1 Paika - Ghiyath-ud-din Balban

Ghiyath-ud-din Balban ruled the Delhi Sultanate under a policy of deliberate terror — he systematically crushed the Forty, the group of Turkish nobles who had dominated the sultanate since Iltutmish, and reorganized the court along strict Persian ceremonial lines. His copper issues reflect this administrative overhaul; the paika denomination functioned at the lowest stratum of a currency hierarchy Balban worked to stabilize after decades of factional disorder had degraded both political authority and monetary confidence.