ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Secretary General Regional Secretaries Mr. - - Broome General Section: Mr. G. P. Hennequin

Newsletter Editor Europe: Dr. M. B. Mitchiner,

UK. and Eire: Mr. K. W. Wiggins Annual Subscription £4-00; 11.51. 18-00; 9-00 dollars North America: Dr. Craig Burns Newsletter number 76 February 1982 Members news

Our treasurer, Mr. Vic. Brown, advises that the ONS bank account has been moved from Barclays Bank in:

Swaffham to the branch of Barclays Bank in East Dereham. Will those members who pay their annual subscriptions direct to him please note the change. Mr…., Sri Lanka writes that he has a small collection of old Ceylon coins for disposal. The Information Sheet on ‘The gold and silver coinage of the Sikhs, part II: The mints of Lahore and Multan’ by S. Goron and K. Wiggins is now being distributed. ONS meetings

An informal meeting will be held at 2.30 pm on Saturday 27th. March 1982 at 28 Little Russell Street,

Bloomsbury, London WC1 (by kind permission of the British Museum authorities). Little Russell Street is

about 100 yards south of the main gate to the British Museum, as shown in the accompanying plan. The

nearest tube stations are Tottenham Court Road and Holborn Kingsway).	BaitisH Museum
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An unusual coin of the Adil Shahis of Bijapur	by K. W. Wiggins	Ox © 2م‎ er:

An unusual coin of the Adil Shahis of Bijapur by K. W. Wiggins The coin is as follows: -

AE rectangular weight: 15.1 grams diameter: 17-18 mm obv. ‘The chosen slave of Ali - 1022’, علا‎

rev. ‘The friend of the weak -Ibrahim’ لض‎ fm ابا ابلى‎ |

This coin was recently acquired from a friend. It is a square copper coin of Ibrahim II (AD 1579 - 1625),

the sixth ruler of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur. Significant features of this coin are its square shape

and its heavy weight. The normal round coins of Bijapur weigh about 11% grams. The legends on this coin

seem identical with those found on the normal coppers of Ibrahim.

So far as I am aware, this type has not been previously published. It may have been a special issue for

some auspicious occasion. The coin is clearly dated AH 1022, whereas the normal coins of this ruler are devoid of any date. Rupees of the mint of Qandahar in the Deccan during the reign of Shah Jahan I by K. W. Wiggins It would appear that Kukuranov! was the first to draw attention to the fact that some rupees of the Mughal

emperor Shah Jahan I with the mint name Qandahar could have been issues from a place of this name in the

Deccan, and not, as had previously been supposed, from the well known town in present day Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, none of the coins cited by Kukuranov appears to have been illustrated and since his article

appeared there has not been, to my knowledge, any further enquiry into the subject.

The rupees attributed to the mint of Qandahar in Afghanistan and struck during the reign of Shah

Jahan I (AD 1628 - 1658) are fairly well known and appear in all major catalogues dealing with Mughal coins. They were issued between AH 1048 (AD 1638/39) and AH 1057 (AD 1647/48). They bear regnal years

of the emperor ranging from year 11 to year 21.

The dates of these coins fall conveniently within the known period of the occupation of Qandahar by

the Mughals. Briefly, the historical facts concerning Qandahar in Afghanistan are as follows. Having formed

an outpost of the Mughal Empire during the latter part of the reign of Akbar and during part of the reign of Jahangir, the town fell to the Safavids of Persia in AH 1031 (June AD 16222). In AH 1047 (AD 1638)

the army of Shah Jahan marched on Qandahar and the Persian governor, Ali Mardan Khan, probably sensing

that resistance was useless, gave up the town. There may have been additional inducements for his capitulation

since he was shortly afterwards appointed Amir al Umara and became the Mughal governor of Kabul and

Kashmir. The Mughals held Qandahar for some 11 years. The city was then taken by Shah Abbas II in AH

1058 (February 11th, AD 1649) and it thereafter remained within the Persian domains until taken by the

Ghilzais about AD 1709. Qandahar subsequently fell to Nadir Shah in AD 1738.

There exist, as Kukuranov pointed out, several additional rupees of Shah Jahan bearing the mint name

Qandahar which cannot be from the mint of this name in Afghanistan. The purpose of this note is to list

those specimens that are known to exist, and to illustrate some of them. While mentioning those cited by

Kukuranov, it has been possible to add a few new specimens that have since come to light.

Catalogue of the Coins in the Provincial Museum, Lucknow

Shah Jahan I, no. 2235 AR rupee mint: Qandahar date: 1042 -5 weight: 171 grains

obv. In triple circle on flowered ground the Kalima: 1042 in lower left of area

rev. In square with knots at corners: - Ylo سناة‎ 5; § Lo باد‎

margins top 5 y| oy hi sé right حب‎ bo yo

lower gh فران‎ left صرب فزر ناز‎

A supplement to volume II of the Catalogue of Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta

Shah Jahan I, nos. 597 and 598 AR rupees mint: Qandahar date: 1042 -5 weights: 176 & 171 grs.

obv. Kalima in square, 1042 in lower left corner, usual marginal legends rev. In square area ““Badshah Ghazi Shah Jahan”’; usual marginal legends with mint on left side Kukuranov collection

Shah Jahan I AR rupee mint: Qandahar date: 1044-8 weight: not cited

description not given: but said to be of the square area type Lingen collection

Shah Jahan I AR rupee mint: Qandahar date: 1044-5 weight: not recorded illustrated as Fig. I Spink and Son Ltd.

