Coins of Mughals and other Islamic Dynasties

Mahmud issued atypical coinage. His silver coins are special in Indian numismatics as they have his name written on coins in two different languages. On obverse legends are in Arabic but on reverse the legends are in Sanskrit, written in Devnagri script! The legend on reverse reads Avyaktamekam Muhammad Avatar Nrupati Mahmud in center and around it, the legends reads Avyaktiya Name Ayam Tankam Hato Mahmudpur Sanvanto 418. Obviously, the local population did not know Arabic, a foreign language and this fact made him issue these bilingual coins, a phenonmenon not new to North-Western India. Earlier Indo-Greek and Kushan also minted bilingual coins where on obverse legends were in Bactrian Greek while on reverse they were engraved in local Kharoshti script. Well, history does repeat itself!

The empire of Gazni was shattered after death of Mahmud of Gazni and after major political struggle and confusion, Muhammad Ghori (or Ghur or Ghor) took control of Gazni. Soon Ghori invaded India. Delhi was then under control of brave king of Chahamana dynasty Prithviraja III (popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora). Ghori had to face a massive cavalry of 200,000 and 1000 war elephants under command of Prithviraja and his fellow friendly kings. Prithviraja won a great victory and Ghori had to flee to save his life (for coins of Chauhan/Chahamana dynasty of Ajmer and Delhi visit Western & Central Indian Coinage section of this webpage). But Ghori soon came back and this time he was better prepared. Unfortunately, Prithviraj had not taken the second invasion of Ghori seriously. He hardly paid attention towards getting help of other princes. Jaichandra Gahadavala (Jaichand), who ruled from Banaras was considered to be the another powerful king of India. There was bitter rivalry between Chahamana and Gahadaval dynasties, the two most prominent dynasties of northern India. According to legend Jaichand's daughter preferred to marry Prithviraj against her father's wishes which made Jaichandra to remain in Banaras instead of taking a joint stand against Ghori. In historically crucial "second battle of Terain", Ghori defeated overconfident Prithviraja. Prithviraja was captured alive, he was blinded and finally put to death. The second battle of Terain (near Panipat) laid the foundation of Muslim dominion in northern India.

During his stay at Delhi, Ghori minted both silver and gold coins. His silver coins were almost identical to Prithviraja's coins. The obverse showed Bull while the reverse had horseman with the legends which which read Muhamamad bin sam instead of Prithvi Deva. Shown above is the gold coin of Muhammad Ghori depicting four armed Laxmi on obverse, which is highly stylized version from Gupta dynasty and later medieval North-central dynasties. On reverse, the legends are in Devanagri script, which reads Srimad Hamir Mahamad Sam. This is a rare example where a Muslim King issued the coin depicting Hindu deity, possibly of widespread acceptance of Laxmi or Lakshmi depicting coins by majority of population and merchants during the post-Gupta era.

Like his predecessor Mahmud of Gazni, Ghori too hardly paid any attention in ruling the region that he conquered. He just indulged himself in collecting the largest possible plunder and in that process carried out massacre of defeated soldiers & mass enslaving women/children. He could not enjoy his newly acquired wealth, he was murdered in his camp in cold blood while on the way back home to Afghanistan, probably by the group of people whose families were massacred.

Ghori had no son and this was an opportunity which made his Turkish general, Qutb-ud-din Aibak to take over this sultanate of Delhi. Qutub thus established the first Islamic dynasty of India. This dynasty is popularly called as Slave dynasy since Qutub had been slave of Ghori and later became his most trusted General. He was the major force in incorporating all the neighbouring kingdoms viz. Banaras and Kanauj, Hansi, Merath, Ranthambor, Bundelkhand into the first Islamic empire of India.

He died leaving no male heir and which resulted in another power struggle resulting in a favor of Iltutmish, another Turkish Slave. Like his master Qutub, Iltutmish too began as a slave but because of his merits was manumitted and later even managed to marry his master's daughter! Iltutmish faced a lot of rebellions but he swiftly acted and effectively suppressed all of them, keeping him in complete control of his sultanate. He later even received a robe of honor from Khalifa of Baghdad confirming as a Sultan-i-Azam, the great sultan. On his coins he describe himself as lieutenant of the Khalifa. He died in 1236 AD after reigning for 26 years. Iltutmish can be considered as the best of all the Turkish sultans who ruled from Delhi. He consolidated the sultanate in India and also took up considerable building activity. He completed the famous Qutub Minar, a minarate near Delhi (named after a Sufi saint, NOT after his father-in-law) , the tallest among all the pre-modern structures and nearby Quwwat-Ul-Islam Mosque (considered to be the first mosque of India) at Delhi, which was started by his master and father-in-law Qutub-ud-din-Aibak.

