Chapter I: Coins of the Early Sultans, A.d. 1206-1324

(A.H. 602-725)

The gold coins which Muḥammad bin Sām struck in imitation of the issues of the Hindu kings of Kanauj with the goddess Lakshmī on the obverse, are, except for the earliest gold issue of Ḥaidar ’Alī of Mysore, without a parallel in Muhammadan history. He apparently struck no silver for his Indian dominions; in fact, two centuries of invasion had so impoverished the country that for forty years the currency consisted almost entirely of copper and billon: hardly any gold appears to have been struck, and silver coins of the earlier Sultans are scarce. The third Sultan, Altamsh[49] (1211-1236), however, issued several types of the silver tankah (Pl. VIII, 2), the earliest of which has a portrait of the king on horseback on the obverse. The latest type bears witness to the diploma of investiture he had received in 1228 from the Khalif of Bag̱ẖdād, Al-Mustanṣir. The inscriptions run as follows: on the obverse, “_In the reign of the Imām Al-Mustanṣir, the commander of the faithful_,” and on the reverse, “_The mighty Sultan Shamsu-d-dunyā wā-d-dīn, the father of the victorious, Sultan Altamsh_.” Both legends are enclosed in circles, leaving circular margins in which are inscribed the name of the mint and the date in Arabic. This type was followed, sometimes with slight variations, by seven succeeding Sultans, and although the Khalif actually died in 1242, the words, “_in the reign of_,” were not dropped until the time of G̱ẖ̱iyās̤u-d-dīn Balban (1266-1286). Gold, though minted by ’Alāu-d-dīn Mas’ūd, Nāṣiru-d-dīn Maḥmūd, Balban and Jalālu-d-dīn Ḵẖ̱iljī, was not common until ’Alāu-d-dīn Muḥammad (1296-1316) had enriched his treasury by conquests in Southern India. These gold coins (Pl. VIII, 5) are replicas of the silver in weight and design. Divisional pieces of the silver tankah are extremely rare. ’Alāu-d-dīn, whose silver issues are very plentiful, changed the design by dropping the name of the Khalif from the obverse and substituting the self-laudatory titles, “_The second Alexander, the right hand of the Khalifate_”; at the same time he confined the marginal inscription to the obverse. His successor, Qut̤bu-d-dīn Mubārak, whose issues are in some respects the finest of the whole series, employed the old Indian square shape[50] for some of his gold, silver and billon. On his coins appear the even more arrogant titles, “_The supreme head of Islām, the Khalif of the Lord of heaven and earth_.” G̱ẖ̱iyās̤u-d-dīn Tug̱ẖlaq was the first Indian sovereign to use the title _G̱ẖ̱āzī_, “Champion of the faith.”

[49] The correct form of the Sultan’s name is Īltutmish; Altamsh is a popular corruption.

[50] Two gold coins of ’Alāu-d-dīn Muḥammad are the earliest known Muhammadan coins of this shape. Cf. _Num. Chron._, 1921, p. 345.

Among the greatest rarities of this period are the silver tankahs of two _rois fainéants_, Shamsu-d-dīn Kaiyūmars̤, the infant son of Mu’izzu-d-dīn Kaiqubād (1287-1290), and Shihābu-d-dīn ’Umar, brother of Qut̤bu-d-dīn Mubārak, who each occupied the throne only a few months.

Most of the coins struck in billon by these early Sultans, including Muḥammad of G̱ẖ̱or, are practically uniform in size and weight (about 56 grains), the difference in value depending upon the proportions in which the two metals were mixed in them. This question has not yet been fully investigated, but it is probable that different denominations were marked by different types.[51] The drawback to such a coinage lay, as already noted, in the impossibility of obtaining uniformity in coins of the same denomination, and in the consequent liability to abuse. Numerous varieties were struck. The Indian type known as the _Dehlīwāla_, with the humped bull and the sovereign’s name in Nāgarī on the reverse, and the Dehlī Chauhan type of horseman on the obverse, lasted till the reign of ’Alāu-d-dīn Mas’ūd (1241-1246); on some coins of this class Altamsh’s name is associated with that of Chāhada-deva of Narwar. Another type, with the Horseman obverse and the Sultan’s name and titles in Arabic on the reverse (Pl. VII, 3), survived till Nāṣiru-d-dīn Maḥmūd’s reign,[52] when it was replaced by coins with a similar reverse, but, on the obverse, the king’s name in Arabic appears in a circle surrounded by his titles in Nāgarī (Pl. VIII, 4). On the commonest type of the later Sultans Arabic legends are in parallel lines on both obverse and reverse. The billon coins of ’Alāu-d-dīn Muḥammad are the first to bear dates. Qut̤bu-d-dīn Mubārak employs a number of special types, including those square in shape (Pl. VIII, 6). Billon coins, mostly of the Bull and Horseman type, were also struck by a number of foreigners who invaded Western India during the thirteenth century. The most important of these was the fugitive king of Ḵẖ̱wārizm Jalālu-d-dīn Mang-barnī.

[51] _J.A.S.B._, N.S., XXXV, p. 25.

[52] A single specimen is known of the reign of Balban.

The earliest copper of this period is small and insignificant. Some coins, as well as a few billon pieces, bear the inscription _’adl_, which may mean simply “legal,” _i.e._ currency (Pl. VIII, 1). Balban introduced a type with the Sultan’s name and titles divided between obverse and reverse. All copper is dateless.

The mint names inscribed on the coins of these Sultans sometimes afford valuable historical evidence of the extent of their dominions. The general term, _Bilādu-l-hind_, “The Cities of Hind,” is the first to appear, on the silver of Altamsh. _Dehlī_ is found on the same king’s billon and copper. _Lakhnautī_, the modern Gaur in Bengal, also occurs for the first time during this reign; _Sult̤ānpūr_, a town on the Beas in the Panjāb, on a silver tankah of Balban; _Dāru-l-islām_, “The seat of Islam” (possibly an ecclesiastical mint in old Dehlī); and _Qila Deogīr_ on the gold and silver of ’Alāu-d-dīn Muḥammad; while Qut̤bābād is probably Qut̤bu-d-dīn Mubārak’s designation for Deogīr.