Mughal Coinage

Babur

• Babur''s first coins were minted in Afghanistan. It is known as mithqal or ashrafi (a gold piece weighing 4.7 grams) from around 1523 CE.
• Babur issued shahrukhi coins, which were large, thin silver pieces weighing about 4.6 grams.
• The Timurid money coin was known as "Shahrukhi."
• The Shahrukhis were thin broad-flannel coins imprinted with the Sunni Kalima (Islamic Phrases) in the centre and the names of the first four caliphs around it.
• They were named after Timur''s eldest son, Shahrukh Mirza. The king''s Islamic name and titles appeared on the reverse, along with the date in the Hijri era and the minting town''s name.
• From Kabul to Agra, where he died on December 26, 1530, Babur issued Shahrukhis throughout his political career.

Humayun

• Babur''s immediate successor, Humayun, and even his grandson, Akbar, upheld the Shahrukhi standard.
• Sher Shah Suri, an Afghan warlord who founded a vast but short-lived empire, conquered Humayun and drove him from the throne (1540-1556.)
• During Humayun''s exile, his opponent, Sher Shah, devised a new silver currency known as the ''rupaiya,'' which survived the Afghan ruler by over four centuries and is now known as the rupee.
• The transition from base metal alloys to bimetallic currency, such as the silver rupaiya and a copper coin known as the paisa, is credited to Sher Shah (the Mughals would call it daam).
• The Suri Empire left behind a reformed and largely standardized coinage, consisting of the gold mohur (about 11 grams), silver rupee (approximately 11.5 kilos), and copper dam or paisa (approximately 11.5 grammes) (of variable weight).
• One Mohur was worth 15 rupees, and one rupee was for 48 dams, however, the value of gold, silver, and copper fluctuated widely.

Akbar

• Akbar embraced Sher Shah''s system, replacing the Shahrukhi with the rupaiya and introducing gold coins known as ashrafi (mohurs).
• Akbar''s diverse religious beliefs are reflected on his coinage; his first coins were published with the Sunni Kalima until 1585, when he formed a new religion called Din-i-Illahi and issued coins with its credo: ''Allah hu Akbar Jalla Jalaluhu'' (God is great, may His glory be glorified).
• He also started dating his coins according to a new ''Illahi era,'' which supplanted the previous Hijri period.
• Most of his successors, including Aurangzeb, adopted the practice of inscribing Persian poetry honoring the emperor, which was started by Akbar.
• The silver rupees of Akbar come in both round and square shapes.
• The coin depicting full-length representations of the Hindu deities Rama and Sita, which were minted in Akbar''s penultimate year, is perhaps the most surprising of this amazing ruler''s coins.
• The falus (approximately 4.4 grammes) is included in Akbar''s copper coinage, reflecting a thriving urban economy where people need to make minor daily expenditures.

Jahangir

• The "Zodiac" series of gold and silver coins, portraying the 12 astrological signs, are Jahangir''s best-known and most widely acquired coins.
• He also released coins featuring images of himself holding a cup of wine.
• On his coinage, the Hijri era was reintroduced to some extent. He released a 1,000-mohur presentation piece weighing approximately 12 kilos, which must have been the heaviest gold currency ever made before modern times.
• Jahangir was the only Mughal emperor to confer the authority of coinage to his wife Nur Jahan, and he minted many gold and silver coins with beautiful phrases on them.
• After Razia Sultana, Nur Jahan was the first queen to produce coins.

Shah Jahan

• His regular coinage returned to conventional, strictly calligraphic designs, abandoning the visual depiction of his father''s coins.
• Shah Jahan began his reign by reinstating the Kalima on his coins and renaming himself ''Sahib-e-Qiran Sani'' (the Second Lord of Fortunate Astronomic Conjunctions), a title he borrowed from Timur.
• By ordering the melting of Jahangir''s image and zodiac coins, Shah Jahan attempted to pacify the orthodox clerics. This is why the few remaining examples are so valuable.

Aurangzeb

• On one face of his coins, he wrote the name of the mint city and the year of issue.
• Aurangzeb''s gold, silver, and copper coins are the most prevalent.
• With the development of regional and foreign forces gradually usurping the Mughal emperor''s minting privileges after Aurangzeb''s death in 1707, the empire began its downhill decline.
• The English, for example, obtained the minting privileges of Chinnapattan (Madras) by paying Aurangzeb''s youngest and favourite son, Prince Kam Bakhsh.

Summing up

Bahadur Shah ''Zafar,'' the last Mughal Emperor, was temporarily the central figure of the 1857 Uprising, and silver rupees were produced in his name by the rebel soldiers who re-crowned him ''Emperor of Hindustan.'' In September 1857, however, the British ousted him and banished him to Rangoon, effectively ending the Mughal empire and its legendary coinage.