V Mediæval Coinages of Northern and Central India — Till the Muhammadan Conquest
The centuries which elapsed between that great turning point in Indian history, the Hun invasions, and the coming of the Muhammadans in the twelfth century, suggest several points of comparison with the so-called Dark Ages of European history. It was an age of transition, pregnant with important developments for the future, but individualistic expression, both in art and literature, remained largely in abeyance. This want of originality is particularly marked in the limited coinage of the numerous petty kingdoms which flourished and declined during the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries. The most important movement of the time was the rise of the Rājpūt clans, which were now emerging as the dominant powers in Hindustān. The Bull and Horseman type in the Rājpūt coinage symbolises this new force. In addition to the issues of the Huns and the Rājpūt dynasties will be described the money of Kashmīr, which, protected by its mountainous frontiers, ordinarily remained shut off from the influence of political events which agitated the kingdoms of the plains.
I. Coins of the Huns and Indo-Sassanians
The military occupation of India by the Huns, or Hūṇas, lasted but thirty years. By A.D. 500 Toramāṇa, leader of the tribe known as the White Huns or Ephthalites, had established himself in Mālwā. On his death, two years later, his successor, Mihiragula, completed the conquest of Northern India, fixing his capital at Śākala (Siālkōt) in the Panjāb, but was driven out by a confederacy of Hindu princes under the leadership of Yasodharman of Mālwā in A.D. 528. He thereupon seized the kingdom of Kashmīr, where he ruled till his death in 542. Probably there were other Hūṇa chiefs who struck coins in India, but the legends on their coins are so fragmentary that their names have not as yet been satisfactorily deciphered. On some of the earliest Hūṇa imitations of Sassanian silver coins, for example, the legend Shāhī Javūvlah appears, but whether this is the name of a king or merely a title is uncertain. No Hūṇa coins show any originality of design. The majority are either imitated from or restruck upon Sassanian silver pieces. The heads of both Toramāṇa and Mihiragula (Pl. VI, 4) on the obverse are coarse and brutal to the last degree; on the reverse appear the usual Sassanian fire-altar and attendants; the inscriptions are generally in Nāgarī script. Toramāṇa also copied the silver coinage of the Maukharīs (Pl. VI, 7). The copper of both princes show traces of Sassanian and Gupta influence; the reverses especially recall the fabric of Chandragupta II’s copper issues. Kushāṇa copper was imitated by Mihiragula, probably during his reign in Kashmīr.
Although the Huns were mainly instrumental in introducing Sassanian types into India, it seems certain that shortly after their invasion a Sassanian dynasty, or a dynasty acknowledging the suzerainty of Persia, was established in Western India; for coins with bilingual inscriptions in Pahlavī and Nāgarī have been found, directly imitated from Sassanian issues. One of these bears the name Shāhī Tigin, and the Nāgarī legend reads, “King of India and Persia.” Another class with the name Vāsudeva is directly copied from a type of the coinage of the Sassanian Khusrū Parvīz struck in 627; but the best known and the most finely executed are the flat copper and silver pieces (Pl. VI, 5) which bear the name Napkī Malik; but whether this prince was a Persian or a Hun is doubtful.
These Sassanian coins were the prototypes of degenerate base silver pieces which are found in large quantities throughout Rājputāna, and must have served as currency for the early Rājpūt states there for centuries. At first they preserve the thin flat fabric of their models (Pl. VI, 6), but as the head on the obverse and the fire-altar on the reverse become more debased they grow thicker and more dumpy. The curious coins known as Gadhiya Paisa (Pl. VI, 8), which circulated in the same districts and also in Gujarāt, probably down to a later period, also show traces of a Sassanian origin. The silver coins with the legend Śrīmad Ādivarāha on the reverse, and Vishṇu in his boar avatar (Varāha) as the type of the obverse, retain traces of a fire-altar below the inscription. These have been attributed to the powerful Bhoja-deva of Kanauj (840-890), whose family, Gurjara in origin, had formerly ruled in south Rājputāna. Very similar in fabric are those inscribed Śrī Vigraha, assigned to Vigrahapāla I, circ. A.D. 910, of the Bengal Pāla dynasty.
