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.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. The Kalima in ornate Arabic script on early
tankah of Altamsh.]