Component-I (A) – Personal details: Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Prof. V. Sakunthalamma Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. & Prof. Susmita Basu Majumdar Dept. of AIHC, University of Calcutta. Dr. Mahesh A. Kalra Curator, The Asiatic Society of Mumbai.. Prof. Susmita Basu Majumdar Dept. of AIHC, University of Calcutta. 1 Component-I (B) – Description of module : Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Indian Numismatics Module Name/Title Coinage of the Marathas under Chhatrapati Shivaji and the Maratha Confederacy Module Id IC / NMST / 32 Pre-requisites Maratha History and their economy Objectives To introduce types of Maratha Coinages issued at different periods of Maratha History. To bring in focus the volume of each coin type issued from the period of Chhatrapati Shivaji till the loss of Maratha power in 1818. Keywords Maratha / Chhatrapati Shivaji / Sardeshmukh E-text (Quadrant-I) : 1. Introduction “Dakhan, the son of Hind had three sons and the country of Dakhan was divided among them. Their names are Marath, Kanhar (Kannada) and Tilang. At present, these races reside in the Dakhan.” - Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah ‘Ferishta’ in his Gulshan-i- Ibrahimipopularly called Taa’rikh-i-Ferishta. This statement by Ferishta in his sixteenth century work on the History of India clearly establishes the Marathas as the native people of Western Dakkan who rose to power under the genius of two medieval rulers of the Deccan, Mallik Ambar who effectively armed the Marathas and ChhatrapatiShivaji who effectively used this mobilisation to establish a small compact state, the Maharashtra Swarajya in the middle half of the seventeenth century. This kingdom situated firmly in the Deccan plateau and the Konkan region in North-Western Maharashtra grew southwards and became the major opponent to all Indo-Islamic powers ranging from the local Deccan Sultanates and the invading Mughals who engulfed the Sultanates one by one creating a new province of Mughal Deccan. ChhatrapatiShivaji was also the first medieval Hindu ruler to be crowned as ‘Chhatrapati’ with the minting of his own coins in gold on the South Indian standard of ‘Hun/Hon’ with Devanagari inscriptions to emphasise his position among the Maratha Hindu castes. ChhatrapatiShivaji’s death in 1680 followed by his successor, ChhatrapatiSambhaji’s execution by Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb put a temporary stop on Maratha domination but they resurged under Maratha guerrilla leaders called Sardars who initially harassed the Mughals and slowly reacquired the territories south to the Bhonsla seat of power, Satara. Chhatrapati Shivaji’s example of issuing coins in gold was however, stalled and the later Chhatrapatis could manage to only copy them in copper with Devanagari legends. However, Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 and the subsequent succession war saw the release of Shahu, Shivaji’s grandson who ably supported by Balaji Vishwanath as the Peshwa gave a new lease to the Maratha Empire. Balaji Vishwanath also successfully lobbied at the Mughal 2 court for recognition of Shahu as the Subedar of Deccan in 1720. However, another rival branch of Shivaji’s descendants based in Kolhapur led by Queen Tarabai vied for this privilege leading to disastrous rivalry and civil war between the two cadet branches of Satara and Kolhapur. However, Bajirao’s energetic defence of his master and the creation of a new set of loyal Maratha chieftains not only gave ChhatrapatiShahu a fillip but also led to the creation of a Maratha Confederacy headed by the Peshwa at Pune with his supporters in various parts of Western and Central India. The Shahu-Tarabai tussle led to the issuing of copies of various Mughal Rupees in the name of the Mughal Emperor from various local mints with both Satara and Kolhapur acquiring and distributing the power. Thus, Maratha Rupees were distinguished by various mint marks ranging from the Ankush, the Elephant goad of Lord Ganapati to the Trishul, Trident of Lord Shiva to Devanagari legends interspersed between the reverse Persian legend. The Maratha Confederacy united under the Peshwa at Pune began issuing coins either personally or ‘farming’ the mints to local Sahukars close to the Maratha court issuing their coins under the five confederate powers of Gaekwar of Baroda, Holkar of Indore, Scindia of Gwalior, Bhonsla of Nagpur and Puars of Dewas and Dhar. The power of the Maratha Confederacy grew with new mints in the North and centre of the Mughal Empire till their defeat to the Afghans at the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 and the final defeat at the hands of the East India Company in 1818. 