Chapter III: Coinage of the Empire of Vijayanagar and Later Dynasties

The great mediæval kingdom of Vijayanagar was founded in 1336 by five brothers as a bulwark against Muhammadan conquest, and continued to flourish under three successive dynasties until the battle of Tālikota, 1565; the members of a fourth dynasty ruled as minor chiefs at Chandragiri until the end of the seventeenth century.

The small, dumpy pagodas of Vijayanagar, with their half and quarter divisions, set a fashion which has lasted to the present age. Coins, gold or copper, of more than twelve rulers are known: on these appear a number of devices, the commonest being the bull, the elephant, various Hindu deities, and the fabulous “gaṇḍabheruṇḍa,” a double eagle holding an elephant in each beak and claw. A pagoda on which a god and goddess appear sitting side by side (Pl. VII, 12) was struck both by Harihara I (acc. 1336) and Devarāya.[41] The great Kṛishṇarāya, during whose reign (1509-1529) the Empire was at its height, was evidently a devotee of Vishṇu. He struck the popular “Durgi pagoda,”[42] on which that god is portrayed holding the discus and conch (Pl. VII, 11). Other coins of the dynasty which acquired fame were the “Gandikata pagoda” of Rāmarāya (d. 1565), which had a figure of Vishṇu standing under a canopy on the obverse; and the “Veṅkaṭapati pagoda,” struck by one of the Rājas, named Veṅkaṭa, of the fourth dynasty. On the obverse of this coin Vishṇu is standing under an arch, and on the reverse is the Nāgarī legend, _Śrī Veṅkaṭeśvarāya namaḥ_, “Adoration to the blessed Veṅkaṭeśvara,” Veṅkaṭeśvara being the deity of Veṅkaṭādri, a sacred hill near Chandragiri. The so-called “three swami pagoda,” introduced by Tirumalarāya (circ. 1570), displays three figures, the central one standing, the other two seated. These are said to be either Lakshmana with Rāma and Sītā, or Veṅkaṭeśvara with his two wives. The legends on Vijayanagar coins are either in Kanarese or Nāgarī; the latter is most commonly used, by the later kings exclusively.

[41] The attributes of the two seated figures are sometimes those of Śiva, sometimes those of Vishṇu; there is some difficulty in distinguishing between the coins of Devarāya I (1406-1410) and Devarāya II (1421-1445).

[42] Durgi = belonging to durga, a hill fort. The coins are said to have been struck at Chitaldrūg.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Nāyaka princes of Tanjore, Madura and Tinnevelly and the Setupatis of Rāmnāḍ, originally in subjection to Vijayanagar, gradually assumed independence. The earlier coinage of the Madura Nāyakas bears the names of the chiefs on the reverse in Tamil, but their later coins were struck in the name of Veṅkaṭa, the “pageant” sovereign of Vijayanagar. Somewhat later, probably, begin series of copper coins both of Madura and Tinnevelly, with the Telugu legend _Śrī Vīra_ on the reverse and a multitude of varying devices on the obverse; these include the gods Hanumān and Ganesh, human figures, the elephant, bull, lion, a star, the sun and moon, etc. A similar copper series, with double or single crossed lines on the reverse, are found in large quantities in Mysore. Yet another series with the same reverse, also found in Mysore, bears on the obverse the Kanarese numerals from 1 to 31.

KEY TO PLATE XI

1. Jahāngīr. Lāhor. 1016-3 R. AR. Wt. 209 grs.
Obv., within square border of dots, on ornamented ground, the
Kalima; below, _Ẓarb-i-Lāhor 1016_.
Rev., _Nūru-d-dīn Muḥammad Jahāngīr bādshāh g̱ẖāzī sana 3_.

2. Id: Āgra. 1028-14 R. AV. Wt. 168 grs.
Obv., ram skipping to left, surmounted by sun; below, _Sana
14 julūs_, “The 14th year from the accession.”
Rev., _Yāft dar Āgrah rū-i-zar zīwar_ || _Az Jahāngīr Shāh-i-Shāh
Akbar_, “The face of gold received ornament at Āgra from
Jahāngīr Shāh, Shāh Akbar [s. Son],” and _Sana 1028_.