Iltutmish did something which happened only once in entire Islamic history of India. On his deathbed he nominated his daughter Raziyya (Raddiya in Arabic) to succeed him as heiress to throne. The brothers of Raziyya were utter hopeless and she was left on her own to rule large part of India. She was not the welcome ruler and practically all her nobles hated the fact that they were bowing before a woman! Raziyya may (or may not) have showed consideration towards an Abyssanian (person of eastern African descent) slave Yakub, who was a master of royal stable. However, her Turkish and Afghan nobles used this information and seized the opportunity to rebel against her. The first revolt was by Altuniya, the governor of Sarhind. Queen marched with large army to suppress the revolt, but her own nobles imprisoned her during the conflict and slew Yakut. She promptly married Altuniya and marched back to Delhi to claim throne from the new Sultan, her brother Muiz-ud-din Bahram. Just before the battle she was deserted by officers of Altuniya, her new husband and she was defeated. She was caught alive and put to death along with her husband next day, 20th October 1240 AD.

Death of Raziyya created utter confusion and disorder in Delhi. She was followed by three of her brothers, none proved competent to rule. Mongols took this opportunity and entered Punjab and captured Lahore. At this time, Ghiyas-ud-din Balban, a minister of youngest of Raziyya's brother took control. He repelled Mongols from Punjab and on death of Sultan, he ascended the throne of Delhi.

Like earlier two sultans Qutub and Iltutmish, Balban too was a Turkish slave (not again!). He was bought by Iltutmish and by his ability he rose to become minister and later king. Entire 22 years of his reign was spent in suppressing rebellions of his governors (Bengal took a lot of his energy) and confronting Mongols in north-west frontier. While fighting against Mongols, his able and favorite son was killed, which broke 80 years old sultan's heart. He died in 1287 AD leaving his empire for next round of bloodshed in determining the ultimate ruler. Shown above is a fine coin of silver, called Tanka, issued by Balban.

Balban was followed by his 18 year old grandson Kaikubad, who paid no attention to affairs of state and plunged himself in whirlpool of pleasure. His nobles got divided into two groups, Turkish group and Afghan group. The Afghan group lead by Jalal-ud-din Firuz Shah Khilji acted swiftly. Afghan nobles killed Turkish nobles and later murdered young sultan and his infant son. And thus the slave dynasty (1206-1290 AD) ruled by Turks of Ilbari tribe (not Pathans, as most people think) for almost a century came to an ignominious end.

The Slave dynasty introduced new reforms in Indian monetary system, which lasted for centuries. A coin of about 11.6 gm in gold and silver was issued, popularly called Tanka. The weight represents the Indian measure of precious metal Tola. The later silver and Gold coinage minted by Mughals (Mohur and Rupee) were also based on this weight standards.

This raid of Devgiri (later named as Daulatabad) widened his ambitions and that led to design a trap to kill his uncle, the sultan Firuz Shah. Unfortunate Firuz Shah blinded by his fondness to his son-in-law and nephew walked into the trap and was murdered in cold blood. Ala-ud-din lavishly distributed his Devgiri war booty among nobles and people of Delhi, which paved way for him to become next Sultan of Delhi. He soon strengthened his position by killing all the contenders (his cousins and nephews) and later slaughtering 30,000 Mongols living near Delhi in one single day! Mongols lost the spirit and did not invade India for very long time.

The initial success in many close fought battles turned his head and he began talking about establishing a `new religion' and started dreaming himself to be `the second Alexander', after the Macedonian King, Alexander III. He even minted the gold coins proclaiming himself to be the second Alexander (Sikandar al Sani), an example of such coin is shown above. He began expansion of his empire by incorporating the remaining independent kingdoms. First he sent his army to prosperous kingdom of Gujrat, then ruled by Rai Karnadeva II, a Baghela Rajput prince. Karnadeva lost the battle and managed to escape with his daughter Devala Devi to Devgiri but his queen Kamala Devi was captured. Army returned to Delhi with enormous booty in gold, silver and precious stones with queen and a young eunuch, Malik Kafur. Ala-ud-din married Kamala Devi who later became his favorite queen, while Kafur rose to become most powerful noble and eventual master of empire.

India witnessed a massive empire under Khiljis and Tughluqs, which incorporated region from Afghanistan to modern Karnataka state. But it collapsed; the strength of the ruler at Delhi was always the criterion for the empire size. Whenever the weaker ruler on the throne, the governors and other generals at far off places declared their independence and created own kingdom. Soon, there were dozens of kingdoms all over the India, popularly called Sultanates. Jaunpur, Bengal, Ahmadnagar are just few of those sultanantes.

