Shah Shuja, Akbarnagar Mint, Silver Rupee, AH (10)68/Ahad RY, Obv: The Kalima Shahada in Arabic legend, la ilaha il Allah, Muhammadar rasul Allah within square, four khalifa's names around in margin, Rev: Muhammad Shah Shuja Badshah Ghazi, Ahad ry & zarb Akbarnagar partly visible at bottom, 9.50g, 19.34mm, (KM # 275.1), about very fine, testing & counter marks, Exceedingly Rare.

Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah Shuja who lived from 23rd June 1616 –7th February 1661 was the second of the four sons of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Empress Mumtaz Mahal. The eldest being Dara Shikoh, followed by Aurangzeb and Murad Bakhsh. All four sons held posts as governors during their father’s reign. Shah Shuja was appointed by Shah Jahan as the Governor of the Bengal & was stationed at Rajmahal (Akbarnagar). He was the first to claim the throne & marched at the head of army towards Delhi. When Shah Jahan fell ill, a power struggle ensued between the four brothers, Shuja crowned himself emperor and took imperial titles, the Khutba was read and coins were struck at Patna and Akbarnagar. With Aurangzeb’s burgeoning strength and domination over the other brothers, Aurangzeb marched from Punjab to the east where Shah Shuja’s army was routed. Shuja led to Arakan where he perished but he first arrived at Chittagong and stayed for some time, from where he took the land route to Arakan which is still called Shuja Road and died near Mrauk-U, Arakan.

The entire period from AH 1068–AH 1070 where we find the coins of Shah Shuja, Murad Baksh, Aurangzeb of the same dates is very interesting. Till date it is not confirmed that for how long the Shah Shuja has ruled as a Mughal Ruler because the coins have appeared with the single date.

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