Coins

As the British took over the administration in 1858, there were over a hundred Princely States which were issuing coins nominally in the name of the Mughal Emperor. The coins replaced the Mughal inscriptions with the name or portrait of the Queen of England so as to express the acceptance of the British rule. Some coins like those of Mewar inscribed the word ‘Dosti London’ which means ‘Friends of London’ on their coins.

As far as the Maratha coinage is concerned, Shivaji first issued coins in 1664 AD, when he assumed the title of a ‘Raja’. Coins were again issued to commemorate his coronation at Raigadh in 1674 AD. These coins are very rare. Three types of Rupees were in circulation during this period namely; the Hali Sicca, the Ankushi rupee which was the standard rupee of Pune, and the Chandori rupee which was on par with the Ankushi.
The Province of Awadh in North India was governed by Nawab-Wazirs on behalf of the Mughal Emperor from around 1720 AD. The monetary system consisted of the gold ashrafi available in the half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth of an ashrafi, the silver rupee with similar five denominations and the copper fulus. The defeat of the Nawab of Awadh at the Battle of Buxar in 1764 precipitated the decline of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Mysore which is situated in Southwest India was ruled by various Hindu dynasties. Coins of both the Mughal and Vijayanagar standards were current in this region. Coins of the pagoda types which carried the motifs and iconographic forms of the Vijayanagar period with an initial ‘He’ on the reverse were quite in use. Tipu, who assumed the title of Sultan, introduced various innovations and new varieties in his coinage. An interesting feature of his coins is that they do not bear his name.

The gold coins that were minted after the rule of Tipu sultan, carried the Hara-Gauri motif and the King’s name on the reverse. The silver coins were in the Mughal tradition, bearing the name of the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II on the obverse and the name of the mint on the reverse. Coins carried the image of the deity Chamunda, the family deity of the Wodeyar family, motifs drawn from nature and inscriptions in Nagri, Persian, Kannada, and English at various points of time.

Coins of the Sikh bore the name of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and the last Guru of the Sikhs. However, after the death of the Sikh ruler, the Empire began to deteriorate and was finally annexed to the British Empire in 1849. Most coins were struck during the reign of Ranjit Singh and they bore a large leaf on one side and Persian legends on the other. He also introduced coins with Gurumukhi legends which were mostly of the copper variety.

In matters of currency and coinage of Hyderabad, the Nizams issued coins in the name of the Mughal Emperor till 1858. A coin legend was introduced with the name of the founder of the state, Asaf Jha. The coins were then minted independently and the new coins were termed the ‘Hali Sicca’, i.e., the current coins.

In 1903-04 coins were machine struck for the first time. These coins featured the Charminar on the obverse with Persian inscription around it. The reverse side carried the value. These coins were incorrigible to the British coins in denominations and metals. [Reference RBI India]