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COINS
Eternal India
encyclopedia
handicrafts. The Rupee coinage system of Sher Shah Suri was
accepted by the British and even today in our Republic the name
Rupee is used in our currency system.
Babur was the first ruler of the Mughals, but the most popular
Mughal Emperor was Akbar. He issued coins in gold, silver and
copper. He also introduced the quoting of the Kalima and having
Caliphs names on the coins. Being a secular Emperor he issued
coins in gold bearing the portraits of
Lord Rama and Sita (Fig-11). He also
issued gold coins of 5 Mohairs de-
nominations. His Mehrabi coins are
very popular.
However, full credit must be given to
his son Emperor Jehangir for creating
numismatic history. He issued gold
and silver coins depicting the name of
the month and the appropriate zodiac
sign. He issued gold coins bearing his
own portrait to be presented to his fa-
vourites. He was also responsible for
minting of the world’s largest coins of
the denomination of 200, 500 and 1000
Mohurs in gold. During the of his reign
he authorised his wife Noorjahan to
mint coins in her own name. The coins
bore the couplet “By order of Shah Jehangir gold attained a
hundred beauties when the name of Noorjahan Badshah Begum
was placed on it.” His children Shah Jahan and his grandson Au-
rangzeb continued the tradition of issue of coinage like their fa-
thers.
SHER SHAH’S RUPEE
Our currency unit the Rupee as we know it today is the product
of the great administrative genius Sher
Shah Suri. The rupee from
1540 A.D. (Fig-12) onwards came to
be widely accepted as standard coin
throughout India. Sher Shah's cur-
rency reforms deserve very high
praise as it transformed the Indian
economy of that time. He issued a
large number of new silver coins and
abolished all old and mixed metal cur-
rency. His silver Rupee was a trend
setter and the predecessor to the
coins of Mughal and British India. The
denomination or the name Rupee was
retained by the British rulers of India
and also the Republic of India, which
adopted the Rupee as its official cur-
rency after Independence.
Currency Break-up
Medieval India
4 pice = 1 Anna
64 pice = 16 Annas = 1 Rupee
64 pice = 1 Rupee
Modern India 100 paise = 1 Rupee
(Post 1957)
WORLD'S LARGEST &
Obverse
Abu'l-Muzaffar/
Nur al-din Muhammad Jahangir/
Badishab Ghazi
Father of the Victorious
Radiance of the Faith Muhammad Jahangir
Emperor Warrior
Hazar gune sharef yaft/
ry-yu sakka wa zer
The face of die and gold receive
a thousand kinds of honour
Zi naqisb nam Jahangir Shah/
Shah Akbar
From the design of the name of Jahangir Shah
Son of Shah Akbar
’Ajab nabashad/
agar zad-i-zawaj skka ader
It would not be strange if bom from
the marriage of die and fire
Minted in 1613 in Agra during the reign of Emperor Jehangir.
The weight of the coin is 11935.8 grams, diameter 210 mm, die axis
22. The inscriptions are in Persian and Arabic.
The coin was presented to Shah Abu-d-din Khan Bahadur by
Emperor Aurangzeb for the valuable services rendered by him in
conveying grain to the army of Prince Muhammad Azam who was
besieging Bijapur and routing P. Naik, the Baidur Chief of Saggar,
who had attacked him on the way. Shah Abu-d-din was the father