2018-09-20 Thu

Sultan Firoz Shah Tughluq succeeded his cousin Muhammad bin Tughluq and ruled over Delhi till 1388 AD. His biography Futuhat-e-firozshahi is the most important literary source to study the conditions prevailed during his time. His rule was considered by his court historians as more merciful than that of Muhammad bin Tughlaq.

When Firoz Shah came to power, India was suffering from a collapsed economy, abandoned villages and towns, and frequent famines. He undertook many infrastructure projects including an irrigation canals connecting rivers, bridges, madarasas (religious schools), mosques and other Islamic buildings. Firuz Shah Tughlaq is credited with patronizing Indo-Islamic architecture. Beside this he also founded several cities around Delhi, including Jaunpur, Ferozpur, Hissar, Firuzabad, Fatehabad.

Just like Muhammed bin Tughlaq, the coinage of Firoz Shah Tughlaq was rich. However, majority of his coins were in billon and copper. Few gold varieties are found, but silver coins are extremely rare. He continued the tradition of minting coins in the name Caliph. Gold and Billon coins of Firoz Shah Tughlaq had his name inscribed on it. In later period, the names of Caliphs were also included.

One of his gold Tanka which weighs around 11g was sold for INR 45,000 at Classical Numismatic Gallery. The obverse of a coin reads ‘al-sultan al a-zam saif amir al-mu-minin abu'1 muzaffar firuz shah sultani Khulidat mamlakatuha.’ The reverse of the coin inscribed as ‘darabat hadhihi al-sikka fizaman al-imam amir al-mu-minin abu '1 Fath al-Mu'tasid billah Khulidat Khilafatuha’.

Image Source: Classical Numismatic Gallery