3. Id: Ajmer. 1023-9 R. AV. Wt. 168 grs.
Obv., Jahāngīr nimbate seated cross-legged on throne, head to
left, goblet in right hand. Around, _Qazā bar sikka-i-zar
kard taṣwīr_ || _Shabih-i-ḥaẓrat-i-Shāh-i-Jahāngīr_,
“Destiny on coin of gold has drawn the portrait of His Majesty
Shāh Jahāngīr.”
Rev., sun in square compartment in centre; to left, _Ẓarb-i-Ajmer
1023_; to right, _Ya mu’īnu_,[43] “O thou fixed one,”
and _Sana 9_; above and below, _Ḥarūf-i-Jahāngīr u
Allāhu Akbar_ || _Zi rūz-i-azal dar’adad shud barābar_,
“The letters of Jahāngīr and ‘Allāhu Akbar’[44] are equal in
value from the beginning of time.”

4. Id: Āgra. 1019-5 R. AR. Wt. 220 grs.
Obv., within multifoil area on flowered ground, _Dar isfandārmuz
īn sikka-rā dar Āgrah zad bar zar_, “In Isfandārmuz placed
this stamp at Āgra on money,” with date _5_.
Rev., contained as obv., _Shāhanshāh-i-zamān Shāh Jahāngīr
ibn-i-Shāh Akbar_, “The emperor of the age, Shāh Jahāngīr,
son of Akbar Shāh”; with date _1019_.

5. Id: with Nūr Jahān. Sūrat. 1036. AV. Wt. 166 grs.
Obv., _Zi ḥukm-i-Shāh Jahāngīr yāft ṣad zīwar_.
Rev., _Ba nām-i-Nūr Jahān Bādshāh Begam zar_, “By order of Shāh
Jahāngīr, gained a hundred beauties gold, through the name of
Nūr Jahān Bādshāh Begam”; on obv., _Ẓarb-i-Sūrat_; rev., 1036.

6. Id: in the name Salīm. Aḥmadābād. 2 R. AR. Wt. 176 grs.
Obv., _Māliku-l-mulk sikka zad bar zar_.
Rev., _Shāh Sult̤ān Salīm Shāh Akbar_, “The Lord of the realm
placed (his) stamp on money, Shāh Sultan Salīm Akbar Shāh
[S. Son]”; on Obv., _Ẓarb-i-Aḥmadābād_; Rev., _Farwardīn
sana 2_.

7. Shāh Jahān I. Aḥmadābād 1038-2 R. AR. Wt. 168 grs.
Obv., the Kalima in 3 lines; below, _Ẓarb-i-Aḥmadābād sana 2 Ilāhī
māh Ḵẖ̱ūrdād_, “Struck at Aḥmadābād in the month Ḵẖ̱ūrdād
of the Ilāhī year 2.”
Rev., _Ṣāḥib-i-qirān s̤ānī Shihābu-d-dīn Shāh Jahān bādshāh g̱ẖāzī
sana 1038_.

8. Id: Shāhjahānābād. 1069. AV. Nis̤ār. Wt. 43 grs.
Obv., _Nis̤ār-i-Ṣāḥib-i-qirān s̤ānī_.
Rev., _Ẓarb-i-dāru-l-ḵẖ̱ilāfat Shāhjahānābād 1069_. “Nis̤ār
of the ‘second lord of the conjunction,’ struck at the
capital, Shāhjahānābād, 1069.”

9. Aurangzeb: Tatta. 1072-5 R. AV. Wt. 170 grs.
Obv., _Sikka zad dar jahān chū mihr-i-munīr_ || _Shāh Aurangzeb
’Ālamgīr, 1072_, “Struck money through the world like the
shining sun, Shāh Aurangzeb ’Ālamgīr.”
Rev., _Ẓarb-i-Tatta sana 5 julūs-i-maimanat-i-mānūs_, “Struck
at Tatta in the 5th year of the accession associated with
prosperity.”

10. Shāh Shujā’: Akbarnagar. 1068-aḥd. AR. Wt. 177 grs.
Obv., in square, the Kalima and 1068; in margins, names of Four
Companions with epithets.
Rev., in square, _Muḥammad Shāh Shujā’ bādshāh g̱ẖāzī_; right
margin, _Ṣāḥib-i-qirān s̤ānī_; lower margin, _Akbarnagar_.

11. Aurangzeb: Katak. 29 R. AR. Wt. about 44 grs.
Obv., in dotted square border, on ornamental ground. _Dirham
shar’ī._
Rev., _Ẓarb-i-Katak 29_.

[43] With a reference to Ḵẖ̱wāja Mu’īnu-d-dīn Chishtī, buried at Ajmer, A.D. 1236.

[44] By the abjad system of reckoning, the letters of Jahāngīr and Allāhu Akbar both make up 288.

_Note._ In the Plate the reverses and obverses of Nos. 4, 6, 8 and 10 have been, by a mistake, transposed.