2. Coinage during Chattrapati Shivaji’s reign When ChhatrapatiShivaji began his innings as a rebel leader of the Marathas in the 1630s, the coinage of the Deccan Sultanates was majorly of two types: a gold coin called the Hon weighing 3.6 grams which evolved from the Vijayanagara gold coin called the Varaha or Gadayana. The typical Hon weighed 3.6 grams and had the image of various Hindu deities on the obverse with a Devanagari legend on the reverse. This coinage was the major currency of South India irrespective of the ideology of the kingdom with later Islamic rulers generally not interfering with the images though some had Persian legends as in the coins of Muhammad Adil Shah of Bijapur and some other rulers of the Deccan Sultanates. Even the accounts of the Deccan kingdoms were maintained in huns as opposed to the rupees of the North. Another gold unit in circulation was the one-tenth of the Vijayanagar Hun variously called Panam or Fanam (Fanam in Arabic) weighing around 0.36 g and issued by various authorities in the Deccan. Apart from Fanams, half huns called Pratapa (Portuguese – Pardao) and some silver units of Vijayanagara were also in circulation. Another gold unit which circulated in the South India was the Venetian Ducat, a gold unit issued by the Duke of Venice whose weight corresponded to the Vijayanagari Hun (3.6 g) which was again issued from the fourteenth century to the middle of eighteenth century and exported to various parts of the world as an international currency. In the Deccan, they acquired the name Putali (Marathi lit. ~ Statue) in view of the images on the coin (an obverse image of Lord Jesus Christ and a reverse image of the Duke of Venice bowing to St. Mark). The Venetian ducats thus formed an important part of South Indian currency. Also, there were Mughal Mohurs in gold, weighing about 10.88 to 11.01 grams, issued by the Mughals from territories under their control. The Mughals also issued silver rupees from their territories with same inscriptions in the name of the Mughal Emperor along with the 3 name of the mint town (where the coin was struck) and date with regnal year of the reigning Emperor. One transaction recorded in Mughal Rupees in Chattrapati Shivaji’s period is the receipt of one lakh rupees at Burhanpur in 1666 for his travel to the court of Aurangzeb. The other coin was the copper Gaani of the Bahamani Sultanate which weighed 15-16 grams and had fractions like the two-third Gaani (10-11g) and the Half Gaani (7-8 g)and the one-third Gaani (5-5.5 g) and the one-sixth Gaani (2.8 g). The copper coins had Persian legends and were issued in variations of weight by the successor states of the Bahamani Sultanate viz. Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golkonda. Thus, the SabhasadBhakkar, a contemporary biography of ChhatrapatiShivaji mentions the following gold coins current in his territory, Gadars, Putalis, Ibrahimis, Satlamis and Mohurs. It mentions fourteen kinds of huns, viz. Padshahi, Sanghari, Achyutrai, Devarai, Ramchandrarai, Guti, Dharwadi, Shivarai, Kaveripak, Pralakhati, Palanaiki, Adavani, Jadmali and Tadpatri. The names of some of these coins are derived from the name of places where they were issued like Tadpatri, Guti and Adavani whereas some were name after the rulers issuing them like Achyutrai, Devarai, Shivarai, etc. The same source lists twelve kind of fanams viz. Afraji, Trimalari, Trishuli, Chandavari, Bildhari, Ulafkari, Muhammadshahi, Velluri, Kanterai, Devjevli, Ramnathpuri and Kungoti. These again follow the same pattern of naming the coins after the place of origin or the king issuing them. However, ChhatrapatiShivaji could not implement a uniform coinage in his vast Empire which spread across different monetary zones. Thus, it is not surprizing that this was most prominently shown in the contents of his treasury at his death in April 1680 at his capital fort, Raigarh; according to Grant Duff, Chha. Shivaji’s treasury contained 68 kilograms of gold fanams, 5 lakhs of huns, various types of rupees, Spanish dollars, Venetian ducats (called Putalis in Deccan due to their Christian imagery), gold mohurs of Surat and other Mughal mints. According to Grant Duff, Shivaji first issued coins in 1664 when he assumed the title ‘Raja’. However, if we closely examine the type of coins issued in the name of Shivaji, all coins have the title ‘CHHATRAPATI’ along with ‘RAJA SHIV’ which shows that the purported coins of 1664 were either not issued or none have survived. The other occasion connected to Shivaji’s coinage was the occasion of his coronation as ‘Chhatrapati’ in a lavish ceremony at his capital, Raigarh on 6 June 1674when he was weighed in gold. An English observer, Dr. Fryer noted that ChhatrapatiShivaji weighed about 16000 huns. It was on this occasion that ChhatrapatiShivaji could have issued his coins as it was the sovereign right of a ruler to issue coins in his name. Thus, we observe two types of coins which survive in Chattrapati Shivaji’s name, a gold hunand a copper coin called the Shivarais. The gold hun weighs about 2.72-2.81 grams with the Nagari legends ‘SHRI/ RAJA/ SHIVAJI’ on the obverse and ‘CHHATRA / PATI’ on the reverse.