All these debased coins follow the weight standard of their Sassanian originals, which represented the Attic drachma of 67·5 grains, and in inscriptions they are actually called “drammas.”
II. Coins of the Rājpūt Dynasties
The coins of the various Rājpūt princes ruling in Hindustān and Central India are usually gold, copper or billon, very rarely silver. The gold coins are all “drammas” in weight; the usual type, which appears to have been struck first by Gāṅgeya-deva Vikramāditya (1015-1040) of the Kalachuri dynasty of Ḍahāla (Jabalpūr), bears the familiar goddess (Lakshmī) on the obverse (Pl. VI, 10), with a slight deviation from the Gupta device, in that the goddess has four instead of two arms; on the reverse is an inscription giving the king’s name in old Nāgarī (Fig. 5). Of the same type are the gold coins of six Chandel kings of Mahoba (Pl. VI, 9) in Bundelkhand (circ. 1055-1280), of the Tomara dynasty of Ajmer and Dehlī (978-1128), and of the Rāṭhor kings of Kanauj (1080-1193). On the conquest of Kanauj, Muḥammad of G̱ẖ̱or actually struck a few gold pieces in this style. On the gold of the last three princes of the Kalachuri dynasty of Mahākośala, in the Central Provinces (circ. 1060-1140), a rampant lion is substituted for the seated goddess on the obverse.
The seated bull and horseman, the almost invariable devices on Rājpūt copper and billon coins, were introduced by the Brahman kings of Gandhāra, or Ohind (circ. 860-950), who first used them on silver; the commonest of these are the issues of Spalapati-deva (Pl. VI, 12) and Samanta-deva. The later coins of the dynasty, however, degenerate into billon. The name of the king in Nāgarī appears along with the bull on the reverse, and on the obverse of the Ohind coins is an inscription hitherto undeciphered, but probably in some Turanian script. Bull and Horseman coins, either copper or billon, were also struck by the Tomara and Chauhan dynasties of Dehlī (Pl. VI, 11), the Rāṭhors of Kanauj, Amṛitapāla Rāja of Budāyūn (Budāon), and the Rājpūt kings of Narwar (1220-1260; Pl. VI, 13). Some of these last, in imitation of the Muḥammadan invaders, placed dates in the Vikrama era35 on their coins. The Narwar horseman on later coins is particularly crude in design. The Mahārājas of Kāngra continued to strike degenerate Bull and Horseman coins, from 1315 down to 1625. Deviations from this conventional type are rare. There is a unique coin of Śrī Kamāra, king of Ohind, with a lion on the obverse and a peacock on the reverse, while three kings of the same dynasty issued copper with an elephant obverse and a lion reverse.
A few copper coins of the Mahākośala kings and of Jayavarma of Mahoba have a figure of Hanumān on the obverse and a Nāgarī legend on the reverse; and a similar legend takes the place of the bull on some copper pieces of Asalla-deva and Gaṇapati-deva of Narwar.
III. The Coinage of Kashmīr
The early history of Kashmīr as an independent kingdom is obscure; trustworthy annals do not begin till its conquest by Mihiragula in the sixth century. From that time down till about 1334, when it was conquered by the Muhammadans, the country was ruled by four successive dynasties. The earliest coins are considered to be those with the head of a king on the obverse and a vase on the reverse, attributed from the inscription Khiṅgi to a certain Khiṅgila of the fifth century. A number of coins of the eighth century, struck by princes of the Nāga dynasty, are known: these are for the most part of very base gold, and were imitated from the standing king and seated goddess issues of the Little Yueh-chi, who, as we have seen, conquered Kashmīr about the year 475, and the name of the original leader of that tribe, Kidāra, still appears written vertically under the king’s arm. The workmanship of these degenerate pieces (Pl. VI, 16) is of the rudest, and the devices would be quite unintelligible without a knowledge of their antecedents. Some copper coins give the name Toramāṇa, but the identification of this prince with the famous Hūṇa chief presents many difficulties.
