A39: Coins of Rajputs, Cholas, Delhi Sultante, Mughals | Indian Art & Culture by Nitin Singhania

0:00 Jai Hind. We were talking about Coins in Ancient and Medieval India. And today is our last session of this chapter. In today's session, we will first talk about the coins of Rajput dynasties. Second we will read about the coins of Pandyan and Chola dynasty. Thirdly we will talk about Turkish and Delhi Sultanate coins. Fourthly we will talk about the coins of Vijayanagara Empire. And finally we will read about the Mughal Coinist System. Today we have to read and talk about all these topics. Look, let's begin. First of all we will talk about the coins of Rajput dynasties. And we already know that in our present day Rajasthan region, there were many

0:46 Rajput dynasties. And these Rajput dynasties mostly issued gold coins. Rajput dynasties mostly issued gold coins. But apart from gold coins, copper coins were also issued and billon coins were also issued. Billion means alloy of silver and copper. What is the alloy of silver and copper called ? It's called billion. So the Rajput dynasties also issued billon coins and also issued copper coins. But mostly gold coins were issued. And Rajput dynasties rarely issued silver coins. Silver coins very rarely issued by the Rajput dynasties. And this was the tenure of Rajput dynasties

1:33 , during this tenure two types of Rajput coin systems can be seen. Two types of coining systems are seen. Which ones? Firstly, we get to see such coins on which the name of the king is seen on one side and this name of the king is written in Sanskrit language and the image of the goddess is seen on the other side. Firstly, there are such coins on which the name of the king is seen on one side and this name of the king is seen in the Sanskrit language. And the image of Goddess is seen on the other side. These coins were issued by the Chandelas of Bundelkhand. Tomars of Delhi and Ajmer

2:22 and the Rathods of Kannauj. And the second system which is seen, in this second system silver coins were issued. And these silver coins which were issued have a seated bull on one side. A sitting bull is seen and on the other side a horse man is seen. And these silver coins were issued by the kings of Gandhara and Sindh. Very simple. Rajput dynasties mostly issued gold coins. And silver coins were issued very rarely. During this tenure of Rajput dynasties, two types of coins were seen.

3:10 Firstly, there are such coins in which the name of the king is mentioned on one side in Sanskrit language. And the image of Goddess is seen on the other side. Secondly, there are such coins which are silver coins in which a seated bull is seen on one side and a horseman is seen on the other side. It is a very simple and easy conversation. Then the question arises what was the story of coins during Pandyan and Chola dynasties? See, the early Pandyan Kings who came started issuing square shaped coins. Early Pandyan kings started issuing square shaped coins. And these were square shaped

3:55 coins. The image of an elephant was seen on them. Initially, the image of the Elephant was seen on these coins. But later on it was seen that the image of the fish would become very important. The fish will become a very important symbol. So one thing is that the early Pian Kings who came started issuing square shaped coins. And initially, these were square shaped coins with the image of an elephant on them. But the letter on the fish became an important symbol. Another special thing was that Sanskrit inscriptions could be seen on the gold and silver coins that were issued.

4:43 But the copper coins that were issued had Tamil inscriptions on them. The gold and silver coins issued during the Pandyan and Chola dynasties had Sanskrit inscriptions on them and the copper coins issued had Tamil inscriptions on them. In fact, a very famous king was Chola King Raja Raja Van. And in the coins issued by Chola King Raja Raja Van, the image of the king himself is visible on one side and the goddess is visible on the other side and the inscription is in the Sanskrit language. Another very important king was

5:30 Rajendra and the coins issued by Rajendra have Shri Rajendra or Gangai Konda Chola written on them. The coins of Rajendra have Shri Rajendra or Gangai Kunda Chola written on them. And the emblem of tiger and fish can also be seen on these coins. The Pallava Dynasty coins that are available to see, the image of a lion can be seen on those Pallava Dynasty coins. Very simple. There are two or three things to remember in this. One thing to remember is that the initial Pandyan Kings who came started issuing square shaped coins. Secondly, remember that the fish was a very important symbol on these coins.

6:17 Another important thing is that Sanskrit inscriptions can be seen on the gold and silver coins and Tamil inscriptions can be seen on the copper coins. One thing you can also remember is that the coins issued by Rajendra have Shri Rajendra or Gangai Konda Chola written on them and the emboss of tiger and fish can also be seen on them. This is a very simple and easy conversation. Then after this comes the talk about Turkish and Delhi Sultanate coins. And on the coins issued during the Delhi Sultanate, the name of the king can be seen, the title can be seen and the date in which the coin was issued can also be seen. And

7:04 this date is seen according to the Hijri calendar. It is seen according to the Islamic calendar. So, on the coins of Turkey and Delhi Sultanate, the king's name, title and date, all three things can be seen. What is that one special thing, that is important thing ? That the image of the king who issued them , the monarch who issued them, is not visible on the coins. The name is visible, but the image is not visible. Because image is prohibited in Islam. And for the first time, it is seen that the name of the mint where these coins have been prepared is also seen on these coins.

