Barbakaabad

Barbakabad was a mint town of northern Bengal founded by Sultan Ruknuddin Barbak Shah and named for him. It has been identified with Mahisantosh in the Dinajpur country. Coins and inscriptions place the name among the marks of the Bengal Sultanate’s authority in this region. Under the Mughals, Barbakabad also gave its name to a sarkar, a fiscal district that covered lands across northern Bengal.

The lands of Barbakabad later formed part of the extensive Dinajpur estate. Raja Sukdeva, who held the zamindari in the seventeenth century, controlled territories including Ghoraghat, Tajpur and Barbakabad. His successors endowed works such as tanks and temples, leaving visible signs of the wealth and influence accumulated by the landholding family under Mughal and nawabi rule.