KEY TO PLATE XII

1. Shāh ’Ālam II. Shāhjahānābād, 1219-47 R. AV. Wt. 166 grs.
Obv. and Rev., surrounded with circular border of roses,
shamrocks and thistles.
Obv., _Sikka-i-Ṣāḥib-i-qirānī zad zi tāʾīdu-llah_ ||
_Ḥāmī-i-dīn-i-Muhammad Shāh ’Ālam bādshāh_,
“Struck coin like the ‘lord of the conjunction,’ by the help
of God, Defender of the Faith, Muhammad Shāh ’Ālam, the king.”
Date _1219_; mint marks, umbrella and cinquefoil.
Rev., as. Pl. XI, No. 9, but date _47_; and mint,
Shāhjahānābād.

2. Aḥmad Shāh Durrānī. Shāhjahānābād, 1170-11 R. AR. Rupee.
Obv., _Ḥukm shud az qādir-i-bīchūn ba Aḥmad bādshāh_ || _Sikka
zan bar sīm u zar az auj-i-mākī tā-ba māh_, “There came an
order from the potent Incomparable One to Aḥmad the king to
strike coin on gold and silver from the zenith of Pisces to
the Moon. Date, _1170_.”
Rev., as on No. 1, but date _11_.

3. Awadh: Wājid ’Ali Shāh. 1264-2 R. AV. Muhar.
Obv., arms of Awadh; around, _Z̤arb-i-mulk-i-Āwadh baitu-s-salt̤anat
Lakhnau sana 2 julūs-i-maimanat-i-mānūs_, “Struck in the
country of Awadh, at the seat of sovereignty, Lakhnau,” etc.
Rev., _Sikka zad bar sīm u zar az faẓl-i-tāʾīdu-llah_, ||
_Z̤ill-i-haqq Wājid ’Alī Sult̤ān-i-’ālam bādshāh_.
“Struck coin in silver and gold through the grace of the
divine help, the shade of God, Wājid ’Alī, sultan of the
world, the king.” Date, _2_.

4. Ḥaidarābād. Sikandar Jāh, in the name of the Mug̱ẖal Akbar II.
AR. Rupee.
Obv., _Sikka-i-mubārak-i-bādshāh g̱ẖāzī Muḥammad Akbar Shāh,
1237_, “Blessed coin of the king,” etc.; with initial letter
“sīn” of Sikandar.
Rev., as on No. 1, but year _16_, and mint, _Farḵẖ̱anda bunyād
Ḥaidarābād_, “Ḥaidarābād, of fortunate foundation.”

5. Mysore. Tīpū. Seringapatam. Æ. 20 cash.
Obv., elephant with lowered trunk to right.
Rev., _Ẓarb-i-Pattan_.

6. Nepāl. Pṛithvī Nārāyaṇa. AR. Wt. 84 grs.
Obv., within circle a square; above sun and moon; below date,
_1691_ (Śaka = A.D. 1769); at sides ornaments. In square,
small circle containing trident in centre; around, in Nāgarī,
_Śrī Śrī Pṛithvī Nārāyaṇa Sāhadeva_.
Rev., within central circle, _Śrī Śrī Bhavānī_; marginal legend,
each character in an ornament, _Śrī Śrī Gorakhanātha_.

7. Indore. Jaśwant Rāo. AR. Rupee.
Obv., in Sanskrit, _Śrī Indraprasthasthito rājā chakravartī
bhumaṇḍale_, || _Tatprasādat kṛitā mudrā lokesmin vai
virājite_.
Rev., _Lakshmīkāntapadāmbhoja-bhramara-rājitachetasaḥ_,
|| _Yeśawantasya vikhyātā mudraisha pṛithivītale_,
“By permission of the king of Indraprastha (Dehlī), the
emperor of the world, this coin has been struck by the
renowned Yaśwant, whose heart is as the black bee on the
lotus-foot of Lakshmīkānt, to circulate through the earth,
Śaka 1728” (= A.D. 1806).

8. Assam: Gaurīnātha Siṁha. AR. Wt. 88·4 grs.
Obv., within dotted border in Bengālī script, _Śrī Śrī Gaurīnātha
Siṁha nṛipasya_, “(Coin) of the king, Śrī Gaurīnātha Siṁha.”
Rev., _Śrī Śrī Hara-Gaurīpadaparasya_, “Devoted to the feet of
Hara and Gaurī.”

9. East India Company. Murshidābād. In the name of Shāh ’Ālam II.
AR. Rupee (machine struck).
Obv., legend as No. 1, no date.
Rev., as No. 1, but mint, Murshidābād, and Company’s mark
cinquefoil.