7:50 One important thing is that the image of the monarch is not seen on these Delhi Sultanate coins. Well, Iltutmish issued coins. The silver coin that was issued was called Tanka. What is the silver coin issued by Iltutmish called? It is called tanka. And the copper coin that was issued was called Jethal. What is the copper coin that was issued called? He is called Jeetal. Both these terms are important in themselves. Alauddin Khilji also issued coins. But Alauddin Khilji changed the existing design a little. First of all,

8:36 what Alauddin Khilji did was that he dropped the name of the Caliph. The name of the Islamic spiritual head was dropped on the coins. Removed that and removed that along with self presented titles. Muhammad bin Tughlaq introduced bronze and copper coins. But these bronze and copper coins of Mohammed bin Tughlaq will completely fail. Sher Shah Suri introduced two standards of weight and these would remain very important in the future. Sher Shah Suri introduced two standards of weight. Firstly, silver coins were issued and these silver coins were of approximately 178

9:21 grains. Secondly, copper coins were issued and these copper coins were of approximately 330 grains. What were these silver coins called later on ? Rupi was called. And what were these copper coins called? The price was called. What were the silver coins called ? Rupi was called. And what were the copper coins called? The price was called. So remember this Rupee, this term, where did it come from? This came from Sher Shah Suri. Very simple. If we talk about Turkish and Delhi Sultanate coins, then two-three things have to be remembered. Firstly, the image of the monarch who was issuing these coins is not seen on the coins. Secondly, for the

10:08 first time it was seen that the name of the mint from which the coins were issued, in which they were prepared, was also visible. Third, what were the silver coins issued by Iltutmish called ? He was called Tanka. And what were the copper coins that were issued called? He was called to Jithal. Muhammad bin Tughlaq issued bronze and copper coins. But this system failed. Sher Shah Suri introduced two standards of weight. Silver coins were issued of about 178 grains and copper coins were issued of about 330 grains. What will this silver coin be called in future? will be called Rupi. And what will this copper coin be

10:53 called in future? The price will be called. A small note has also been given in the book. There is a term called Kandhari Dhiram. Kandhari Dhiram was an Islamic type of coin in India. Kandhari Dhiram was an Islamic type of coin in India. And it was introduced in India in the 9th and 10th century. And who introduced it? Introduced by the Aamirs of Sindh. There used to be a silver coin. There was blackness on one side of it. Basically I do n't know the exact pronunciation. But he might have said Kalima only. These are couplets or should we say these are pure piece lines in Islam. So Kalima was on one side and Aamir's name was on the other side. So

11:40 why do we have to remember that Kandhari Dhiram, it was an Islamic type of coin in India which was issued by the Amirs of Sindh. If we talk about gold coins, gold coins can also be seen. And what was special about these gold coins? The special thing about them was that the image of Goddess Lakshmi was seen on one of their sides. And these gold coins were first issued in the Central India region. And who issued it? These were issued by Muhammad bin Sam. Muhammad bin Sam issued gold coins in the 12th century AD. Such gold coins on which the image of Goddess Lakshmi is seen on one side. Coins of local tradition were also issued. And

12:25 these were coins of the local tradition, on them either the image of a bull or an image of a horseman was seen. And whatever was written was written in the local script. Local script and Devanagari were used. These local tradition coins were issued by the Ghaznavites , the Gurites and the Mamluks. We have to remember two things in this. One is Ear-scared Dhiram. It was an Islamic type of coin in India. Who issued it? It was issued by the Aamirs of Sindh. The second gold coins were issued by Muhammad bin Sam in the 12th century AD. What is special is that the image of Goddess Lakshmi was seen on these gold coins. Look, in all the conversations we've had so far, there's

13:12 nothing like this truth that can be memorized. There are a couple of small things that are important from the prelims point of view and there are a couple of things that you can quote anywhere in the mains if any question related to this comes. So there is no need to interfere too much. But yes keep making your short notes. Before we proceed further, hit the like button on the video. Pressing like is a must. Because that's how YouTube functions. When you press the like button on a video, YouTube considers the video and gives it a slight push. So hit the like button. Share it on your social media platforms , WhatsApp etc., share it with your friends and people who are interested in this and are studying things related to this. If you have not subscribed to the channel then for sure subscribe to the channel. And if you are capable and want to help, you can help us by clicking on

13:57 the Join button or you can contribute by scanning the QR code. Well then after this comes the discussion about the coins of Vijayanagar Empire. And the Vijayanagara Empire is known for issuing large number of gold coins. One of the largest number of gold coins issued during the Vijayanagara Empire. And among the other metal coins that were issued, were pure silver coins issued or pure copper coins issued and what was the denomination of the coins issued during the Vijayanagara Empire. One used to be Fagodas. Fagodas were coins of higher denomination.

