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.

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Component-I (B) – Description of module :

Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Indian Numismatics Module Name/Title Coinage of the Marathas under and the 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 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 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 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 as the gave a new lease to the . Balaji Vishwanath also successfully lobbied at the Mughal

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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 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 with his supporters in various parts of Western and . 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, of , of Gwalior, Bhonsla of and Puars of Dewas and . The power of the Maratha Confederacy grew with new mints in the North and centre of the till their defeat to the Afghans at the in 1761 and the final defeat at the hands of the 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

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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 ‘’. 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. The lower fractions of this coin survive as Fanams of 0.18 g to 0.1g point to the fact that though there are very few surviving specimens of these coins, they were well planned according to the metrological standards of the contemporary period. The lower weight of the Hun of ChhatrapatiShivaji to 2.72 grams also points to its corresponding exactly to the one-fourth of the Mughal mohur of 10.88 grams. This fact highlights the fact that ChhatrapatiShivaji, the pragmatic ruler was aware of

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the growing power of the Mughals who were all set to devour up the surviving Deccan Sultanates and implement their imperial monetary systemin the Deccan.

The second type of coin of ChhatrapatiShivajiis a copper paisa also popularly called the Shivaraior Chhatrapati Paisa so called in view of the name of ChhatrapatiShivaji on them, though these coins were also issued in the name of Shivaji’s successors, viz. ChhatrapatiSambhaji, Chhatrapati Rajaram and ChhatrapatiShahu with various variations in weights and legend forms. The Shivarai paisa coins were maximum issued in the name of ChhatrapatiShivaji even after his death for a long period till the nineteenth century. Shivarais continued to be issued in the names of ChhatrapatiShivaji’s successors with various Shivarais found to be in the name of ChhatrapatiSambhaji I, Chhatrapati Rajaram I, ChhatrapatiShahu I. These are however, lesser in number and volume given the disturbed conditions of the Maratha Kingdom during their reigns. However, the larger number of Shivarais issued posthumously after ChhatrapatiShivaji’s death in 1680 point to a popularity factor due to which Shivarais continued to be issued in the name of the creator of the Maratha Empire, ChhatrapatiShivaji. British authorities point to their circulation and issuing even after the extinction of Maratha power in 1818.

According to M. G. Ranade, the Shivarai Paisa’s weight was 10 Mashas and it had a double unit called Dhabbu weighing 22 Mashas (A Masha is a unit of the Indian weight system of the tola, one Masha is equal to 8 Rattis and 1 tola is 12 Mashas with the Ratti seed weighing about 0.1167 g). However, current research also gives its fractions variably weighing two- thirds and half of the Shivarai much like the Bahamani fractions.

One interesting silver rupee has been discovered with the Nagari legend ‘RAJA SHIVA CHHATRAPATI’ on the Obverse & ‘SHRI JA/GADAMBA PRA/SANNA’ on the reverse. It has been in the past conjectured that these were issued by ChhatrapatiShivaji I to show his devotion to his patron goddess,AaiTulja Bhavani. However, according to Dr. Shailendra Bhandare, new found evidence points to its issue by the Regent Queen Mother of ChhatrapatiShivaji III of the Kolhapur Branch as a thanksgiving to the Goddess for securing his throne. There are also silver huns with legends similar to those of ChhatrapatiShivaji’s gold hun. However, these seem to be modern fabrications.

3. Coinage of Later Chhatrapatis and the Maratha Confederacy

The next phase of Maratha Coinage under the though there were initial instances of issuing of Mughal style coins by both the rival branches of the Marathas at Satara and Kolhapur in the volatile period of the rulers from the period of Emperor Farrukhsiyar onwards from their respective capitals; initially, it was probably done by ChhatrapatiSambhaji II of Kolhapur with the mint name, ‘Sarkar RaibaugKolapur’ in the name of Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar. Chattrapati Shahu after winning the grant of the Deccan as its Sardeshmukh issued some coins from Satarain the name of Muhammad Shah (c. 1720-1748) and soon many mints in both kingdoms began issuing Mughal style coins in Western Maharashtra. The spurt in the number of mints can also be attributed to the acceptance of the Silver Rupee as the chief currency of the Deccan by the Sawkars of Pune after the long Mughal occupation of the Deccan made them familiar with the Rupees of Jinji, Arcot, Ahmedabad and Ujjain.