10. Sikh. Amritsar S. 1837. AR. Rupee.
Obv., corrupt Persian couplet (?) _Sar teg̱ẖ-i-Nānak ... az
faẓl-i fatḥ-i-Gobind Singh Saḥā (?) Shāhān ṣāḥib sikka
zad bar sīm u zar (?)_.
Rev., _Ẓarb-i-Śrī Ambratsar julūs-i-taḵẖ̱t ākāl sambat 1835_,
“Struck at Amritsar, the accession to the eternal throne, in
the Sambat year, 1835.”

_Note_—In the Plate the obverse and reverse of No. 7 have been transposed.

With the extinction of the Vijayanagar kingdom the number of petty states minting their own money rapidly increased. For example, the “Durgi pagoda” continued to be struck by the Nāyakas of Chitaldrūg from 1689 to 1779; the god and goddess type was continued by the Nāyakas of Ikkeri (1559-1640), and later on at Bednūr (1640-1763). On the conquest of the latter city in 1763 by Ḥaidar ’Alī, the type was for a short time struck by him with addition of the initial letter of his name “hē” on the reverse; but this initial soon became the obverse and the year and date in Persian occupied the reverse. So also the East India Company issued, from Madras, pagodas of the “three swami” type, and both British and Dutch Companies struck “Veṅkaṭapati pagodas,” but with a granulated reverse. These latter Company coins acquired the name “Porto Novo pagodas,” from one of their places of issue. The famous “Star pagoda” was of this type, with the addition of a star on the reverse. Likewise the Niz̤āms of Ḥaidarābād and the Nawābs of the Karnatic struck pagodas of various types; those of the Nawāb Ṣafdar ’Alī are of the “Porto Novo” type with an “’Ain” on the granulated reverse.

At Bālāpūr, Qolār (Kolār), Gūtī and Ooscotta were struck fanams, and at Imtiyāzgarh pagodas, with Persian inscriptions in the name of the Mug̱ẖal Emperor, Muḥammad Shāh, and a small copper coinage in the name of ’Ālamgīr II was in general circulation in parts of the peninsula; small silver coins of a similar type are also known. An exceedingly interesting fanam, as well as some copper pieces, bear the Nāgarī legend, _Śrī Rāja Śiva_ on the obverse, and _Chhatrapati_, “Lord of the umbrella,” on the reverse, and have with great probability been assigned to the great Marāṭhā chief, Śivajī.

The coinage of the old Keraḷa country, the Malabar coast, was, in 1657, the Portuguese Viaggio di Vincenzo Maria informs us, in the hands of the rulers of four states, Kannanur, Kalikat, Cochin and Travancore. It is distinguished from that of the rest of the peninsula by its large employment of silver, the most remarkable among these silver coins being the _tārēs_, said to have been struck in Kalikat, which have a _śaṅkha_ shell on the obverse and a deity on the reverse, and weigh only from one to two grains each. The same device, a _śaṅkha_ shell, appears on the silver _puttans_ of Cochin, struck both by the Dutch and the native rulers, and also on the old and modern silver _vellis_ of Travancore. Various gold fanams were current in Travancore before the nineteenth century, the oldest, known as the _rasi_, also has a _śaṅkha_ on the obverse, and is closely allied to the “Vīra rāya” fanams of Kalikat. During the eighteenth century the copper coinage of Travancore was known as the “Anantan kāsu”; on the obverse was a five-headed cobra, and on the reverse the value of the coin, one, two, four or eight “cash” written in Tamil. In the years 1764 and 1774 the Moplah chief of Kannanur, ’Alī Rāja, struck double silver and gold fanams with Persian inscriptions, recording his name and the date (Pl. VII, 13). The Muhammadan coinage of Mysore is reserved for a later chapter.