14:47 What was the highest denomination coin called during the Vijayanagara Empire ? He was called phagoda. And this fagoda had a running warrior shown on it. There was an image of a running warrior and this running warrior had the symbol of a dagger in his hand. The smaller units from Fagoda were called Funams. What was it called ? Funems. And these fans were basically made of gold. Another smaller unit was the Tars and these Tars coins were made of silver and then there were copper coins and these copper coins were used for day to day transactions.

15:33 During the Vijayanagar Empire, the coin of higher denomination or highest denomination was called what? It was called Phagoda. The unit smaller than Phagoda was called Fanam. And these Fanam coins were made of gold. There used to be another unit called Tars. These currency coins used to be made of silver. And then there were copper coins. And these copper coins were used for day to day transactions. And these coins were produced in different mints during the Vijayanagara Empire. And

16:19 these coins were also named according to the name of the mint where the mint was located. The inscriptions on these coins were seen in Sanskrit language as well as in Kannada language. Inscriptions were seen in Kannada language and Sanskrit language. Images were seen on the coins. Images of many DTs like elephant, bull etc were also seen. These are the coins of Vijayanagar Empire , among these a Gold Varhan Coin was issued. Who issued this Gold Varhan Coin ? This was issued by Krishnadeva Raya. And this Varhan coin has Vishnu visible on one side of it. Seated

17:04 Vishnu Vishnu is sitting. Image of Lord Vishnu appears. And on the other side Shri Pratap Krishna Rai is written in Sanskrit language. So remember that Varhan coins were issued during the Vijayanagara Empire. These Varhan coins were gold coins. Who issued them? Issued by Krishnadeva Raya. An image of Vishnu is seen on one side and the other side has the words 'Shri Pratap Krishna Rai' written in Sanskrit language. Generally three scripts are seen in these coins of Vijayanagara Empire. Devanagari is seen, Kannada is seen and Telugu is seen. The earlier Vijayanagara coins are inspired by Hoshiyala coins. And what was

17:51 special was that during the Vijayanagara Empire, there was a separate department to mint different coins. There was a proper separate department to mint the coins. Another term is Travan Kor Fanam. What is this basically Funam? Fanam there were gold coins here. There are coins here too. What does Fanam mean? Coins. But these coins were issued by Travancore State. Basically what was the unit of currency that was used in Trevan Core during that period ? There used to be one Fanam (fanam) and another used to be Chukram (chukram) and one Fanam was equal to four Chukram. So remember this also that in the currency unit that was used in the Trevan Core State at that time,

18:38 one unit was called Fanam and what was the other one called ? The second one was called Chuk or Chakrams. Very simple. If we talk about Vijayanagar Empire coins, you will have to remember three-four terms. Once upon a time, coins of higher denomination were called Fagodas. Funams Gold Coins were called in a way. The silver coins were called Tarsa. Then Varhan coins which were made of gold were issued by Krishnadeva Raya. There was a separate department to mint the coins. And what was Travancore Fanam? Coins issued by Travancore State. There were two units of currency in Trevan Core State, one was Fanam and the other was Chukrams, what was the other one, Chukrams.

19:24 Then after this comes the matter of Mughal coinage system, see the standard gold coins issued by the Mughals were called Mohur, what were they called, the standard gold coins issued during the Mughal era were called Mohur and a Mohur used to be approximately between 172 to 175 grains. It is mentioned in NA Akbari that one Mohur was equivalent to approximately ₹9 during that time period. One important thing is what were the standard gold coins issued during the Mughal era called ? He was called Mohur. We have already read this. Sher Shah Suri

20:12 introduced the silver rupee and this silver rupee of Sher Shah Suri became most famous during the Mughal era. Mughal copper coins were also issued and these copper coins were adopted from the denomination of Sher Shah. We have just read some time ago that here Sher Shah Suri had introduced two standards of weight. A silver coin which would later come to be called Rupee and a copper coin which would later come to be called Daam. From there, the discussion has been going on that firstly Sher Shah Suri adopted the silver rupee which became most famous as a coin during the Mughal era and secondly Mughal copper coins were also introduced but these were adopted at the price of Sher Shah.

