The rise of Arab power and the consequent disturbances in Central Asia interrupted trade between India and the west by land and sea and must have curtailed the import of silver from abroad. Paucity of silver in the medieval period compelled the Rajput dynasties of north India to issue coins in billon – a mixture of silver and copper in varying proportions. The coming of Turks synchronized with the reappearance of silver in the currency due to the opening up of commercial relations with Central Asia. But during the early period of Turkish rule in northern India, the billon coins known as ‘Dilliwala’ continued as a token currency for ordinary use. It had a horseman on the obverse and the humped bull with the ruler’s name in Nagari script on the reverse. Gradually the Hindu features were obliterated from the coins and the representations of animals and human figures ceased completely and the coins were embellished with inscriptions on both sides. The information in the inscriptions contained the name of the king, his titles, the Hijri Era (622 A.D.), the Kalima, (There is no God but Allah; Muhammad is his prophet), names of the four Khalifas and the place where the coin was minted.
The launch of silver Tanka by Iltutmish
The reign of Iltutmish saw the introduction of silver and gold coins called Tankas which weighed 172-180 grains. He also issued a billon coin called Jital and copper coins called Fulus and half Fulus called Adl. One silver Tanka consisted of 48-50 jitals. During the rule of Allauddin Khilji there was an increase in gold and silver coinage which has been attributed by the historians to his plunder of the Deccan. This apart, much treasure and coin in the 13th and 14th centuries must have been coming through foreign trade. Also the increased revenue demand, the realisation of land revenue in cash as well as the heightened military activities all required a larger and larger use of money.
Token currency issued by Muhammad bin Tughlaq
In medieval India silver was most extensively used for coinage. The precious metal coins in the Delhi Sultanate came from the bullion supplied through trade with Central Asia, Iran, the Levantine region and Europe. According to Najaf Haider due to various reasons the supply of silver from foreign countries during 14th and 15th centuries decreased. The increasing trade and commerce and the vast dimensions of the Tughlaq Empire increased the demand for silver. The disbursement of silver coins to the imperial armies and civil services created a problem similar to that which Allauddin Khilji also had to face earlier. The latter had met it by lowering the salaries of the soldiers and controlling the prices of commodities. Muhammad bin Tughlaq met the problem of the scarcity of silver by three methods. First he raised the price of silver in relation to gold to the ratio of 7:1 instead of 10:1 which generally prevailed earlier. Secondly he increased the weight of gold coins and reduced that of silver coins. Under Allauddin Khilji gold and silver tankas weighed 175 grains each. Muhammad bin Tughlaq introduced in their place gold Dinar of 200 grains and silver Adali of 144 grains. Thirdly to compensate for the shortage of silver, he introduced the token-currency made of bronze coins which was to be treated at par with silver currency. The fundamental principle of his token-currency was the same as that of the modern paper and metallic currency. The scheme was on the whole quite good but it failed due to various causes and Muhammad bin Tughlaq had to recall all the token coins.
The debasement of silver coinage led to billon and copper coins to dominate the market during the rule of Firuz Tughlaq and by the turn of 14th century precious metal coinage had practically disappeared from north India. The Lodis never struck coins either in gold or silver. All contemporary literature of that period mentions billon coins – tanka i bahluli and tanka i sikandari, which were the principal coins in circulation till the time of Sher Shah
Reforms under Sher Shah
Earlier coins of all previous reigns, in fact of all ages, were allowed to circulate as legal tenders. Sher Shah abolished all old and billon coinage of mixed metals and struck well-executed pieces of gold, silver and copper coins to a fixed standard of both weight and fineness. His silver rupees which weighed 180 grains contained 175 grains of pure silver. He also issued a copper coin which weighed 330 grains and it had their halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths. According to V.A.Smith- Sher Shah is entitled to the honour of establishing the reformed system of currency which lasted throughout the Mughal period and was maintained by the East India Company down to 1835.
Coinage under Akbar
Akbar issued gold, silver and copper coins. The silver rupee weighed 175 grains. He also introduced a square silver rupee known as Jalali. The chief copper coin of Akbar’s time was the dam also called paisa or fulus and weighed 323.5 grains and was the money for both the rich and the poor. It was divided into 25 parts known as jitals. The silver rupee was equivalent in value to 40 dams upto 1616 and 30 dams or a little more or less from 1627 onwards. In the 30th year of his rule Akbar began to date his coins from the ilahi or divine era (from the first year of his reign) instead of the hijri era. His coins also had figures of hawk, duck and also of Rama and Sita. The number of mints which stood at seven during the time of Babur rose to 72 during the time of Akbar.