VII

THE MUHAMMADAN DYNASTIES OF DEHLĪ

In earlier chapters we have seen how the Greek, the Śaka, the Pahlava and the Kushāṇa invader each in his turn modified the contemporary coinage of Northern India; the conquests of Muḥammad G̱ẖ̱orī wrought a revolution. The earlier Muhammadan rulers, it is true, conceded so much to local sentiment as to reproduce for a time the Bull and Horseman issues of the Rājpūt states, and even to inscribe their names and titles thereon in the Nāgarī script, but there was no real or lasting compromise; the coinage was too closely bound up with the history and traditions of their religion. Their issues in India are the lineal descendants of those of earlier Muhammadan dynasties in Central Asia and elsewhere. The engraving of images was forbidden by the Faith; and accordingly, with some notable exceptions, pictorial devices cease to appear on Indian coins. Both obverse and reverse are henceforth entirely devoted to the inscription, setting forth the king’s name and titles as well as the date, in the Hijrī era,[45] and place of striking or mint, now making their first appearance on Indian money. The inscribing of the sovereign’s name on the coinage was invested with special importance in the eyes of the Muslim world, for this privilege, with the reading of his name in the _khutba_, or public prayer, were actions implying the definite assumption of regal power. Another new feature was the inclusion in the inscription of religious formulæ, that most commonly used being the Kalima or profession of faith. “_There is no god but Allah, and Muḥammad is the prophet of Allah._” This practice, followed by many subsequent Muhammadan rulers in India, owed its origin to the crusading zeal of the early Khalifs of Syria in the eighth century.

[45] The first year of the Hijrī era begins on Friday, July 15th-16th, A.D. 622.

The fabric of the coinage thus underwent a complete transformation; not all at once, but gradually, as new districts were subjected to Muhammadan conquerors, money of the new type spread over the whole peninsula except the extreme south. Yet owing, no doubt, to its sectarian association, it was not, until the great Mug̱ẖal currency had attained a position of predominating importance, voluntarily imitated by independent communities.

The Muhammadans were also destined to set up a new standard of weight, but before this was accomplished nearly five centuries were to elapse. The period under discussion in this chapter is chiefly interesting for the reappearance of silver in the currency, due to the reopening of commercial relations with Central Asia, and for the successive attempts made by various sovereigns to restore order out of the chaos into which the coinage had fallen during the preceding centuries. The gold and silver currency was rectified by Altamsh and his successors with little difficulty; but the employment of billon for their smaller money was fatal; for the mixture of silver and copper in varying proportions,[46] so liable to abuse, proved in the end unworkable as a circulating medium; and not until Sher Shāh substituted pure copper for billon, and adjusted this to his new standard silver coin, the rupee, was the currency established on a firm basis.

[46] The variation is due to the fact that silver and copper only form a homogeneous alloy when mixed in the ratio of 71·89 of the former to 28·11 of the latter. This fact was certainly unknown at this period. Cf. _J.A.S.B._, N.S., XXXV, p. 22, “The Currency of the Pathan Sultans,” by H. R. Nevill.

The earliest Muhammadan kingdom in India was set up by ’Imādu-d-dīn ibn Qāsim, in Sind, in A.D. 712, but as it exerted little influence on its neighbours, the insignificant coins issued by its later governors need not detain us. The gates of the North-West were first opened to Muslim invaders by the expeditions of the great Sult̤ān Maḥmūd of G̱ẖ̱aznī between the years A.D. 1001 and 1026. In 1021 the Panjāb was annexed as a province of his dominions, and after 1051 Lāhor became the capital of the later princes of his line, driven out of G̱ẖ̱aznī by the chieftains of G̱ẖ̱or. Here they struck small billon coins with an Arabic legend in the Cufic[47] script on the reverse, retaining the Rājpūt bull on the obverse. Maḥmūd himself struck a remarkable silver _tankah_[48] at Lāhor, called on the coin _Maḥmūdpūr_, with a reverse inscription in Arabic, and his name and a translation of the Kalima in Sanskrit on the obverse.

[47] Cufic is the earliest rectilineal form of Arabic script.

[48] Tankah is an Indian name applied to coins of various weights and metals at different periods. For example, to the large silver and gold pieces of Nāṣiru-d-dīn Maḥmūd, and later to a special copper issue of the Mug̱ẖal Akbar.

The last of these G̱ẖ̱aznavid princes of Lāhor, Ḵẖ̱usrū Malik, was deposed in 1187 by Muḥammad bin Sām of G̱ẖ̱or (Mu’izzu-d-dīn of the coins), who, after the final defeat of Pṛithvīrāj of Ajmer and his Hindu allies at the second battle of Thāṇeśar or Tarāin, in 1192, founded the first Muhammadan dynasty of Hindustān, which nevertheless actually starts with his successor, Qut̤bu-d-dīn Aibak, the first Sultan to fix his capital at Dehlī. In dealing with the coins of the five successive dynasties who ruled in Dehlī from 1206 to 1526, it will be convenient to recognize three periods: (1) from the accession of Qut̤bu-d-dīn Aibak in 1206 to the death of G̱ẖ̱iyās̤u-d-dīn Tug̱ẖlaq in 1324, (2) the reign of Muḥammad bin Tug̱ẖlaq 1324-1351, (3) from the accession of Fīroz Shāh III, 1351, to the death of Ibrāhīm Lodī, 1526°.