20:58 And their weight was around 320 to 340 gains. How many grains are there? There is not much need to remember it. Remember the Mohur, remember the price, remember the silver rupee. Akbar started issuing round and square shaped coins. Some of the coins issued during Akbar's reign were round in shape. And some were square shaped. Which is an important thing. In 1579, Akbar issued a gold coin and what was this gold coin called? It was called Ilahi Coin. Akbar issued a gold coin in 1579 and what was this gold coin called? It was called Ilahi Coin. And these Ilahi coins were issued

21:46 by Akbar to propagate a new religious creed Deen-e-Ilahi and in that period one Ilahi coin was equivalent to approximately ₹10. So one important thing in the context of Akbar is that in 1579, Akbar issued gold coins, what were they called? Which were called Ilahi Coins. Apart from this, the Emperor issued the largest gold coins during the Mughal era. It is not a very important matter. Jahangir also issued coins. But couplet legends can be seen on the coins issued by Jahangir. Poetic stanzas, couplet legends etc. are seen on Jahangir's coins. The

22:37 name of Jahangir's wife Noor Jahan can also be seen on Jahangir's coins. The most famous coin among Jahangir's coins also has the Zodiac sign on it. Now there are two or three things that are important in this. Firstly, what was the standard gold coin of Mughals called? It was called Mohur. Secondly, Sher Shah Suri issued the silver rupee which became most famous during the Mughal era. The Mughal copper coins were adopted from the coin of Sher Shah and Akbar issued gold coins in the year 1579 which were called Ilahi coins, it is a very simple and easy conversation. Well then after this some important facts have been given in the book. If we talk about the Indian context,

23:28 where can we find the earliest reference to coins in the Indian context? That can be seen in the Vedas. So if we talk in the context of our country, where can we find the earliest reference of coins ? It is seen in the Vedas. Well, what was the term used for the metal coins that were made ? Disinterested. This term is important in itself. Nishka was the term used for coins made of metal. What was the term used for metal coins? Nishka was used. Sher Shah Suri introduced the Rupee and this Rupee was a silver currency. ₹1 was equal to four copper coins in those times. So it is also important that who introduced this term Rupee, which we hear today, for the

24:14 first time as a silver currency ? It was done by Sher Shah Suri. In ancient India, people used money trees to store coins. Money trees were used by people to store coins. What basically happened? There was a metal structure like a tree. There were many branches in it. There was a round disc or should we say a coin hanging at the end of those branches. That coin was kept. There was a facility there to hang it. So, what was that whole structure called? It was called money tree. If we talk about the coins of Gupta era. Although we have read it, but one more important fact is that the

24:59 coins of Gupta era have the name of the king on one side. And on the other side is the title assumed by the king. Aditya is associated with that title. Aditya means sun. So on the other side, the title of the king is written with Aditya attached at the end. This is also a very simple conversation. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj issued Gold Huns and Copper Shiv Rise and the coins issued by Shivaji have a title of his name on them and this title is seen in the Nagari script. Kanti Rava was a king in the Bodiya Dynasty and the

25:45 Narasimha incarnation of Vishnu can be seen on his coins. It is an easy and simple conversation. There is a Coinage Act of 2011 in economy, let us read it in detail in economy and we have other sessions on economy. There we have read about the Coinage Act. But this Coinage Act of 2011 replaced the Coinage Act of 1906. What does coin mean ? Any coin made of metal which has been stamped by the Government or any authority authorized by the Government is called a coin and which coin can this authority or the government issue? It can issue commensurate coins. It can even issue

26:30 ₹1 coin of the Government of India. In this Coinage Act of 2011 it has also been stated that if anyone commits forgery. If someone commits fraud then what will be the penalties for him? Now this Coinage Act of 2011 is not a topic of art and culture. This is a topic of economy and we read about it in detail in economy. But yes, here basically keep in mind that the Coinage Act of 2011 replaced the Coinage Act of 1906 and the rest is a very simple matter. Well, whatever we have talked about today. There are some facts in this. Like this term is Nishka, you should remember this term. For example, who introduced this Rupi for the first time ? Sher Shah Suri did it. You should remember this. What is Mohur? You should remember this. When were Ilahi coins

27:17 issued? Who issued it? Akbar in 1579. You should remember this. It's small things like that. Write them down at one place. What are fagodas? What are fanams? What are cravings? There is no need to go into the rest too much. I have said this several times throughout this chapter that it is not necessary to memorize every single line. From UPSC's point of view. If you are giving any other exam, then look at it accordingly. But from the point of view of UPSC, write down these small things, these small terms in your short notes. Revise it two or four times and keep it in mind. And if you have any problem or doubt then ask by commenting. Thank you very much.