With the accession of Śaṅkara Varma, the first of the Varma dynasty, in A.D. 833, gold practically disappears. From the middle of the ninth century nearly all the kings whose names are recorded in Kalhaṇa’s great chronicle history of Kashmīr, the Rājataraṅgiṇī, of the twelfth century, are represented by copper coins, but the uniform degradation of the fabric deprives them of all interest. Among these are the coins of two queens, Sugandhā and Diddā (980-1003) (Pl. VI, 15), the latter chiefly remarkable for an adventurous career. The flourishing state of sculpture and architecture during the eighth and ninth centuries, and the natural artistic skill of the Kashmīrī people, suggest that this extreme debasement of the coinage may at least be due as much to a conservative dislike and suspicion of innovation as to a lack of cunning in the engravers. Many parallels could be cited, the classical example being the Attic tetradrachm, the archaic style of which continued unchanged at Athens even during the brilliant age of Pheidias.
Key to Plate IX
1. Bengal: Sikandar Shāh. Fīrozābād. 783 A.H. AR. Wt. 166 grs.
Obv., in a circle, Abu-l-mujāhid
(“The father of the warrior”)
Sikandar Shāh ibn-i-Ilyās Shāh sult̤ān; margin, names of the Four Companions in four circles, between these, Al imāmu-l-a’z̤amu-l-wās̤iqu bi taʾīdu-r-rahman; cf. Pl. VIII, 7, Obv.
Rev., Yamīni Khalīfatu ’llah naṣīru amīru-l-mominīn
ghaus̤u-l-islām wa-l-muslimīn khallada mulkahu,
“The right hand of the Khalif of God, the helper of the Commander of the faithful, the succourer of Islām and the Muslims, may God perpetuate the kingdom”; margin, in segments,
Ẓuriba hazihi-s-sikkatu-l-mubārikatu fī baldati Fīrozābād,
“Struck this blessed coin in the town of Fīrozābād,”
followed by date 783 in Arabic words.
2. Bahmanī: ’Alāu-d-dīn Aḥmad II. 850 A.H. AR. Wt. 169 grs.
Obv., As-sult̤ānu-l-ḥalīm ul karīm ur ra’ufi ’alai ’abdu ’llah al ghanīu-l-muhaimin,
“The sultan, the clement, the bountiful, the kind to the servants of God, the rich, the confiding one.”
Rev., in a square, Abu-l-muz̤affar ’Alāu-d-dunyā wa-d-dīn Aḥmad
Shāh bin Aḥmad Shāh al wālīu-l-bahmanī
(“The guardian, the Bahmanī”).
3. Mālwā: G̱ẖ̱iyās̤ Shāh. 880 A.H. AV. Wt. 170 grs.
Obv., in double square, the outer one dotted,
Al wās̤iqu b ’il mulki al multaji abu-l-fatḥ
(“The truster in the kingdom, and seeking refuge in the Father of victory”) Ghiyās̤ Shāh. A star above.
Rev., Bin Maḥmūd Shāh sult̤ānu-l-Khiljī khallada mulkahu 880.
4. Jaunpūr: Maḥmūd Shāh. 846 (?) A.H. AV. Wt. 175 grs.
Obv., within circle, Fī zamani-l-imāmi nā’ībi amīru-l-mominīn
abu-l-fatḥ khuldat khilāfatuhu. Cf. Pl. VIII, 11.
Margin, as on Pl. VIII, 5, but date 846 (?)
and mint name missing.
Rev., in tughra characters, As-sult̤ān ṣaifu-d-dunyā wa-d-dīn
abu-l-mujāhid Maḥmūd bin Ibrāhīm.
