Emperors and Coins

Emperor / Summary
Babur / ·  Coins minted by Babur lack beauty and elegance (especially in contrast to his successors)
·  The dies used to strike these coins were often worn or used improperly – only parts of the legends depicted were visible.
·  Babur’s coins are a rarity
·  Minted silver shahrukhis or dirhams which followed the coinage of the Timurid princes. These were mainly minted in Lahore, Agra, Delhi and Kabul.
·  Urdu (a mixture of Persian & Arabic) first appeared on his coinage with the Kalima enclosed with the name of four Khalif’s name.
·  Copper coins are anonymous
Humayun / ·  Minted silver shahrukhis or dirhams which followed the coinage of the Timurid princes. These were mainly minted in Lahore, Agra, Delhi and Kabul.
·  Later in his reign, Humayun reformed the coinage system and adopted Sher Shah Suri’s standard.
Akbar / ·  Akbar used coinage to propagate his new Divine Faith.
·  Akbar also used heavy square coins.
·  Akbar had many coins minted which depicted Hindu myths and legends – indicative of his religions tolerance
Jahangir / ·  Most memorably, Jahangir minted the zodiac coins which represented the calendar that his father’s (Akbar) self-made religion referred to. These coins were extremely popular in his own reign and were exchanged for up to 20 times their face value.(NB The British Museum is one of only 3 museums in the world to have a full set of all 12). Zodiac coins were only minted for 5 months
·  Jahangir’s coins reflect his interest in art
·  1000 mohur coin (the biggest in the world) created by Jahangir
·  Jahangir’s courtiers, followers and Amirs were given special portrait coins
Shah Jahan / ·  Shah Jahan is particularly known for his different types and varieties of coins – shapes include squares, circles and lozenges
·  Dating can be confusing because they include both Hijri and solar years
Aurangzeb / ·  Usually described as the last Mughal ruler, Aurangzeb was a fanatic Muslim, and reintroduced the tax on infidels in 1679. In order to facilitate easy payments, he struck a coin expressly for this purpose – called Dirham Shari (Legal Dirham) usually in a square shape.
·  Cost of copper increased during his reign.