Jahangir struck round and square coins in gold and silver. Some of the changes which took place during the time of Aurangzeb was the restoration of the hijri era and stoppage of inscribing the kalima on coins. During the Mughal rule the silver rupee became the principal coin for commercial transaction and tax payment while the gold coin, muhr or ashrafi issued by them and weighing 169 grains was used for hoarding purposes. As a rule the gold muhr were issued from the mint at Agra and the silver rupees from the mint at Ahmedabad.
Coinage during the British rule over India
During the time of the Mughals, the emperors took special care that their subordinate rulers should not issue their own coins. With the disruption of the Mughal Empire, the different independent rulers set up their own mint and coined currency of its own. And when some of these rulers found themselves in difficulties they did not hesitate to debase their coinage. This must have introduced considerable difficulties and even confusion in the internal trade of the country, which can be realized from the fact that it was necessary to weigh and ascertain the value of each coin before acceptance. This led to the existence of a special class of experts called Shroffs, who specialized in this work. It is said that there were 994 different kinds of gold and silver coins in usage during the period when the East Indian Company was extending its political sway over India. The East Indian Company had obtained from the Mughal Emperor the right to coining in their own mints in 1717 at Bombay, in 1742 at Madras and in 1757 at Calcutta and prior to 1835 the British East India Company’s coins consisted of Sicca rupee in Bengal, the Surat rupee in Bombay and the Arcot rupee in Madras.
Silver rupee made the standard coin
On the recommendation of James Prinsep, an epoch-making reform of the British Indian coinage took place in 1835. The Act of 1835 made silver rupee weighing 180 grains (165 grains of pure silver and 15 of alloy) the standard coin and deprived gold coins as legal tender. The weight, size and fineness of the coins of all metals and denominations were standardized. The tola of 180 grains became the standard unit of weight for coinage and muhr in gold, the rupee in silver and the quarter anna in copper were all struck in a uniform weight standard.
Denominations
The denomination of the coins issued were the double and single muhr in gold, the full, half and quarter rupee in silver and half, one-fourth and one by twentieth anna piece in copper. The obverse of both gold and silver coins bore the effigy of the king of England and copper coins , the company’s – ‘coat of arms’. The reverse of the gold coins had the figure of lion and that of both silver and copper bore a ‘laurel wreath’. In 1841 a two anna silver coin and in 1853 a half piece copper coin was introduced.
During 1862-1876 coins of the 2nd series were struck and in these coins the name of the East India Company disappeared in the reverse and the name of the issuing country, viz., India was introduced. The value of the coin and date of the issue were written in English alone. After 1889 the full, 2/3rd and 1/3rd muhr in gold (2/3rd and 1/3rd muhr in gold were issued in 1870 and were equivalent to ten and five rupee respectively) and after 1891 the 1/2 anna in copper was discontinued.
Gold and silver coins gradually phased out
During the reign of George VI (1937-1947) no gold coins were issued and silver coins of the denomination of one rupee, half rupee and quarter rupee were sparingly minted. In 1940 Quaternary silver or Q metal (composed of 50% silver, 40% copper, 5% nickel and 5% zinc) was introduced and used upto 1945 for minting one rupee, half rupee and quarter rupee which weighed 180, 90 and 45 grains respectively. In 1946 pure nickel was introduced to replace Q metal.
From 1939 to 1941 for minting two anna and one anna coins, copper was replaced by Cupro-nickel and in 1942 it was replaced by nickel-bronze. But Cupro-nickel was reintroduced in 1949 to replace nickel-bronze.
Bronze coins of the denominations of pice, half pice and pie were struck from 1938 – 1942 and the half pice and pie were discontinued from 1943 and a newly designed pice with a central hole was issued from 1943 to 1947.
Independent India started to issue a new series of coins precisely in the same metals and of the same denominations only with suitable changes in the obverse and reverse designs. In April 1957 one anna, four anna and eight annas were abolished and a new one rupee consisting of 100 paisa was introduced. Also were introduced two, five, ten, twenty five and fifty naya paisa.
Few Princely States were allowed to mint currencies
When the British established their rule in India the right of minting coins was conceded only to 34 Princely States. In 1876 the Indian Government passed an Act by which they offered to strike, free of charge, coins for the native states if the metal was supplied for the purpose to the government mints. Out of 34 States only Alwar and Bikaner accepted. Later the privilage of coining was withdrawn from most of the States. It was only Hyderabad, Udaipur, Jaipur, Tonk, Orchha and Travancore who were allowed to issue their coins in silver and copper; while Cutch, Jaisalmer and Kishangarh were allowed to issue only silver coins and Gwalior, Ratlam and Baroda allowed to issue only copper coins.
