(A.H. 752-932)
It has been suggested by historians that the disastrous consequences
of Muḥammad bin Tug̱ẖlaq’s experiment with the currency were in
part responsible for the disintegration of his wide empire. This is
improbable. His successor, Fīroz Shāh Tug̱ẖlaq, undoubtedly inherited
a full treasury, as the vast constructional works he undertook during
the thirty-seven peaceful years of his reign prove. But he was no
soldier; and the governors of the wealthy Deccan province probably
experienced little interference from the distant Court at Dehlī.
Daulatābād was an almost impregnable fort, and, doubtless, well stored
with munitions. Consequently truculent Viceroys had the sinews of
rebellion ready to their hand. The temptation was too great to be
resisted. Other governors followed the lead given in the Deccan; the
finest provinces rapidly fell away during the disturbed rule of Fīroz’s
successors and became independent kingdoms; so that in a few years
the dominions of the Dehlī kings were reduced to little more than the
district round the city.
Their discomfiture was completed when, in 1398, the plundering hosts
of Tīmūr swept down through Hindustān and occupied the capital. Under
these conditions the coinage naturally degenerated.
The gold of Fīroz Shāh is fairly common, and six types are known.
Following his predecessor’s example, he inscribed the name of the
Khalif Abū-l-’abbās and those of his two successors, Abū-l-fatḥ and
’Abdullah, on the obverse, and his own name on the reverse, accompanied
by such titles as “_The right hand of the commander of the faithful_”
(_i.e._ the Khalif) and “_The deputy of the commander_.” The latter
appears on either the copper or billon coins of nearly every subsequent
ruler until Bahlol Lodī’s reign. In A.H. 760 (1359) Fīroz associated
the name of his son, Fatḥ Ḵẖ̱ān, with his own on the coinage.
Gold coins of subsequent kings are exceedingly scarce (Pl. VIII, 11);
the shortage of silver is even more apparent. Only three silver pieces
of Fīroz have ever come to light, and a few are known of Muḥammad bin
Fīroz, Maḥmūd Shāh, Muḥammad bin Farīd, Mubārak Shāh II, and ’Ālam
Shāh. In the reign of Muḥammad bin Fīroz, the general title, “_The
Supreme head of Islām, the commander of the faithful_,” was substituted
for the actual name of the Khalif in the inscription. Fīroz Shāh,
following the example of Muḥammad bin Tug̱ẖlaq, issued in large
quantities a billon coin of about 144 grains weight (Pl. VIII, 10).
This was continued by his successors, but the proportion of silver was
apparently gradually reduced. The coinage of the later rulers, though
abounding in varieties, is almost confined to copper and billon pieces
(Pl. VIII, 12). During the whole period, with but two exceptions, one
mint name appears, Dehlī, accompanied by one or other of its honorific
titles, _Ḥaẓrat_ or _Dāru-l-Mulk_.
The long reign of Fīroz seems to have established his coinage as
a popular medium of exchange; and this probably accounts for the
prolonged series of his posthumous billon coins, extending over a
period of forty years. Some of these and of the posthumous issues of
his son, Muḥammad, and of his grandson, Maḥmūd, were struck by Daulat
Ḵẖ̱ān Lodī and Ḵẖ̱iẓr Ḵẖ̱ān, two sultans who refused to assume
the insignia of royalty. The coinage of the Lodī family, Bahlol,
Sikandar and Ibrāhīm, despite the difference in standard, bears a
close resemblance to that of the Sharqī kings of Jaunpūr. The first
and the last minted copper and billon, Sikandar and his son, Maḥmūd, a
pretender (1529), billon only. Bahlol (1450-1489) issued a large billon
coin, the _Bahlolī_, of about 145 grains (Pl. VIII, 13), and also a
copper piece of 140 grains, first introduced by Fīroz, with its half
and quarter divisions. The mint name, Dehlī, appears on both Bahlol’s
and Sikandar’s coins, but it is frequently missing from the latter,
as the dies were made larger than the coin discs. The name _Shahr
Jaunpūr_, “The City Jaunpūr,” occurs on the later copper of Bahlol
after his reduction of the Sharqī kingdom in 1476. On their billon
coins all three kings adopt the formula, “_Trusting in the merciful
one_,” but on his larger copper pieces Bahlol retained the old,
“_Deputy of the commander of the faithful_.” In 1526 Ibrāhīm Lodī was
overthrown and killed on the field of Pānīpat by the Mug̱ẖal Bābur;
and once again the fortunes of the Indian coinage changed under the
auspices of a foreign dynasty.
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Akbar’s Ilāhī formula. Cf. Pl. X, 8 (obverse).]