Kashmīr was conquered about the year 1346 by a Swāt, named Shāh Mirzā,
who, assuming the title of Shamsu-d-dīn, founded the first Muhammadan
dynasty. The most famous of succeeding rulers were the iconoclast
Sikandar (1393-1416) and the tolerant Zainu-l-’ābidīn (1420-70). From
1541 to 1551 Kashmīr was ruled by a Mug̱ẖal governor, Mirzā Ḥaidar,
nominally in subjection to the Emperor Humāyūn. In 1561 the Chak
dynasty succeeded and ruled till 1589, when Akbar annexed Kashmīr to
the empire. Coins are known of sixteen sultans; there are also coins
in the local style struck in the names of the Mug̱ẖals, Akbar and
Humāyūn and of Islām Shāh Sūrī. The gold of these Sultans is extremely
scarce, only about twelve specimens being known, including coins of
Muḥammad Shāh, Ibrāhīm and Yūsuf. They are all of one type: on the
obverse is the Kalima enclosed in a circle, the reverse inscription
giving the king’s name and titles and the mint, _Kashmīr_, is divided
into two parts by a double band running across the face of the coin.
Most characteristic of the Kashmīr kingdom are the square silver
pieces (Pl. IX, 9); size, shape and design suggest that the model for
these may perhaps be found in the recent billon issues of Qut̤bu-d-dīn
Mubārak of Dehlī (1316-20). Following conservative Kashmīr traditions,
the design once fixed remained unchanged till the downfall of the
kingdom. The obverse gives the ruler’s name accompanied invariably
by the title, “_The most mighty Sultan_,” and the date in figures;
on the reverse appears the legend “_Struck in Kashmīr_,” in a square
border set diagonally to the sides of the coin, and in the margins the
date (usually illegible) in Arabic words. Dates on Kashmīr coins are
frequently unreliable, they seem at times to have become conventional
along with the style.
[56] The chronology of these Sultans, long in doubt, has now been
fixed. Cf. _J.R.A.S._, 1918, p. 451.
The copper coinage follows in general the standard of the preceding
Hindu kings and is very poorly executed. In the commonest type the
obverse inscription is divided by a bar with a knot in the middle.
Zainu-l-’ābidīn struck several kinds of copper; a large crude square
type, also found in brass, may belong to an earlier reign. Of Ḥasan
Shāh a lead coin has been recorded.