Issue of Paper currency
Before 1861 some ten banks including the three Presidency banks issued paper currency. It was confined to cities and its amount was very small. Even the denomination of the notes issued varied from one bank to another. By the Paper Currency Act of 1861 the business of issuing notes was transferred from the banks to the Government. To issue notes the Government of India established a new Department of Issue and Master of the Mint at Calcutta was appointed as the Head Commissioner of Issue and the Mint Masters of Bombay and Madras as Commissioners under him. Later the Currency Department came under the control of the Accounts Department and the Comptroller General of Accounts became the ex-officio Head Commissioner of the Issue and the Accountant Generals of Madras and Bombay, ex-officio Commissioners. In 1913 a separate officer called the Controller of the Currency was appointed in charge of the Currency Department.
Under the Act of 1861 currency notes in denomination of Rs. 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 were issued against gold and silver coins and bullion at fixed rates. Notes of the denomination of 10,000 were introduced in 1872 but they were used more as a reserve by banks than as a medium of circulation. In 1871 five rupee notes were introduced and in December 1917 one rupee notes and in January 1918 two and a half notes were introduced but were discontinued in January 1926. Earlier in 1910 issues of 20 rupee notes were also discontinued. The notes were printed in England till 1928 and from that date onwards at the Security Press, Nasik in Maharashtra.
To issue notes the country was divided into three distinct circles of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay and notes issued from any one of these circles were not legally encashable outside their respective areas. A circle was thus a self contained currency district. All notes up to rupees 100 were convertible into specie (coins) at all currency offices in India. In 1864 sub-circles were established at Allahabad, Lahore, Calicut, Trichinopoly, Nagpur and Vishakapatnam. Earlier currency notes were considered legal tender only within the circle of origin and were valid for all payments within the circle. In 1903 five rupee notes, in 1910 ten and fifty rupee notes and in 1911 hundred rupee notes were made universal, that is they could be encashable all over India. After 1932 notes of other denominations were also made universal.
Cowry Shells as medium of exchange
Cowry shells are known to have been used as money in India from very earlier times. The Chinese pilgrim Fa-hien who travelled in India about the beginning of the 5th century A.D. say that the people of Madhya Desha while buying and selling commodities use cowries. During medieval times cowry shells were imported into India from the Maldive islands and 3200 of them were equivalent to one rupee silver coins issued by the Mughals. At some treasuries of the East India Company in Sylhet (east-Bengal), payments in cowries were accepted from farmers as rent. Thomas Bowry, a foreigner who visited a village in eastern Orissa in the latter half of the 17th century says he found cowry shells to be the only money known to the village folks. In eastern India cowries were used as money by the poor people for a long time after it had ceased to be recognized as money by the British government.
Concluded
Reference
- Mohan Lal Tannan & Khushal T Shah – Indian Currency and Banking Problems, Bombay, 1917
- Shireen Moosvi – Numismatic Evidence and the Economic history of the Delhi Sultanate, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol-50, 1989
- Najaf Haider – International Trade in Precious metals and monetary systems of Medieval India 1200-1500 A.D.,Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol-59, 1998
- J.L.Mehta – Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India,
- Surendra Kishore Chakraborty – Some Hindu elements in Muslim coinage of India, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol-3, 1939
- R.B.Whitehead – Coins of the Mughal Emperors
- B.B.Das Gupta – Paper Currency in India, Calcutta University, 1927
- Kalikaranjan Qanungo – Sher Shah – A Critical study based on original sources, Calcutta, 1921
- A.L.Srivatsava – The Mughal Empire, Shivlal Agarwal & Co, Agra, 1959
- H.Nelson Wright – The Coinage & Metrology of the Sultans of Delhi, Delhi, 1936
- D.C.Sircar – Some facts about the Indian Mint and Money during the late Medieval period, The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, vol-vii, 1945, Part I and II.
- A.N.Lahiri – Indo-British Coins since 1835,The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, vol-23 (Golden Jubilee Volume), 1961
- P.L.Gupta – A Survey of Indian Numismatography (Coinage from the decline of the Mughal empire to 1947),The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, vol-23 (Golden Jubilee Volume), 1961
Ithihas 