5. Id: Ḥusain Shāh. 864 A.H. Æ. Wt. 150 grs.
Obv., in circle, Ḥusain Shāh; margin, bin Maḥmūd Shāh bin Ibrāhīm Shāh sult̤ānī.
Rev., Nāʾībi amīru-l-mominīn 864.
6. Gujarāt: Maḥmūd Shāh III 946 A.H. AV. Wt. 185 grs.
Obv., reading upwards, Nāṣiru-d-dunyā wa-d-dīn abu-l-fatḥ al
wās̤iqu bi’ llahi-i-mannān,
“The helper of the world and the faith, the father of victory, the truster in the beneficent God.”
Rev., in double square, Maḥmūd Shāh bin Lat̤īf Shāh sult̤ān; margin, 946.
7. Id: Maḥmūd Shāh III. AR. Wt. 112 grs.
Obv. and Rev., legends as No. 6, but no date.
8. Ma’bar: ’Ādil Shāh. Æ.
Obv., As-sult̤ān ’Ādil Shāh.
Rev., As-sult̤ānu-l-a’z̤am.
9. Kashmīr: Zainu-l-’ābidīn. 842 A.H. AR. Wt. 96 grs.
Obv., As-sult̤ānu-l-a’z̤am Zainu-l-’ābidīn 842.
Rev., in lozenge, Ẓuriba Kashmīr; in marginal segments,
Fī shuhūri sina is̤nai wa arb’aina wa s̤amanami’ata,
“In the months of the year two and forty and eight hundred.”
10. Bījāpūr: ’Ādil Shāh. Lārīn. Wt. about 71 grs.
Obv., ’Ādil Shāh, followed by 3 strokes.
Rev., blurred.
Key to Plate X
1. Bābur: Lāhor. 936 A.H. AR. Wt. 69 grs.
Obv., in circle, the Kalima; margin, in segments, portions of Abābakri-ṣ-ṣadīq (“A, the faithful witness”),
’Umru-l-fārūq (“’U, the discriminator between right and wrong”),
’Us̤mān abu Nūrain (“’U, the father of two lights”),
’Alīu-l-murtaẓa (“’A, the pleasing to God”).
Rev., within flattened mihrābi area,
Z̤ahīru-d-dīn Muḥammad Bābur bādshāh ghāzī, 936; above, As-sult̤ānu-l-a ’z̤amu-l-khāqānu-mukarram,
“The most great sultan, the illustrious emperor”; below, Ḵẖ̱allada allaha ta’ālā mulkahu wa salt̤anatuhu,
“May God Most High perpetuate the kingdom and sovereignity”
and, Ẓuriba Lāhor “Struck at Lāhor.”
2. Humāyūn. AV. Wt. 16 grs.
Obv., in circle, the Kalima.
Rev., Ḵẖ̱allada allaha ta’ālā mulkahu... Muḥammad Humāyūn
bādshāh ghāzī.
3. Sher Shāh. Āgra. 948 A.H. AR. Wt. 175 grs.
Obv., in square, the Kalima; margins as on No. 1.
Rev., in square, Sher Shāh sult̤ān khallada allāhu mulkahu 948; below in Nāgarī, Śrī Sēr Sāhī (an attempt at Sher Shāh’s name).
Margins, As-sult̤ānu-l-’ādil abu-l-muz̤affar
(“The just sultan, the father of the victorious”)
Farīdu-d-dīn ẓuriba Āgrah.
4. Islām Shāh. Qanauj. 95—. Æ. Wt. 315 grs.
Obv., Fī ’ahdi-l-amīru-l-ḥāmiu-d-dīni wa-d-dayān 95—
“In the time of the prince, the defender of the faith of the requiter.”
Double bar, with knot in centre, bisects the legend.