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In the meantime, imitations of two Mughal Rupee types became the most copied coins in Maratha territory; an Aurangzeb Rupee of Regnal Year 47 or 48 from possibly Dicholi mint was copied and circulated as PIR KHANI Rupee and a Muhammad Shah Rupee of Azamnagar Gokak mint were copied at numerous mints and struck with addition of mint marks. A variant of the PirKhani Rupee was the SambhuPirKhani Rupee which had the additional mint mark of a Shivlinga added to the design of the PirKhani Rupee.

The Third PeshwaBalaji Baji Rao (r. 1740-1761) transferred the capital to Poona and shut the mint at Satara. According to Ranade, he granted licenses to private persons to coin money under strict conditions in consideration of a small fee paid to the State. The first notice of such licensed Private Mints in the Peshwa'iDaftar occurs in 1744 in which year one Balaji Bapuji of Nagotna was allowed a license for three years to coin copper pieces weighing 10 Mashas and the fee for the license was settled at fifty for the first, seventy-five for the second, and one hundred rupees for the third year. A similar concession was granted to one Bahirawa Ram Datar of Rewadanda. Apparently, the holders of both the licenses coined only Shivarayi pieces.

Emboldened by this experience, he laterset up official mints at Poonah with the name MuhiyabadurfPoonah.He entrusted the operation of these mints to his brother-in-law, MalharraoBhicajiRaste, the brother of his wife, . The Rastes, originally residents of Wai, were a private banking firm and began operating official mints in Karnataka under grants from the Nawab of Sawanur at Bagalkot, Athni and probably Bijapur (with the pseudo- mint name Dar-ul-KhilafatShahjahanabad preceding all the latter three mint names) in about 1753. These official Peshwa rupees were called Malharshahi Rupees and the other coins were received at a discount in relation to it.

In the case of Kolhapur branch of Marathas, the Kolhapur first lived at Panhala, andChhatrapatiSambhajiII established a mint at that place from which the Kolhapur or Panhalli Rupees also known as the Sambha Rupees were coined. Like the Rastes of Wai, two prominent banking houses of Thigales and Gulwanis were associated with the Kolhapur branch and issued coins known as Thigale Rupees and Gulwani Rupees for the Kolhapur kingdom.

Similarly, many other private moneyers were given contracts by both Satara and Kolhapur kings to operate mints in their regions, many of these rupees are classified by the mint marks. Famous rupees named after mint marks are the Ankushi Rupee noted by the mint mark of Lord Ganpati’s elephant goad called the Ankush and it was issued from Pune, Chinchwad, Alibaug, Belapur, Bhatodi, Chambagonda, Kumalgadh, Phulgaon, Tembhurni and Wai. Outside Maharashtra, the Maratha Rupees minted at Ahmedabad by the Gaikwads also used a modified Ankush symbol as the mark of Maratha domination of the city during various periods. Most of these coins are recorded by later English sources associated with the name of the city, for instance, Chinsuri Rupee, Belapuri Rupee, Temburnee Rupee and so on.

The other type of Mint mark lending the name to the Rupee was the Nagphani or Hali Sikka with the emblem of a Scissor or spectacles like emblem which lent the coin its name, Hali Sikkas were majorly issued from Pune in the name of Shah Alam II commencing in 1764-65

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and continuing till the British period after 1820 when Marathi numerals indicating the date in the Fasli era were inserted in the die.

Another famous mintmark was the Jaripataka, the Maratha pennant which was inserted on the late rupees of the Nashik (Gulshanabad) mint during the reign of Peshwa Madhav Rao by an old mint master, Doolab Seth for use in the Peshwa’s camp. These rupees are thus termed as Jaripataka Rupees in modern numismatic circles.

Other famous coin of the Peshwa period was the Chandori Rupees of Chandor mint with the name JaffrabadurfChandor and a flower sprig ‘Toora’ as the mint mark. The mint mark of Chandori Rupees was modified on the Rupees of Vaphgaon mint and the copies of the Chandori Rupees were also made at Pune mint.

Another type of mint marks made by the Marathas was the inclusion of Devanagari legends which lent names to the coins like the ‘Shri Sikka’ of Chakan Mint with Devanagari ‘Shri’ as the mint mark and the ‘Ganapati Sikka’ of the Miraj mint with Devanagari letter ‘Ga’ as the mint mark.

