The Malwa Sultanate's billon coinage from this period reflects the fractured monetary environment of central India in the mid-fifteenth century, when regional sultanates struck their own issues largely independent of Delhi's declining authority. Mahmud Shah I ruled Malwa from 1436 to 1469 — one of the longer and more stable reigns of the dynasty — during which the sultanate held its own against both the Bahmani Sultanate to the south and the Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur.
The 40 rati weight standard ties this piece to a pre-Mughal indigenous system that persisted stubbornly in central Indian minting practice long after it had been displaced elsewhere.
The Malwa Sultanate's billon coinage from this period reflects the fractured monetary environment of central India in the mid-fifteenth century, when regional sultanates struck their own issues largely independent of Delhi's declining authority. Mahmud Shah I ruled Malwa from 1436 to 1469 — one of the longer and more stable reigns of the dynasty — during which the sultanate held its own against both the Bahmani Sultanate to the south and the Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur.
The 40 rati weight standard ties this piece to a pre-Mughal indigenous system that persisted stubbornly in central Indian minting practice long after it had been displaced elsewhere.