Rev., Abu-l-muz̤affar Islām Shāh bin Sher Shāh sult̤ān ẓuriba
Shergarh ’urf Qanauj ḵẖ̱allada allāhu mulkahu,
“The father of the victorious, Islām Shāh, son of Sher Shāh, sultan, struck (this coin) at Shergarh alias Qanauj; may God perpetuate the kingdom.”
5. Sikandar Sūr. 962. AR. Wt. 174 grs.
Rev., in square, Sult̤ān Sikandar Shāh Isma’īl Sūr 962.
Margins illegible.
6. Akbar. Āgra. 981. AV. Wt. 167 grs.
Obv., in dotted border, the Kalima.
Names of the four companions and 981.
Rev., Ḵẖ̱allada mulkahu Jalālu-d-dīn Muḥammad Akbar bādshāh
g̱ẖāzī ẓuriba baldatī Āgrah
(“Struck at Āgra town”).
7. Id: Aḥmadābād. 982. AR. Wt. 175 grs.
Rev., within dotted square border,
Jalālu-d-dīn Muḥammad Akbar bādshāh g̱ẖāzī, 982; margins, portions of As-sult̤ānu-l-a’z̤am ḵẖ̱allada allāhu ta’ālā mulkahu wa salt̤anatahu ẓuriba daru-s-salt̤anati Aḥmadābād
(“Struck at the seat of sovereignty Aḥmadābād”).
8. Id: Āgra.36 50 R. AR. Wt. 175 grs.
Obv., in octagonal border, on ornamental ground,
Allāhu Akbar jalla jalālahu,
“God is great, eminent is his glory.”
Rev., within similar border, Ẓarb-i-Āgrah Amardād Ilāhī 50,
“Struck at Āgra, Amardād Ilāhī year 50.”
9. Id: Āgra. [50 R.] AV. Wt. 182 grs.
Obv., within dotted circle, on ornamented ground, a duck to right.
10. Id: Dehlī. 43 R. Æ. Wt. about 640 grs.
Obv., Tankah-i-Akbar Shāhī ẓarb-i-Dehlī, Tankah of Akbar Shāh.
“Struck at Dehlī.”
Rev., Māh Dī Ilāhī 43, “In the month Dī, Ilāhī year 43.”
11. Id: Mintless. 43 R. AR. Wt. 87 grs. Half rupee.
Obv., within square dotted border, legend as on No. 8.
Rev., Shahrīwar Ilāhī 43.
12. Jahāngīr. 1014-1 R. AR. (A “Ḵẖ̱air qabūl.”)
Obv., within dotted border Jahāngīr bādshāh ghāzī 1.
Rev., Khair qabūl, “May these alms be accepted.”
The one break in this monotonous Kashmīrī series occurs in the reign of the tyrant Harsha-deva (1089-1111), who struck both gold and silver in imitation of the ornate gold of Koṅgudeśa (Pl. VII, 5) in Southern India, with an elephant’s head on the obverse. The same king also issued a gold coin with a Horseman obverse and the usual seated goddess on the reverse (Pl. VI, 14).
The sparseness and inferiority of the coinage during the period under discussion in this chapter must be attributed chiefly to the general insecurity, caused by the continual quarrels between the numerous petty states. This state of unrest, together with the previous impoverishment of the country at the hands of the Huns, doubtless accounts for the small output of gold. It must be remembered that mercantile contracts in India have always been carried on largely by notes of hand (hundīs), and in times of disturbance these could be conveyed more safely from city to city than coined money.
The scarcity of silver was due to other causes. At this period the world supply of this metal seems to have been drawn chiefly from Central Asia. The rise of the Arab power and the consequent disturbances in Central Asia interrupted trade between India and the west by land and sea, and must have curtailed, if they did not cut off completely, the import of silver from abroad. So we find the Rājpūt states reduced to employing an alloy, billon, which was almost certainly used by them as a substitute for the more precious metal.
It is a most illuminating fact that gold, formerly exported from India, disappears from the coinage of Europe at about this very period, while silver is reduced to the meagre Carolingian penny standard.