Mughal currency was coinage produced and used within the Mughal empire.
Despite India having significant gold reserves, the Mughal coins were produced primarily from imported bullion, as a result of the empire's strong export-driven economy, with global demand for Indian agricultural and industrial products drawing a steady stream of precious metals into India.
The coinage was primarily issued in three metals - gold (mohur), silver (rupya), and copper (dam). [1]
The shahrukhi coins were issued during the reign of the first two emperors, Babur and Humayun. [2]
The Sur Empire ruled briefly when its founder Sher Shah Suri defeated the emperor Humayun, who then sought refuge in Persia. Sher Shah introduced various reforms in terms of coinage, including the standardization of the rupee (rupiya, or silver) and dam (copper). In 1556, the Mughals regained control of Delhi and Akbar was crowned the new emperor. He adopted the standardizations that had been introduced, and they became a part of Mughal coinage henceforth. [3]
During his reign, Islamic orthodoxy declined, and this culminated in the replacement of Islam as the court religion by Din-i Ilahi, a syncretic religion founded by the emperor himself. This reflected in the coins, and the Islamic creed was replaced with the creed of the new religion. The restriction on the depiction of living beings in coins was also abandoned. Therefore, coins depicting hawks and ducks were issued. A half-mohur with representations of the Hindu gods of Rama and Sita was also issued during this period. [4] [5] [6] [7]
The trend of depiction of figures on coins continued during the reign of Akbar's son and successor Jahangir. However, the Ilahi creed was dropped. [6] He issued coins bearing his own portrait, and the portrait of his father Akbar. These portrait mohurs would bear the lion and sun on the reverse. [8] [9] He also issued Zodiac-themed coins, where the Zodiac sign was to correspond with the month of issue. [10] [11] [12]
During his reign, coins were also issued in the name of the empress Nur Jahan. When her son Shah Jahan acceded to the throne, he ordered all such coins to be removed from circulation and melted down. [13]
In 1717, during the reign of Farrukhsiyar, the East India Company was given the right to mint coins in the emperor's name. The company would continue to issue coins in the name of the Mughal emperors until 1835. [14] In 1857, during the Indian rebellion, Bahadur Shah II was crowned the emperor of India and coins were struck in his name. These would be the last Mughal coins to be issued, as he would be deposed and imprisoned, thus ending the reign of the Mughal empire.
Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim, known by his imperial name Jahangir, was Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal Emperor.
Mirza Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram, commonly called Shah Jahan I, also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the zenith of Mughal architectural and cultural achievements.
The Mohur is a gold coin that was formerly minted by several governments, including British India and some of the princely states which existed alongside it, the Mughal Empire, Maratha Empire, Kingdom of Nepal, and Persia. It was usually equivalent in value to fifteen silver rupees. It was last minted in British India in 1918, but some princely states continued to issue the coins until their accession to India after 1947. Similar coins were also issued by the British authorities in denominations of 2⁄3 mohur, 1⁄3 mohur and the double mohur, and some of the princely states issued half-mohur coins.
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The Dīn-i Ilāhī, known during its time as Tawḥīd-i-Ilāhī or Divine Faith, was a short lived syncretic religion propounded by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1582. According to Iqtidar Alam Khan, it was based on the Timurid concept of Yasa-e Changezi, to consider all sects as one. The elements were drawn from different religions.
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Farrukh Beg, also known as Farrukh Husayn, was a Persian miniature painter, who spent a bulk of his career in Safavid Iran and Mughal India, praised by Mughal Emperor Jahangir as "unrivaled in the age."
Abu'l-Hasan, from Delhi, India, was a Mughal painter of miniatures during the reign of Jahangir.
A Muraqqa is an album in book form containing Islamic miniature paintings and specimens of Islamic calligraphy, normally from several different sources, and perhaps other matter. The album was popular among collectors in the Islamic world, and by the later 16th century became the predominant format for miniature painting in the Persian Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman empires, greatly affecting the direction taken by the painting traditions of the Persian miniature, Ottoman miniature and Mughal miniature. The album largely replaced the full-scale illustrated manuscript of classics of Persian poetry, which had been the typical vehicle for the finest miniature painters up to that time. The great cost and delay of commissioning a top-quality example of such a work essentially restricted them to the ruler and a handful of other great figures, who usually had to maintain a whole workshop of calligraphers, artists and other craftsmen, with a librarian to manage the whole process.
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, popularly known as Akbar the Great, and also as Akbar I, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in the Indian subcontinent. He is generally considered one of the greatest emperors in Indian history and led a successful campaign to unify the various kingdoms of Hindūstān or India proper.
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