Coins minted by Babar lack beauty and elegance displayed by his successors, Akbar and Jahangir. Often the dies used to strike these coins were so worn or used improperly that only part of legends were visible on his coinage. Shown above is a fine :-) specimen of Babar's coinage which is a rarity.

After the defeat, Humayun kept wandering in desert of India for next 15 years during which his son Akbar was born. At last with the help of Shah of Iran (Persia), he captured Kandahar and later took the opprtunity to conquer India, as after death of Sher Shah, Delhi was in utter confusion. Like his father, he also could not live long to enjoy his newly acquired empire and died by an accidental fall from the staircase of his library in Delhi. Shown above is his gold coin.

AKBAR (1556-1605 AD)

His young son Akbar took control and had to face a major challenge from Himu, a general of Afghan rulers of Bihar. Although not of royal lineage, Himu was very capable general and had won 22 successive battles when he marched towards Delhi. While Akbar was in Punjab, he captured Delhi, established his capital at Purana Quila (old fort) and proclaimed himself the ruler of India with a coveted title of Vikramaditya. The issue of supremacy had to be resolved, so both the armies met on battleground of Panipat. This was historically crucial battle, also known as the second battle of Panipat. The luck favored Akbar, as just when Mughals were losing the ground, a chance arrow struck Himu in the eye and he fell unconscious, creating confusion among his soldiers in battleground. Soldiers assumed that Himu is dead, and they deserted in mass. During this confusion, helpless Himu was captured alive, slained immediately by Akbar. Mughals took advantage, and reoccupied Delhi and most of the territories of Afghan rulers and nobles. This ended the long Mughal-Afghan contest for supremacy in India giving clear verdict in favor of the greatest Mughal, Akbar.

Akbar issued many interesting coins. One of his most important coin display Rama, hero of Hindu Epic Ramayana and his wife Sita on obverse while a word Ramaraj, in Devnagri scipt on reverse. This must have been a Nazarana gold Mohur minted for presentation to Hindu general or aristocrat. This coin (actually half Mohur) is in Paris museum.

He also issued an unique coin in Indian numismatic history, the Mehrabi Mohur, shown above. This exceedingly rare hexagonal gold coin minted in Agra in 981 AH had the Kalima on obverse with the legend `981 Abi Bakr Umar Usman Ali’. The Reverse Legend reads`Khalad mulkahu/ Badshah Gajhi/ Muhammad/ Jalaluddin Akbar/ Zarb baldat Agra’.

Shown below is another fine example of his coinage, a silver rupee which is square shaped.

Akbar tried to conciliate the brave Rajputs (the warrior clan of north-western India, well known for their fighting spirit) and secured their active co-operation in almost all his activities. His empire was in fact outcome of co-ordiantion of Mughal diplomacy and Rajput valor and service. Bihari Mall and his grandson Mann Singh of Amber (Jaipur) were the first Rajputs kings who cemented their friendship by matrimonial alliance. Many other Rajput rulers followed the suit including Bikaner and Jaisalmer and gave their daughters in the marriages to Akbar. The Rajput princess of Bikaner, rajkumari Hira Kunwar (not Jodhabai, as most people think) borne him his legitimate son, Salim, who later inherited the empire and ruled India in name of Jahangir.

The Mughal nobility came to comprise mainly the Central Asians (Turanis), Iranians (Iranis), Afghans, Indian Muslims of diverse subgroups, and Rajputs. Both historical circumstances and a planned imperial policy (cleverly devised by Akbar) contributed to the integration of this complex and heterogeneous ruling class into a single imperial service. Akbar saw to it that no single ethnic or religious group was large enough to challenge his supreme authority. This was a masterstroke of his military organizational ability, which secured the Mughal supremacy for centuries.

Akbar was perhaps the only secular Islamic ruler of India. Both Akbar and to some degree his son Jahangir displayed distinct secular behavior throughout their reigns. Akbar directed the translation of great Hindu Epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, in Arabic/Persian and encouraged religious conferences involving different scholars. He lifted the religious tax `Jizia' which all non-muslim population was forced to pay. Akbar even started a new religion, `Din-e-Elahi' (a fact which have a death penalty according to Islamic scriptures). He went on further to mint coins depicting Rama and Sita (with legend RamRajya). His liberal outlook helped him to attract a large number of intellectuals in his court irrespective of their beliefs. And, these politically wise decisions made people to accept Mughals as the rulers and helping Akbar and his successors strengthen the empire, which prospered and lasted for two more centuries.

