Shamsuddin Firoz Shah - Sharing Power

Sharing Power

Firoz had six grown-up sons - Shihabuddin Bughda, Jalaluddin Mahmud, Ghiyasuddin Bahadur, Nasiruddin Ibrahim, Hatim Khan and Kutlu Khan. Of these six, Tajuddin Hatim Khan was the governor of Bihar. It is evident from numismatic evidence that during the lifetime of Firoz Shah, his sons Jalaluddin Mahmud, Shihabuddin Bughda and Ghiyasuddin Bahadur issued coins in their own names from the Lakhnauti mint. Ghiyasuddin Bahadur also issued coins from the mints of Sonargaon and Ghiyaspur.

A group of scholars, on the basis of these coins, have argued that the sons of Firoz Shah rose in rebellion against their father and alternately ruled Lakhnauti. But the minting of coins by the sons of Firoz Shah was not the result of their rebellion, rather it was the result of their sharing of power with their father. In fact, Firoz Shah ascended the throne of Lakhnauti at quite an advanced age when he was the father of six grown-up sons who helped him in the affairs of the kingdom. Being satisfied with the co-operation of his sons, Firoz Shah allowed his sons to run the administration of some portions of his kingdom independently and to exercise royal authority as in the minting of coins. Had the sons revolted against their father, chaos and confusion would have prevailed and expansion of the kingdom would not have been possible.