The later Peshwai period when Maratha power was extended to Gujarat, and beyond, new power centres emerged in the form of the Gaekwads of Baroda, the of Indore, the of Gwalior (Chambal region) and Ujjain (Malwa Region), the Bhonsales of Nagpur, the Puars (or Pawars) of Dewas& Dhar, the Ghorpades of Gooty, the Patwardhans of Miraj and the Sawants of Wadi. Among all these rulers, the Patwardhan rulers of Miraj- Sangli issued an interesting set of silver rupee coins with the Devanagari legend ‘Shri Ganapati’ on the obverse above Emperor Shah Alam’s name in Persian and Devanagari legend ‘Shri Pant Pradhan’, a title of the Peshwa with the mint name ‘Murtuzabad’ (Miraj). It is believed that these coins may have been presentation pieces or Nazranas for a special occasion presented to the Peshwa by the Patwardhan chiefs of Miraj.

In South India, especially Karnatak region, a central mint was established at Dharwad in 1765 under the supervision of one Pandurang Morar with the closure of sixteen other mints in the region to curb the circulation of debased gold and silver currency. More professional jewellers were employed to improve the situation. Further South, existing mints issuing gold huns and fanams came under the Marathas but continued their operations as earlier. These included Balapur, Ganjikot, Jinjee, Gooti, Gurramkonda, Hoskote, Hukkeri, Kodikonda (issuing unique snake fanams), Kolar, Nandidurg, Tanjore and Vellore.

The rulers in other areas especially Gujarat, Malwa and North India acquired existing Mughal mints and issued silver rupee coins with standard Maratha war/religious emblems like the Trishul (Trident), Shivalinga, Ankush, Nagphani, Battle Axe, Bow-and-Arrow, Chhatri, Maratha Dagger and the Jaripataka as mint marks to indicate Maratha domination over these former imperial regions.

The Central Indian mints included BalanagarGadha (Garha Mandala), , Kalpi, Kunch, Kunar, Balwantnagar (), Mahoba, RavishnagarSagar, Sironj, Srinagar, and minor mints in the district of U.P. viz. Banda, Alipur, Charkhari, Mondha, Rath and Tarwaha. Of these mints, two mints of Sagar making Balashahi Rupee and Srinagar making Srinagari Rupee were very prolific in comparison to others. These mints made much lesser copper

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coins as compared to the Western Indian mints due to pre-existing currency in the region still in circulation.

The North Indian mints came to the Marathas in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and included Agra (Akbarabad Mustaqir-ul-Khilafat), Ajmer (Ajmer Dar-ul-Khair), Delhi (?) Itawa, Gokul, Mathura, Vrindavan (Bindraban-Muminabad), Gokulgarh, Haridwar, Lahore (Lahore Dar-us-Sultanat), Multan and Saharanpur.

After the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1818, the British took over the Pune Mint and issued coins briefly before closing it down in 1830s. However, the following powers survived the Confederacy as Princely States during the British period with varied courses viz. the Bhonsale Maharajas of Kolhapur & Satara, Sawantwadi State, Akkalkot State, Kingdom of Nagpur, and Barshi, Gaekwad Maharajas of , Scindia Maharajas of , Holkar Maharajas of and the Pawar Maharajas of Dhar State and Dewas State (Sr and Jr).

The Maratha countryside continued to rely on the Shivarai Paisa long after 1818 though the Marathas Confederacy was long abolished and the Peshwa exiled to Bithoor. In 1855, Abbott recorded thus “….about thirty years ago (around 1855), large quantities of a counterfeit coin with an alloy of zinc were secretly coined and circulated in the markets near Junnar and Ahmednagar. Though gradually disappearing these false Shivarais are still in use, and are so close a copy of the real that only an expert can tell them from each other."

4. Summary

The Maratha Empire’s Coinage was a diverse coinage not centrally controlled from the centre at any stage of its existence.Its currency was issued sporadically in the earlier stage and more widely in the later period.However, it was issued from various local mints with no standardization. Copper units in the name ChhatrapatiShivaji ‘Shivarais’ were most highly minted whereas gold units issued very low or destroyed. The Peshwa period saw the Marathas issue a pseudo-Mughal coinage in name of Mughal Emperors with several Maratha mint marks to differentiate the coins issued by the Marathas from the Mughal coins.

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