraf al-Husaini Khallada Allah Mulkahu wa Sultanahu Husainabad’.