JAHANGIR (1605-1627 AD)

The Mughal coinage are certainly unique among all Islamic monetary systems. Islam prohibits displaying the images or idols of human or animals. In-spite of prohibition by Islamic religion, both Akbar and Jahangir minted coins depicting their portraits on coins. Three such example of Jahangir's coin are shown here; one exceedingly rare Quarter Mohur, a miniature masterpiece, shown above. Here Jahangir is shown seated on throne or Gaddi, a cross-legged figure (just like his contemporary painting, shown above) with radiate head , holding wine goblet in right hand. On reverse the Persian legend reads `Akbar Shah Jahangir Shah Nuruddin’ and year 1021 AH, Regnal year 7, shown below.

There are two very popular coins of Jahangir, full mohurs, shown below. The legend on first coin is particularly clear. Here Jahangir is shown seated on throne or Gaddi, a cross-legged figure with radiate head , holding wine goblet in right hand, within inner dotted circle, legend around. On Reverese, in center is lion surmounted by sun, and the legend around. The distich or couplet on both the sides of coin read “On the face of the golden coin, ornament and the grace gave, the picture of Shah Nur-ad-din Jahangir, son of Akbar Shah. The shah, refuge of the faith, struck this coin of gold at Ajmer, Shah Nur-ad-din Jahangir, Son of Akbar padshah’.

These three are the most notorious coins of Islamic world where ruler is portrayed lifting a goblet for drinking the wine, reflecting the secularism that Jahangir wished to suggest. Since, both depiction of human figure/s and drinking of wine are strictly prohibited by Islam, with this series of his coins, Jahangir had clearly tried to depart from orthodoxy.

Both the Mughal emperors displayed tremendous imagination and minted breathtaking examples of numismatic art. One of the most remarkable of these are Zodiacal coins minted by Jahangir. In his memoire, Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri he wrote At this time it entered in my mind that in place of month they should substitute a figure of the constellation which belong to the month. For instance, in the month of Farwardin the figure of a ram, and in Urdbihist the figure of a bull. Similarly, in each month that a coin was struck, the figure of a consteallation was to be on one face as if the sun was emerging from it. This usage is my own and had never been practiced until now. Thus during 1028 AH to 1033 AH (Regnal years 13-18) Jahangir minted beautiful specimens of numismatic arts in silver and gold.

Although all 12 zodiac signs adorned on gold coins, only 5 silver zodics were minted. These coins are very special and are extremely popular in the world of numismatics. These coins became extremely popular during his reign itself and were widely exchanged for 20 times higher value than their face values! Thus, they were hoarded by all the sections of population.

Silver Zodiac coins were minted initially from Ahmadabad in 1027 AH for five months, hence we see five genuine silver zodiacs, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer and Leo. This collection has the complete set of silver zodiacs. Their large scale minting was possibly stopped as Jahangir left the city of Ahmadabad for Agra. Once Jahangir reached Agra, the Zodiacs were issued from there. All the silver zodiacs minted from Agra are very rare and special; they were minted using dies for gold Zodiac Mohurs. Similarly, Kashmir, Fathpur, Lahore and Urdu (camp) mints also issue silver Zodiacs, which too are fairly rare (and have been minted at later dates). Majority of the silver zodiacs, having later dates are often minted using dies for Gold zodiacs. If one does not find the die similarity, one should treat them with caution. Gold Zodiacs were minted with all the 12 distinct signs. they all are extremely rare and highly sought after by collectors. Today, only 3 museums in world, the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, Berlin museum and British museum are known to have all the 12 gold zodiacal coins. The images of some of the zodiacal coins are shown above and below.

The silver zodiac coins were minted for only five months in 1618 AD or 1027 AH (regnal year 13) while gold zodiac mohurs were struck for full five years. Most of gold zodiacs were minted at Agra while most silver zodiacs (but not all) were primarily minted at Ahmadabad. Few silver coins were minted at Agra using dies for gold zodiac mohurs. Shown above is that very rare silver coin which was struck from dies which were used for making gold zodiac Mohurs.

Because of their `un-Islamic' nature, Jahangir's successors, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb recalled these coins from circulation and melted them in Royal mints. But because of their tremendous popularity, they were hoarded and have survived in various collection, including a few other contries.

Some of the Jahangir's coins were in gigantic in dimensions. It is mentioned in `Badshah Nama' that on Jahangir's birthday the Persian Ambassador was presented with 4 Gold Ashrafis wighing 400 tolas (4.6 Kg), 300 tolas (3.5 Kg), 200 tolas (2.3 Kg) and 100 tolas (1.2 Kg)! Shown below is the image of the coin (I do NOT have this coin), which is world's biggest gold coin and thus likely to be world's most expensive coin. This coin has diameter of 20 cm and contains 383.75 troy ounces or almost 12 Kilograms of pure gold!!!