Shah Jahan I AR rupee mint: Qandahar date: Ilahi 5, Bahman weight: 172 grains illustrated as Fig. II — 6. Private collection

Shah Jahan I AR rupee mint: Qandahar date: 1044 -6 weight: 175 grains illustrated as Fig. III 7. British Museum collection

Shah Jahan I AR rupee mint: Qandahar date: 1044 - 8 weight: not recorded

obv. Kalima in square, 1044 in lower left corner, usual marginal legends

rev. In square area “Badshah Ghazi Shah Jahan”; usual marginal legends, but with mint in lower area.

(this coin is probably the same as the Kukuranov specimen)

From this list of known specimens it will be noted that numbers 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 are of the same type, with

only minor variations. This design is identical with that on coins dated between AH 1048 and 1057, which are

normally attributed to Qandahar in Afghanistan. Number 1 has a different obverse, while number 5 is of an

entirely different type dated by the Ilahi year.

As Kukuranov pointed out, these coins cannot be from Qandahar in Afghanistan; for during the period

AH 1042 to 1044 (AD 1632 - 1635) this town was in the hands of the Persians.

Kukuranov gave good reasons for attributing these coins to another place called Qandahar in the Deccan

and the evidence to support him is fairly strong. Qandahar in the Deccan is now an insignificant village

located 75 miles east of Dharur and 25 miles south-west of Nander. In former times this Qandahar boasted a

very strong fortress which was in possession of the Qutb Shahis.

In AH 1038 a general of Shah Jahan, one Nasiri Khan, had been placed in command of a force with

instructions to conquer Telingana>. He first resolved to reduce the fort of Qandahar and subsequently laid seige to it. It fell to the Mughal on 15 Shawwal AH 1040 (11th. October, AD 1630)*. Nasiri Khan’s

expedition did not meet with much further success and Shah Jahan’s campaign in the Deccan was not resumed

until AD 1635-36, when the Mughals conquered Golkonda.

It will be seen that by AH 1042, the earliest date on the coins in question, the Mughals had been in

occupation of the Deccan fortress of Qandahar for some two years and it is a reasonable assumption that

a mint would have been established there in this time, if for no other reason than to pay the occupying Imperial soldiers.

The existence of rupees struck at Qandahar in the Deccan during the reigns of Muhammad Shah and Alamgir 11” adds some weight to the hypothesis that this mint already existed at an earlier date. But those

later issues may not have been purely Mughal. It is more likely that the late issues were struck during the

period when the Nander district was under the control of the Nizam. 1.2 JNSI vol. XVII, part i

Other authorities give the date as August 1622
Telingana, or the Telugu country: a wild ill-defined region of hills and forest situated between Berar

and the Golkonda state. Capital: Nander. Fortress: Qandahar. vide Smith, Oxford History of India, Oxford 1920.

- Dowson, History of India, Trubner, London 1877; taken from the Badshah Nama of Abdul Hamid

Lahori. J. Burgess, Chronology of Modern India, Edinburgh 1913, gives the date of the fall of Qandahar

as Jamada 1/23, AH 1040. Saksena, History of Shah Jahan of Delhi, Allahabad 1932, gives the date as 7th. May, 1631.

Singhal, C. R., Mint towns of the Mughal Emperors of India, NSI., Bombay 1953 A twenty five cash piece of Krishna Raja Wodeyar of Mysore by K. W. Wiggins

I have been unsuccessful in discovering the coin depicted here in any of the usual catalogues dealing with the

coinage of Mysore and therefore presume that it has not been published before. The details are as follows -

AE 25 cash weight: 11.21 grams diameter: 28 mm

obv. Elephant standing to left; above “Sri Chamundi” in Telugu; floral design below

rev. Three line inscription in Telugu and value below, the coin has no date: - Krishna / Mayili K / asu ippataidu / XXV CASH

There are four varieties of undated copper coins bearing an elephant on the obverse. They were all issued

between 1811 and 1833, but the sequence of issue is uncertain. The type that has “Sri Krishna Raja” in

Nagari (Cr. 170) would appear to be the first issue of Krishna Raja Wodeyar, probably being struck in 1811

when he assumed the government of the state. Of the other three types, two have only the word “Sri” above

the elephant. The remaining type has “Sri Chamundi” in that position, and on the reverse bears a four line

inscription very similar to that on the coin illustrated here (vide Cr. 177b). Five, ten and twenty cash pieces of this type are known. It would appear that the 25 cash piece is a further issue of this series, which for some’

reason, was unacceptable and therefore not struck in any quantity.

Native coinage of Kashmir in the late 19th. century by K. W. Wiggins

A literary source! enables a belated correction and some further information to be added to Information

Sheet 11 (April 1975) on ‘The Silver Coinage of the Dogra Maharajahs of Jammu and Kashmir’.

According to the Settlement Officer for Kashmir there were, in the early 1890’s, three types of rupee

current in the State besides the British Rupee.

These were: 1. The Kham rupee (Y. 13) which was valued at 8 British annas. In the Information

Sheet this type of coin was erroneously labelled the Chilki rupee.

fy The Chilki rupee (Y. 21) which was valued at 10 British annas. The Chilki rupee

was being struck in Kashmir circa 1892. The Nanak Shahi rupee. This presumably was the ordinary Sikh rupee minted at

Amritsar and Lahore; although their continued use in Kashmir some forty years

after the demise of the Sikh state is remarkable. They were worth from 12 to 16

British annas and the Settlement Officer noted that they were gradually passing out of circulation.

Some indication of the number of Chilki rupees struck in the years 1888 to 1893 is also given: -

Year Value in British rupees Approximate number struck AD 1888 - 1945 288,521 461,633

AD 1889

1946 288,240 461,184 AD 1890 - 1947 150,442 240,707 AD 1891 - 1948 309,471 495,153 AD 1892 - 1949 381,171 609,873

AD 1893 5. 1950 454,423 727,076 The Kashmir mint closed in 1895

Lawrence, W. R., The Valley of Kashmir, Henry Frowde, London 1895.