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1 Tanka - Rukunuddin Barbak Shah
| Issuer | Sultanate of Bengal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1459-1474 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Tanka |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays multiple lines of Arabic inscription in naskh script arranged in horizontal registers across the field, recording the name and regnal titles of Sultan Rukunuddin Barbak Shah along with the mint and date formula. The lettering is prominently raised against a flat field, consistent with the hammered coinage tradition of the Bengal Sultanate. Partial legends appear clipped at the edges due to the irregular planchet. |
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| Additional information |
Rukunuddin Barbak Shah's reign over the Bengal Sultanate is notable primarily for his systematic military campaigns into Assam and his reported recruitment of thousands of Habshi — East African enslaved soldiers — into the royal army, a policy that would eventually destabilize the dynasty entirely within two generations. The tankas issued across his fifteen-year reign were struck at Firuzabad, the mint city he maintained on the Ganges plain, and show considerable die variation consistent with a sultanate running multiple simultaneous workshops rather than a centralized operation.