The gigantic Mughal coins are of special importance in Indian as well as world numismatics. One thousand tola gold mohur of 12 Kgs minted by Jahangir in 1613, realistically display the wealth that was accumulated by this dynasty. Most of these gold muhars/mohurs had poetic couplets in persian and were the finest samples of craftmanship and metallurgy.

Shown below is a scarce coin of Jahangir minted at Elichpur (northern Maharashtra state).

SHAH JAHAN (1627-1658)

Shahjahan took control of Mughal empire after death of Jahangir. Throughout his reign the empire was very prosperous and stable. This stability allowed him to take up many massive construction projects. One of the most important being the world famous `Taj Mahal' built for his wife Mumtaz Begum. After her death, in memory he built this magnificent monument. The beauty and elegance of this monument is beyond description and millions visit every year to see it. Shahjahan built many other monuments during his reign. In his last days his son Aurangzeb took control of this dynasty (1658 AD). Shahjahan was imprisoned where he died 8 years later in 1666 AD. Shown above is image of his coin which is in uncirculated condition and have the original shiny finish.

AURANGZEB(1658-1707)

Aurangzeb was truly the last Mughal. He inherited a great empire and throughout his long 49 years of reign tried to keep it intact. Unfortunately, unlike the Akbar and his son Jahangir, he was a very fanatic ruler. His rule witnessed re-introduction of religious tax Jizia, which he imposed on the majority Hindu population and was callous witness to their persecution. This created a tremendous displeasure and religious tension among many of his generals who were mostly Rajput warriors. He lacked sympathy, imagination, breadth of vision and elasticity of choice of means. In spite of vitality and ceaseless campaigns again his enemies, Aurangzeb proved to be a failure as a ruler. In the intensity of his religious zeal, he ignored feelings of important sections of people (who did not profess Islam) and thus roused forces hostile to his empire.

In Deccan , Marathas, another warrior clan, united under able and wise king Shivaji Bhonsale Aurangzeb spent last 2 decades of his life fighting Marathas in Deccan (modern Maharashtra). In spite of his all-out efforts to suppress Marathas, the spirit of religious freedom and independence was not lost in south. Locals had a last laugh; Aurangzeb died as a bitter old man realizing that his lack of piety and shallow interpretation of religion had destroyed the heritage of his forefathers and is buried in a village Khuldabad in Maharashtra. Soon after his death, his empire disintegrated and Marathas emerged as a supreme power in India. Shown above is a nice example of the silver rupee minted at Surat during Aurangzeb's reign.

FARRUKHSIYAR (1713-1719)

After death of Aurangzeb, war broke out between his sons for throne, the first sign of collapse of Mughal empire. Aurangzeb was followed by his eldest son Muazzam under title of Shah Alam I, after killing two of his younger brothers. He soon died in 1712 and thus war of succession started among his 4 sons. His eldest son Jahander shah emerged as a victorious. He killed his three other brothers and became emperor. Jahander Shah was completely under enfluence of his favourite lady Lal Kumari. His brief reign was full of violence but mistrels, singers, dancers and actors had great time. He was hopeless ruler and finally deposed by his nephew Farrukhsiyar in 1713. Jahander Shah was strangled to death and his cheif minister was also executed. Farrukhsiyar was elevated to throne by two Sayyid brothers who were governors of Patana and Allahabad. Farrukhsiyar was feeble and coward. He acted ungratefully towards Sayyid brothers. They resented this and eventually they deposed him, blinded him and had him executed.

MUHAMMAD SHAH (1719-1748)

Now sayyid brothers `the king makers', elevated youth of eighteen, a cousin of Farrukhsiyar, Roshan Akhtar to throne. He ascended the throne under the name of Muhammad Shah. He soon managed to find him powerful supporters including Nizam-ul-mulk of Deccan. In a very smart move, he killed both the Sayyid brothers and thus his long reign of 29 years started. He was young and fond of all kinds of pleasure (he is also known by another name, Rangeela, the careless fun-lover). His reign was full of utter confusion and he let the emperial affairs drift their own way with fatal consequences. Major provinces like Deccan, Awadh and Bengal slipped away, Marathas created their own massive kingdom and became very powerful. Thus within three decaded after death of Aurangzeb, the vast Mughal empire spit into numerous independent or semi-independent states. Shown above is an extremely fine gold coin depicting his name, title, mint name and year (scarce to see all these on single coin).

Please contact me for all the additional information; nupam@msn.com