“Muhammad Bin
Tughlaq was one of the most interesting personalities of Medieval Indian
history. He ruled from 1324 to 1351 AD. Muhammad Bin Tughlaq was
interested in Persian poetry, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy and
was also noted a philosopher. He was well-versed in the religious topics
and fluent in both Arabic and Persian. From the beginning of his
kingship, the countrymen had a huge expectation from him. He took some
very bold and strong measures to reform the Sultani administration at
the advent of his rule.
He took great
steps in revenue reformation. He decided to shift his capital from Delhi
to Devagiri, which is now known as Daulatabad. Daulatabad is situated
in Central India. Though controversial, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq showed a
great sense of pragmatism in this decision. He not only saved his
capital from the Mongol raids but also ensured the proper administrative
rule in both the northern and southern part of the India.
His
rule is also significant for the introduction of token currency. He
understood the importance of currency as a medium of commercial exchange
and that is why he took keen interest to circulate gold and silver
coins. The gold coin was introduced as Dinar. Tughlaq’s silver coin was
named Adl. However, it was difficult to maintain the supply of gold and
silver coins on a large scale. So, Tughlaq replaced those coins and
started the circulation of copper and brass coins as the token currency
which had the same value of gold or silver coins in 1330-32 CE. He was
well aware that the state had to act as a responsible guarantor for the
token money by ensuring high degree of security which will prevent
others from making fake currencies.
But
the administrators failed in maintaining the security measures. These
coins totally lacked the artistic design and perfection in finishing and
even the administrators of the king took no measure to keep the design
secured and protected. In fact, the coins just had some inscriptions and
no royal seals. These loopholes make them easier to copy. Thus,
ordinary people easily copied the design and started making coins in
their house. Soon the entire market was flooding with the fake coins.
The ordinary people started to pay the state revenue with their home
made coins and this caused a great problem for the state treasury.
Within a very short period of time the state treasury was full of fake
coins. Historians have argued that the value of the coins decreased for
such wholesale forgery and it became worthless like the stones.”
